Reminders about Angels (Preaching from 01/27)

Today we are praying from the Office for the Dead. However, my preaching topic was selected by me before we switched to the office for the Dead, so I hope you will indulge me for a few minutes while I drift momentarily away from the topic of praying for the Dead, but never-the-less on the topic of saving souls.

“The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.” (The Angelus prayer)

“Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord” (Canticle from Daniel 3:57-88, 56 Morning Prayer)

“In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God: command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty” (Eucharist Prayer 1 – The Roman Canon)

By now, you have probably surmised the recurring theme….Angels. The CCC tells us The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition. ( CCC 328 ) A truth of faith. What else do we consider a truth of faith? 1) There is one God who created, preserves, and governs all things. 2) In God there are three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 3) The Second Person, Jesus Christ, became man and died on the cross to save us. 4) Grace is necessary for salvation

We add to that list…The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” When was the last time we thought about Angels in our day-to-day lives? When was the last time we spoke with our Guardian Angels? Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield in his book, “Angels Our Guardians in Spiritual Battle” 1 warns of 3 mistakes that we make when we think of Angels:

(1) To see Angels as fairy tale or mythical creatures who were cast in a supporting role in the Bible, but modern science has explained them away. They become cute characters on Christmas cards and Christmas plays.

(2) To treat them as New Age creatures behind the scenes as anonymous electric energy forces… a spiritual fad.

(3) To expect (or demand) things from the angels that we should not expect of them …in other words, celestial superheroes who override the laws of nature and swoop in when we demand The Good news!

Even if we make mistakes about Angels, they don’t make mistakes about us. They know us and love us. Even if we give up on them, they don’t give up on us. Msgr tells us…Angels teach us not to rely on our own expectations, but on God’s providence. The holy Angels do not serve our pride, but our good. They do not count on happy endings as the world defines them or as we expect. Angels count only on the son of God. They count on Christ’s victory over sin and death and His revelation of the Father’s love. Angels intervene to make known the mystery of Christ and in doing so, to save souls. Angels intervene to save souls. How very Dominican!

In Western/American culture in 2025, we humans sometimes think we have everything figured out. We’re so much smarter than our ancestors from decades, centuries, millenia ago. We’re so smart that we allow science to explain away angels. Let’s take a quick peek at where Angels come from and then maybe we can reassess how smart we really are. In the very first lines of scripture we read the very first words of God…Let there be light (Gen: 1:3). There is more to these four words than first meets the eye.

The light is NOT:

● Solar light of the sun

● Lunar light of the moon

● Guiding light of the stars Those were created on the fourth day of creation.

St. Augustine tells us, when God says, “Let there be light”, He creates the entire multitude of the heavenly host of angels .2 St. Basil the Great agrees. “WIth these simple words, God creates rational and invisible natures and the whole orderly arrangement of spiritual creatures…these fill completely the essence of the invisible world.” 3 St. Augustine – “No sooner were they made than they were made light. They are so close to God, who “is light”, that their first name in all of scripture is light”.

Jesus commands in Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 18:10-14): “See that you do not despise one of these little ones,* for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father Our Guardian Angels look upon the face of God.”

Talk about perpetual adoration! How can we possibly think that we have anything figured out?!! How are we not begging our Guardian Angels to help us to seek the face of God?!! Dr. Mark Miravale (Theologian/Professor at Franciscan University ) has various talks on the Angels. In one of his talks he makes this analogy…

(1) Imagine a world where celestial creatures have supernatural knowledge that surpasses anything human beings could possibly comprehend. Those beings know and love us better than we know and love ourselves. Those celestial beings look upon the face of God and they Glorify Him and Praise Him. They carry the light of God in their very essence.

(2) Now, imagine a world where human beings have been given the gift of those Angels by God. There is an angel assigned to each of those human beings to help them on their path to heaven. And the response of those humans to these great gifts is indifference, ignorance, doubt, refusal to acknowledge their existence.

That is what we have done with the Angels and in particular our Guardian Angels. We have allowed ourselves to become indifferent. There is much more than can be said about the Angels. I am not even scratching the tip of the proverbial iceberg today. In a new year, where New Year’s resolutions are already being dropped and forgotten. May we each consider that 2025 will be the year we make an intentional effort to get to know our Guardian Angels on a personal level. May we ask our Guardian Angels to show us how to Adore Jesus. They are experts at Adoration! May we devote some time in 2025, not a lot, but
let’s try to commit to learn more about the Angels including the 9 choirs of Angels.

Who are they and what is their role? Resources abound starting with St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor. St. Augustine. St. Bonaventure, and in the current dDay – Opus Angelorum resources.

To close, we give thanks to God for the gift of the Holy Angels and we ask for the intercession of our Mary, Queen of the Angels.

See: Rev. Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield, Angels: Our Guardians in Spiritual Battle, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 2022

Dr. Mark Miravale, Angels Explained: What You Should Know About the Nine Choirs, Lighthouse Catholic Media, 2013

Dr. Mark Miravale, “Understanding the Angels w/ Dr. Mark Miravalle”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9cYUIk74h0