October 1990 Print

by Father Theodore Ratisbonne

Divine Providence, the guardian of men, has countless ministers who exercise ceaseless activity in the world, so that God's plans may be fulfilled and mankind may accomplish its destiny. "A million Angels minister to Him, and a thousand million stand before His throne" (Dan. 7:10). The existence of these pure spirits is the object of universal belief. All the races of the world in every age have admitted, under various names, the relations of these spirits with the inhabitants of the earth. Let us hear the testimony of Holy Scripture.

According to Holy Writ, the Angels are intelligences created in a state of perfect grace, endowed with will and freedom, filling up immense spaces. They are nourished by love, they contemplate the wonders of God, they execute His commands and sing of His infinite mercies.

In the beginning, the terrible revolt of one of these spirits cast creation into great disturbance. Exalted by the sight of his own excellence, the Angel of Light intercepted the adoration that should rise up to God alone and drew many angelic legions with him into his iniquitous path. "They turned from the Sovereign Being and looked upon themselves," says Saint Augustine. Michael, the faithful Archangel, struck down the dragon, who was cast in an irremediable fall into the depths of the abyss. Since then there are fallen angels, who have been transformed into spirits of darkness; and it is by their treacherous suggestion that the human race itself has imitated Satan's revolt.

Most of the Fathers of the Church teach that God created men to fill the reprobate angels' thrones and to repair the ruins of the Heavenly Jerusalem. From this fact stems the insatiable jealousy that devours the evil spirits and unleashes them against humanity. From this fact also proceeds the solicitude of the faithful Angels, interested in the salvation of those who are called to become the co-heirs in celestial splendor. We will speak only of the latter, whose relations with us are so frequent and intimate that we may believe that their happiness is, in some manner, attached to ours.

Indeed, the Gospel teaches us that they rejoice over the conversion of the sinner (Lk 15:10). They are afflicted over the loss of a soul. Before God they accuse anyone who scandalizes a little child (Mt. 18:10). They help us in our labors, encourage us in combat, crown us in victory. They guide us, enlighten us, preserve us, visit us. They pour into our souls the balm of consolation and the breath of life-giving inspiration.

The participation of the Angels in the work of Redemption is a noteworthy fact. Gabriel the Archangel was sent to the Immaculate Virgin. He greeted her and proclaimed her blessed among all women. He told her that she would miraculously become the Mother of the eternal Son of God (Lk. 1:26-38).

Then, at the birth of the divine Child in Bethlehem, it was the Angels who first celebrated the joys of reconciliation. They sang the glory of the Most High and the pacification of earth, and their melodious greetings reverberated throughout the mountains of Judea (Lk. 2:16). Another Angel appeared to St. Joseph and revealed the evil thoughts of the first persecutor of Jesus Christ to him. He protected the flight into Egypt; and, later on, he marked the hour of the return to Israel (Mt. 1:13-19).

Before the divine Savior inaugurated His public life, He spent forty days in the desert to take all human temptations upon Himself. The Angels came and praised His triumphs (Mt. 4:11). A consoling Angel appeared to Him in the midst of the terrors of Gethsemani (Lk. 22:43). And it is the Angels, dazzling with magnificence, who kept watch at the Holy Sepulcher and told the world of the wonders of the Resurrection (Mt. 18:2-7).

The subject of the Angels appears often in the divine parables of the Gospel. Multitudes of them will accompany the Son of God when He returns to judge the living and the dead (Mt. 24:31). It is before the Angels that Jesus Christ will recognize the Christian who has faithfully professed his faith, and blush over the one who has denied Him before men (Mk. 8:38). He will tell those who are placed at His right hand, "Come, blessed of My Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you." And He will tell the others, "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 25: 31-46). He compares the end of the world to the day of harvest: "The reapers are the Angels. The Son of Man will send forth His Angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all scandals and those who work iniquity, and cast them into the furnace of fire, where there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth" (Mt. 13: 37-42).

These sacred texts and a whole host of others provide solid proof of the heavenly messengers' active relations with the children of men. The Acts of the Apostles devotes an entire chapter to the story of St. Peter's deliverance by an Angel (Acts 12). And in the lives of the saints we constantly find relations that attest to the same kind of intervention.

We have not yet opened the books of the Old Testament, in which the Angels often adopted visible forms to accomplish their diverse missions. The three Angels who appeared to Abraham beneath the oak of Mambre are well known; they predicted the birth of the Son of the Promise and the destruction of the sinful cities. In his memorable vision, Jacob contemplated the whole hierarchy of Angels symbolized by a mysterious ladder. Luminous battalions protecting the army of Israel were seen in the sky during the Macchabean wars. The story of Tobias is especially meaningful: it shows us the touching care of the Angel who is charged with directing the faithful man upon the path of life.

We do not wish to multiply all these examples; but they authorize us to believe that a bond of love has created a close attachment between angelic nature and human nature. The Doctors of the Church speak at length in this vein. In magnificent prose, St. Denis the Areopagyte explains the names, ranks and august functions of the blessed spirits. St. Ambrose, St. Jerome and St. John Chrysostom teach that not only are they committed to guard every man who comes into this world, but that certain more considerable missions are assigned to them as well: they watch over churches, cities and empires. Daniel mentions the Angels of the Jews, the Angels of the Greeks, the Angel of the Persians; and St. Basil adds that the heavenly guardians of provinces and kingdoms are exalted in dignity according to the importance of their ministry.

St. Bernard, St. Hildegarde, St. Joseph of Cupertino and several other saints are enthusiastic in relating the harmonies of angelic music. Nothing could ever give us an idea of their sublime hymns. Rather than understanding, we have a presentiment of the beauties that all these multitudes of seraphic choirs produce as they rejoice with love in the divine ecstasy. If concerts of human voices and material instruments excite our senses with such ravishing emotions, how can one relate the music of the divine orchestras? Here below, we can perceive only a feeble echo of it: the laws regulating these countless modulations provide us with the key to a superior harmony that sings the mysteries of heaven.

We may wonder why the action of the Angels upon men is not produced in a visible and tangible manner. This question finds an answer in St. John Chrysostom's teaching on the invisible presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar. Christ, the Prince of the Angels, resides in our midst. He sees us, but He does not show Himself. He listens to us, but He does not speak to our bodily ear. He kindles us within, but He conceals from our sight the flame He came to spread upon the earth. The main occupation of the Holy Ghost consists in lifting us above the life of the senses, in order to introduce us gradually into the splendid realities of the divine world. The Kingdom of God is within us; and it is to draw therein all the powers of our will, intelligence and love that prayer disengages us from our senses and recollects us in the intimate sanctuary of the heart. This is why, in order to support the movement of our interior life, the angels avoid drawing us without and rarely give us the sensation of their presence.

Nonetheless, a whole host of phenomena attests to the secret assistance of the guardian who watches over us. In our present state we are like blind men as regards the invisible world; and from this fact it follows that we call invisible, an order of things that in itself is brighter than the sun.

When a little child smiles in his cradle, what is the mysterious caress that provoked this halo of grace upon his lips? Mothers say it is an angelic smile. Yes, we believe it, the Angel of God has looked upon that child. And later, when he starts to move tremblingly about by himself, what is this protection which wards off the thousand dangers that threaten him? We quake when we think of these perils, and no human precaution would ever suffice to avoid them. "There is a God for children," says popular common sense. And indeed, the heavenly Father has commanded His Angels to protect them on their path, so that they will not dash their foot against a stone (Ps. 90:11).

And when a child has been initiated in language and learns to discern good from bad, the Angel speaks to him still, disturbs or consoles him. Child, why do you blush? It is your Angel who has stirred your conscience, he is the one who has made you feel sorry for your deviation and infidelity. And what are genial thoughts, sudden inspirations, spontaneous acts of generosity? Who enlightens the poet, the orator, the artist, the scholar? Whence comes the beam of light that opens unknown horizons to them? What is this fire that enlightens and inflames them? Do not all these inexplicable ardors attest to the presence and action of a heavenly being?

Whatever the case, although nothing is more obvious than the existence of Angels in the midst of men, what is most important for us to know is what our relationship with them should consist in, and what duties we should fulfill on their behalf.

I will sum it all up in three words: we must understand the Angels; we must love them; we must imitate them.

Above all, it is necessary to understand their language, and that is not at all difficult. The Angel of God is calm, sweet, patient and kind. When he speaks to our heart, he speaks of mercy and love; he speaks of piety, purity and charity. Thus when these feelings imbue and dilate us, have no doubt: it is the Angel of God who is by our side. He makes confidence spring up within us, and with confidence, regret for our sins; he makes prayer well forth, and with prayer, sublime hope.

To love the Angels is to seek their company. A man is recognized by the company he keeps, for he becomes similar to those he loves. Therefore, if we adopt the habit of living with the Angels, if we draw them towards us by the humility of our thoughts, the holiness of our desires, the charm of our works, we become angels ourselves. And the angelic sheen and pure complexion that rest like a crown upon the brow of the good man, the pious virgin, the truly Christian mother, are surely no illusion.

Let us emphasize the final feature of devotion to the Angels: we must imitate them, help them and serve as their intermediaries. This is the mission of the priest who directs souls on the path of perfection; it is also the mission of the handmaids of God charged with teaching and raising young souls; and it is the duty of mothers who provide and maintain peace in their families with their angelic words, tenderness and vigilance. It is no doubt the religious life that best reproduces the functions of the Angels in Christian society. For souls consecrated to the Lord's service live like heavenly spirits around the throne of grace, and appear among men only to bring them the helps of heaven. They touch the earth only on tiptoe, and their conversation soars on the wings of prayer into the regions of love and charity. By their holy vocation, they are angels and mothers at once, for they spread light, edification and divine consolation all around them.

These motherly angels, and these angelic mothers also, will save society. And let us not think that this vocation ends at death. No, the vocations of God are irrevocable. What a person was in this world, he will be forever. He will take his holy affections and all his cares to the other side of the tomb; in eternity, he will continue to watch over those he has loved on earth and who will someday join him in heaven.

Homage and thanks to our Angel protectors! Let us walk under their direction during our earthly pilgrimage, so as to find them again in our final hour. Then they will lighten our deliverance; they will plead in our cause; and they will bear us, like Lazarus, into the place of eternal rest.

Father Ratisbonne (1802-1884) was a well-known Jewish convert to Catholicism and the Founder of the Congregations of Our Lady of Sion.