Monday, September 12, 2011

Angels

The Church doesn't have clear job descriptions for angels and saints.  You can look them up in the CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church), but it seems much is left to interpretation.  So I'm going to give my own interpretation, not sanctioned by the Roman Catholic church, but, I think, in line with the Church's teachings.
It's pretty much established that angels are messengers of God (think Gabriel), who bring us God's messages which can guide us on the right path if we are willing to accept/listen to those messages and act on them. The angels are whispering in our ears, guiding us, telling us what God wants us to know.  Why doesn't God speak to us directly?  God does, but we're not always willing to accept His directions, so God may call in a helper, a messenger to repeat the message, or perhaps sometimes the angel is the advance team, preparing us for God's message, "Hey, get ready!  Listen up! You're going to receive a message soon..."  I don't think angels petition for us as the saints do, and that is a key difference in my interpretation of angels and saints.  Angels can also help protect us (think St. Michael the Archangel, or your Guardian Angel).  I love the prayer for St. Michael and I know I make my Guardian Angel work overtime (hey, I drive in California!!).  The key difference between angels and saints for me is that saints lived on the earth, died, and were canonized while angels didn't go through all that. The CCC says angels are non-corporeal beings- no earthly body.  Imagine that your sole existence is to glorify God and bring His message to Earth.  That sounds wonderful to me!


  

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