About The Angels

Angels are spiritual beings without bodies. Like us, they are creatures of God, but unlike us, they do not have bodies. They are pure spirits. We know about angels from the Bible. Sometimes God allows them to take on human form so that they can bring a message to men. They take on this human form for a time so as not to frighten people, but that form is not part of them; it is merely assumed.

According to Catholic tradition, there are nine types of angels, called choirs of angels. They are Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels and Angels. These nine choirs are divided into three spheres. The first sphere, Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones, concern themselves alone with the adoration of God. The second sphere, Thrones, Dominions and Virtues, watch over the universe and its bodies. The third sphere, Principalities, Archangels and Angels, care for human beings and their affairs. Of course they all praise God, but this division helps us to think of the angels and their primary work in Heaven and on earth.

The archangels are the primary ones we see ministering in the Bible. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are all archangels. They are used as special messengers from God to serve men. These three archangels have a feast day on September 29.

Michael's name means who is like God. He is mainly seen in the book of Revelation as the leader of the armies of God against Satan. This is why he is often pictured with a spear and with the devil beneath his feet. His particular mission is to be the main defender against the attacks of Satan. Of course Satan can never defeat God, but that does not stop the devil from attacking men and doing everything he can to thwart God's goodness and divine providence. St. Michael is the main person entrusted with the job of making sure the Satan's evil plans are thwarted. This should be a great comfort to us. The devil is an evil angel and as such is much stronger than us. We do not have to fight him off by ourselves, but we have the help of many angels, led by Michael, to match strength with strength. The St. Michael's prayer is a popular one because we can pray to him whenever we need help in fending off temptation.

Gabriel's name means God is my strength. He is the angel to whom God entrusts His most important messages. It was Gabriel who appeared to Zechariah and Mary to tell them that they would be having miraculous births. He brought news of these two important events in history to men and alerted them to God's will. He also appears in the book of Daniel. He explains Daniel's visions to him. Gabriel is special angel in God's plan and in history. His appearance in men's affairs has signaled an important event or message which needs to be imparted to men. These are the only times that he has been named so that we know it was the same angel appearing. He could have appeared and brought messages many other times that we don't know about or that he wasn't specifically identified. He is clearly, though, God's most trusted and important messenger to deliver the most important news of all.

Raphael's name means God heals. He is the angel who comes to Tobias in the book of Tobit. He finds Tobias a wife, drives the demons from Sarah and removes the blindness from Tobit. He was sent from God to help heal these Jewish families in the midst of their difficulties and sufferings. He is also sometimes prayed to for protection on journeys. He guided Tobias on his journey, kept him safe, and brought happy results from that journey. This is the only time that Raphael appears in the Bible, but he reveals his name to Tobias and Tobit and he is a key figure in the unfolding of that book of the Bible. He demonstrates the power of the angels to drive out demons and to protect and provide service for men which is beyond the natural power of a human being. It is perhaps largely through this story that we get an idea of the power and work of angels. Raphael, although he is primarily thought of as a healer, does a little bit of everything.

Although these three angels are the only ones for whom we have names, there are countless other angels, and many of them affect our daily lives. In His great love, God has given each person a guardian angel. This angel is with his charge all the time to keep them from spiritual and physical harm. Of course since human beings have free will, one's guardian angel cannot actually stop you from making choices which will bring harm, but they can guide and protect you so as to minimize the chances of harm happening, particularly if you ask them for their help and are willing to let them protect you and to listen to them. We should think often of our guardian angels and be willing to go to them to ask for help. They are a special gift from God to help us get through life while incurring as little harm as possible. We should take full advantage of this resources. God has also given many places and entities, besides individuals, guardian angels. This is also very providential, so that these groups and places will be protected from harm.

We must also speak of the fallen angels. At the beginning of the world, God created multitudinous angels, too many for us to imagine. He gave them a single test to determine if they would be faithful to Him, and unfortunately a portion of the angels chose to love themselves over love of God. Since they had rejected God, they could not live in Heaven, so they were sent to Hell to be without God, as they had freely chosen. Since they hated God so much, they did not want anyone else to be happy with God in Heaven, and so they do their best to persuade people to turn their back on God. As fallen angels, they have not lost any of their power of intellectual acumen, and so they remain much more powerful than us. This is scary, for we have very powerful creatures trying to turn us from God, and alone we cannot hope to rebuff their attacks. However, we have two powerful means of help from God. We have the good angels, as mentioned above, and we also have God's grace, which he gives abundantly to help us through these temptations. That said, we shouldn't underestimate the power of the forces trying to convince us to commit evil and not avail ourselves of these resources.