32. The Supernatural Perfection of the Angels
All angels were elevated to the supernatural order. Afterward, God subjected them to a test so that they could merit heaven with the use of their freedom. Some, out of pride, wanted to become like God by themselves and fell into everlasting sin. Nevertheless, many were faithful. These were confirmed in grace and rewarded with glory.
21. The Angels’ Original State and Test
We read in the Book of Genesis that our first parents heard a seductive voice, opposed to God, which led them to fall into sin and death (cf. Gn 3:1–5; Wis 2:24). Sacred Scripture and Tradition see this being as a fallen angel, Satan or the devil (cf. Jn 8:44; Rv 12:9).1
21a) Supernatural Elevation
God elevated all the angels to the supernatural order, that is, he proposed to them the beatific vision as last end, and he gave them the supernatural gifts (grace and virtues) necessary to achieve this end (sent. certa).
In 1567, Pope St. Pius V defined, to correct Baius, that the angels could not merit heavenly bliss through their natural good works. Therefore, the ordination to eternal bliss is not a reward, but a grace.2
Our Lord said, referring to children, that “their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 18:10). Another passage says that the devil “has nothing to do with the truth” (Jn 8:44). These passages show that all the angels were elevated to the supernatural order and underwent a test. This test resulted in different situations according to each angel’s response.
21b) The Angels’ Test
All the angels had to undergo a test (sent. certa as regards the fallen angels; sent. comm. as regards the good ones).
The Magisterium of the Church affirmed that the fallen angels “made themselves evil by their own doing,” and incurred eternal punishment.3 This implies that a divine law was broken.
Revelation does not explicitly tell us the exact nature of this test. Some Fathers of the Church cited the sin of pride, some the sin of envy.
God wanted to impose a test so that a creature would do some work to achieve its supernatural end. Given the spiritual perfection of the angel, one act of charity was enough to merit glory, and one act against charity was enough to merit eternal damnation. The very nature of angelic decision makes them incapable of repentance and, therefore, of divine redemption.
22. The Evil Spirits and Their Fall
22a) The Existence of the Demons
There are evil spirits who, in spite of having been created good by God, became bad by their own fault (de fide).
The Magisterium of the Church, in the Fourth Lateran Council, defined that “The devil and the other demons were created by God good according to their nature, but they made themselves evil by their own doing.”4
In Sacred Scripture, the Book of Isaiah takes for granted that the bad angels sinned, which is why they were condemned to hell: “How you are fallen from Heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high.… I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol to the depths of the Pit” (Is 14:12–15).
Satan figures prominently in the New Testament. Jesus calls him the tempter, the enemy who sows evil, and he says that the devil is the “murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44).
22b) The Sin of the Demons
The sin of the demons was a sin of pride (sent. comm.).
Sacred Scripture speaks of the sin of these fallen angels (cf. 2 Pt 2:4). This “fall” was a free choice of these created spirits in which they rejected God and his Kingdom radically and irrevocably.5
We read in the Book of Tobit: “For in pride there is ruin and great confusion” (Tob 4:13). The Book of Sirach also affirms that “the beginning of pride is sin” (Sir 10:13).
Most of the Fathers of the Church taught that the demons, especially Satan, fell because of pride. Some Fathers, like St. Gregory of Nyssa, taught that the sin of the evil angels was one of envy. St. Gregory Nazianzen, who thought it was a sin of pride, said: “The angel who rashly rebelled and with great pride revolted against the Almighty Lord, coveting (as the Prophet says) a place above the clouds, was punished according to his madness.”6
22c) The Punishment of the Demons
After their sin, the demons were immediately condemned (sent. comm.).
Jesus Christ addressed the damned in the following terms: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41). St. Jude said that “the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains of nether gloom” (Jude 6).
The demons’ sin cannot be forgiven, not because of any defect of the infinite mercy of God, but because of the irrevocable character of their decision.7
The punishment inflicted on the demons cannot be a sensible one, as is the punishment of damned human beings, since they have no bodies. Nevertheless, they are tormented by tremendous suffering since they continue desiring supreme happiness in a natural way. Yet, they know that they cannot achieve it because their evil decision is irrevocable.
22d) Diabolic Action in This World
After they had sinned, God could have “thrown the rebellious angels to the infernal prison forever” as he will do at the end of time.8 However, he preferred to give them some freedom of action in order to use them in his own service. God makes use of the devil’s power and malice in order to test the virtue of mankind. As the Second Vatican Council taught, the devil’s action can be felt continuously. “The whole of man’s human history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day.”9
The devil can tempt people. God allows these temptations both to test the fidelity of his people and so that the power and merits of Christ may be more clearly manifested. In the end, this will result in greater humiliation for the devil, who will be defeated by the spiritual weapons that Christians possess. Among these weapons is the recourse to the angels10 and the particular protection of the Most Blessed Virgin. The devil fears her in a special way because God already warned him in the beginning: “She shall crush your head” (Gn 3:15, Confraternity version).
Aside from temptations, the demons can also torment people through obsessions and possessions. In a possession, the devil takes over a person’s body and uses it, thus eliminating or diminishing the person’s control over his own body. The Gospel relates many cases of people possessed by the devil in this way (cf. Lk 11:17ff; 13:22; Mk 5:9). In cases of real diabolic possessions, the Church has the power to cast out the evil spirit from a person (exorcism).
However, these extraordinary actions of the devil (such as the obsessions and apparitions that tormented some saints) are not common. Although the devil cannot force people’s intellect or will, he has access to the external senses and inferior faculties such as the imagination, the internal senses, and the memory. He can awaken images and stimulate sensations that can affect the human intellect and incline the will toward evil.
We should always be vigilant because “Satan, God’s enemy and man’s, does not give up nor does he rest. He maintains his siege, even when the soul is ardently in love with God. The devil knows that it’s more difficult for the soul to fall then, but he also knows that, if he can manage to get it to offend its Lord even in something small, he will be able to cast over its conscience the serious temptation of despair.”11 The battle against the devil and his schemes to wring souls from God is part of the duty of the Church, and it is the ascetical struggle of every Christian. The Fathers of the Church offer advice regarding this struggle in rather abundant spiritual writings. For example, St. John Chrysostom recommended, “What should we do in such a situation? Never give credit to the devil, never listen to him, abhor his promises. And the greater the things he promises, the less you should listen to him.”12
23. Good Angels
23a) The Reward of the Good Angels
The angels who passed the test were immediately brought to the state of heavenly bliss (sent. certa).
The degree of glory reached by each angel depends on the merit acquired in the test. Once in heaven, their happiness does not change substantially. Nevertheless, it can increase accidentally, as it does when an angel comes to know about new works of God, especially those referring to the Church of Christ or about the eternal salvation of souls they are serving. Referring to his own ministry, St. Paul wrote, “That through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). Jesus Christ said, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk 15:10).
23b) The Angels’ Ministry
Some angels are sent by God into the world to protect men and help them reach salvation (de fide on account of the universal and ordinary Magisterium).
There are many passages in Sacred Scripture that talk about the ministry of the angels: “For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Ps 91:11–12). “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?” (Heb 1:14).13
23c) Guardian Angels
Every person has a guardian angel (sent. certa as regards the faithful; sent. comm. as regards all mankind).
The Roman Catechism teaches that “Our heavenly Father has placed over each of us an Angel under whose protection and vigilance we may be enabled to escape the snares secretly prepared by our enemy.”14
The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms that humans are entrusted by God to the angels’ custody (cf. Ps 34:7; 91:10–13) from childhood (cf. Mt 18:10) to death (cf. Lk 16:22) and to their intercession (cf. Jb 33:23–24; Zec 1:12; Tb 12:12).15 “Each Christian has an angel beside him as a protector and shepherd to lead him to life [everlasting].”16
The testimony of the Fathers of the Church is abundant. “Great is the dignity of each soul,” wrote St. Jerome, considering that “each one of them has an angel assigned to guard it from the moment of birth.”17
Christian tradition describes the guardian angels as powerful friends, placed by God alongside each one of us, to accompany us on our way. And that is why he invites us to make friends with them and get them to help us.18
It is very appropriate for God to send us this special help of the angels. Although grace elevates our potentialities to the supernatural order, enabling us to believe and love God above all things, our reason and will are weakened by original sin. The action of the guardian angel is that of a true and faithful friend who helps our defective reason with his advice. With his intervention, he clarifies the truth in our mind, making us see the means to be applied in each occasion. Unlike a human friend, however, we ordinarily neither see nor hear him. His intervention is, thus, less evident, but his effectiveness is greater. The angel can reach our imagination more directly—without words—by awakening images, remembrances, impressions, which can clarify our supernatural knowledge about our vocation and help us to continue in our way.
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 391–395.
2. DS 1903–1904.
3. Fourth Lateran Council: DS 800.
4. Ibid.
5. Cf. CCC, 392.
6. Oratio 6.12.
7. Cf. CCC, 393.
8. ST, Suppl., q. 89, a. 8, ad 2.
9. GS, 37; cf. CCC, 395.
10. St. Josemaría Escrivá advises: “Turn to your guardian angel at the moment of trial; he will protect you from the devil and bring you holy inspirations” (The Way, 567).
11. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 303.
12. St. John Chrysostom, In Matth. hom. 13.4.
13. Cf. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 4:1:4; CCC, 334–335.
14. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 4:1:4.
15. CCC, 336.
16. St. Basil, Eun. 3,1.
17. St. Jerome, Comm. in Matth. 18.20.
18. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 63.
21. The Angels’ Original State and Test
We read in the Book of Genesis that our first parents heard a seductive voice, opposed to God, which led them to fall into sin and death (cf. Gn 3:1–5; Wis 2:24). Sacred Scripture and Tradition see this being as a fallen angel, Satan or the devil (cf. Jn 8:44; Rv 12:9).1
21a) Supernatural Elevation
God elevated all the angels to the supernatural order, that is, he proposed to them the beatific vision as last end, and he gave them the supernatural gifts (grace and virtues) necessary to achieve this end (sent. certa).
In 1567, Pope St. Pius V defined, to correct Baius, that the angels could not merit heavenly bliss through their natural good works. Therefore, the ordination to eternal bliss is not a reward, but a grace.2
Our Lord said, referring to children, that “their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 18:10). Another passage says that the devil “has nothing to do with the truth” (Jn 8:44). These passages show that all the angels were elevated to the supernatural order and underwent a test. This test resulted in different situations according to each angel’s response.
21b) The Angels’ Test
All the angels had to undergo a test (sent. certa as regards the fallen angels; sent. comm. as regards the good ones).
The Magisterium of the Church affirmed that the fallen angels “made themselves evil by their own doing,” and incurred eternal punishment.3 This implies that a divine law was broken.
Revelation does not explicitly tell us the exact nature of this test. Some Fathers of the Church cited the sin of pride, some the sin of envy.
God wanted to impose a test so that a creature would do some work to achieve its supernatural end. Given the spiritual perfection of the angel, one act of charity was enough to merit glory, and one act against charity was enough to merit eternal damnation. The very nature of angelic decision makes them incapable of repentance and, therefore, of divine redemption.
22. The Evil Spirits and Their Fall
22a) The Existence of the Demons
There are evil spirits who, in spite of having been created good by God, became bad by their own fault (de fide).
The Magisterium of the Church, in the Fourth Lateran Council, defined that “The devil and the other demons were created by God good according to their nature, but they made themselves evil by their own doing.”4
In Sacred Scripture, the Book of Isaiah takes for granted that the bad angels sinned, which is why they were condemned to hell: “How you are fallen from Heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high.… I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol to the depths of the Pit” (Is 14:12–15).
Satan figures prominently in the New Testament. Jesus calls him the tempter, the enemy who sows evil, and he says that the devil is the “murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44).
22b) The Sin of the Demons
The sin of the demons was a sin of pride (sent. comm.).
Sacred Scripture speaks of the sin of these fallen angels (cf. 2 Pt 2:4). This “fall” was a free choice of these created spirits in which they rejected God and his Kingdom radically and irrevocably.5
We read in the Book of Tobit: “For in pride there is ruin and great confusion” (Tob 4:13). The Book of Sirach also affirms that “the beginning of pride is sin” (Sir 10:13).
Most of the Fathers of the Church taught that the demons, especially Satan, fell because of pride. Some Fathers, like St. Gregory of Nyssa, taught that the sin of the evil angels was one of envy. St. Gregory Nazianzen, who thought it was a sin of pride, said: “The angel who rashly rebelled and with great pride revolted against the Almighty Lord, coveting (as the Prophet says) a place above the clouds, was punished according to his madness.”6
22c) The Punishment of the Demons
After their sin, the demons were immediately condemned (sent. comm.).
Jesus Christ addressed the damned in the following terms: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41). St. Jude said that “the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains of nether gloom” (Jude 6).
The demons’ sin cannot be forgiven, not because of any defect of the infinite mercy of God, but because of the irrevocable character of their decision.7
The punishment inflicted on the demons cannot be a sensible one, as is the punishment of damned human beings, since they have no bodies. Nevertheless, they are tormented by tremendous suffering since they continue desiring supreme happiness in a natural way. Yet, they know that they cannot achieve it because their evil decision is irrevocable.
22d) Diabolic Action in This World
After they had sinned, God could have “thrown the rebellious angels to the infernal prison forever” as he will do at the end of time.8 However, he preferred to give them some freedom of action in order to use them in his own service. God makes use of the devil’s power and malice in order to test the virtue of mankind. As the Second Vatican Council taught, the devil’s action can be felt continuously. “The whole of man’s human history has been the story of dour combat with the powers of evil, stretching, so our Lord tells us, from the very dawn of history until the last day.”9
The devil can tempt people. God allows these temptations both to test the fidelity of his people and so that the power and merits of Christ may be more clearly manifested. In the end, this will result in greater humiliation for the devil, who will be defeated by the spiritual weapons that Christians possess. Among these weapons is the recourse to the angels10 and the particular protection of the Most Blessed Virgin. The devil fears her in a special way because God already warned him in the beginning: “She shall crush your head” (Gn 3:15, Confraternity version).
Aside from temptations, the demons can also torment people through obsessions and possessions. In a possession, the devil takes over a person’s body and uses it, thus eliminating or diminishing the person’s control over his own body. The Gospel relates many cases of people possessed by the devil in this way (cf. Lk 11:17ff; 13:22; Mk 5:9). In cases of real diabolic possessions, the Church has the power to cast out the evil spirit from a person (exorcism).
However, these extraordinary actions of the devil (such as the obsessions and apparitions that tormented some saints) are not common. Although the devil cannot force people’s intellect or will, he has access to the external senses and inferior faculties such as the imagination, the internal senses, and the memory. He can awaken images and stimulate sensations that can affect the human intellect and incline the will toward evil.
We should always be vigilant because “Satan, God’s enemy and man’s, does not give up nor does he rest. He maintains his siege, even when the soul is ardently in love with God. The devil knows that it’s more difficult for the soul to fall then, but he also knows that, if he can manage to get it to offend its Lord even in something small, he will be able to cast over its conscience the serious temptation of despair.”11 The battle against the devil and his schemes to wring souls from God is part of the duty of the Church, and it is the ascetical struggle of every Christian. The Fathers of the Church offer advice regarding this struggle in rather abundant spiritual writings. For example, St. John Chrysostom recommended, “What should we do in such a situation? Never give credit to the devil, never listen to him, abhor his promises. And the greater the things he promises, the less you should listen to him.”12
23. Good Angels
23a) The Reward of the Good Angels
The angels who passed the test were immediately brought to the state of heavenly bliss (sent. certa).
The degree of glory reached by each angel depends on the merit acquired in the test. Once in heaven, their happiness does not change substantially. Nevertheless, it can increase accidentally, as it does when an angel comes to know about new works of God, especially those referring to the Church of Christ or about the eternal salvation of souls they are serving. Referring to his own ministry, St. Paul wrote, “That through the Church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). Jesus Christ said, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Lk 15:10).
23b) The Angels’ Ministry
Some angels are sent by God into the world to protect men and help them reach salvation (de fide on account of the universal and ordinary Magisterium).
There are many passages in Sacred Scripture that talk about the ministry of the angels: “For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Ps 91:11–12). “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?” (Heb 1:14).13
23c) Guardian Angels
Every person has a guardian angel (sent. certa as regards the faithful; sent. comm. as regards all mankind).
The Roman Catechism teaches that “Our heavenly Father has placed over each of us an Angel under whose protection and vigilance we may be enabled to escape the snares secretly prepared by our enemy.”14
The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms that humans are entrusted by God to the angels’ custody (cf. Ps 34:7; 91:10–13) from childhood (cf. Mt 18:10) to death (cf. Lk 16:22) and to their intercession (cf. Jb 33:23–24; Zec 1:12; Tb 12:12).15 “Each Christian has an angel beside him as a protector and shepherd to lead him to life [everlasting].”16
The testimony of the Fathers of the Church is abundant. “Great is the dignity of each soul,” wrote St. Jerome, considering that “each one of them has an angel assigned to guard it from the moment of birth.”17
Christian tradition describes the guardian angels as powerful friends, placed by God alongside each one of us, to accompany us on our way. And that is why he invites us to make friends with them and get them to help us.18
It is very appropriate for God to send us this special help of the angels. Although grace elevates our potentialities to the supernatural order, enabling us to believe and love God above all things, our reason and will are weakened by original sin. The action of the guardian angel is that of a true and faithful friend who helps our defective reason with his advice. With his intervention, he clarifies the truth in our mind, making us see the means to be applied in each occasion. Unlike a human friend, however, we ordinarily neither see nor hear him. His intervention is, thus, less evident, but his effectiveness is greater. The angel can reach our imagination more directly—without words—by awakening images, remembrances, impressions, which can clarify our supernatural knowledge about our vocation and help us to continue in our way.
Footnotes:
1. Cf. CCC, 391–395.
2. DS 1903–1904.
3. Fourth Lateran Council: DS 800.
4. Ibid.
5. Cf. CCC, 392.
6. Oratio 6.12.
7. Cf. CCC, 393.
8. ST, Suppl., q. 89, a. 8, ad 2.
9. GS, 37; cf. CCC, 395.
10. St. Josemaría Escrivá advises: “Turn to your guardian angel at the moment of trial; he will protect you from the devil and bring you holy inspirations” (The Way, 567).
11. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Friends of God, 303.
12. St. John Chrysostom, In Matth. hom. 13.4.
13. Cf. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 4:1:4; CCC, 334–335.
14. Catechism of the Council of Trent, 4:1:4.
15. CCC, 336.
16. St. Basil, Eun. 3,1.
17. St. Jerome, Comm. in Matth. 18.20.
18. St. Josemaría Escrivá, Christ is Passing By, 63.