Catholic Apologetics Online

Choose a topic from Vol 2:

God

Man

Religion

The Religion of the Bible

The Christian Faith

A Definite Christian Faith

The Protestant Reformation

The Truth of Catholicism

The Church and the Bible

The Dogmas of the Church

The Church and Her Moral Teachings

The Church in Her Worship

The Church and Social Welfare

Comparative Study of Non-Catholic Denominations

To and From Rome

Angels

547. I believe in God, but I do not believe in theCatholic doctrine that besides this material universe He createdangels.

If you believe in God who is an invisible and purely spiritualBeing, it is difficult to see why you should refuse to believe inangels. If one invisible and purely spiritual being can exist, whynot others? There is nothing against the possibility of theirexistence, did God choose to create them. And God has told us thatHe did create angelic beings.

548. One can go only by his senses.

That is not true. You yourself believe in logic and thought; yetyou have never had sense experience of these things. You may seeprinted words as a dog could see them. But you have never seen withyour bodily eyes the logic of thought. Then, too, you say that youbelieve in God. But you have never had sense experience of God.

549. Would you please tell me what an angel is?

An angel is a purely spiritual creature endowed withintelligence and will power.

550. I read a Catholic book once which solemnly andseriously told me that angels are possessed of wonderfulagility.

That information was quite correct, though it was not set downin the book you read any more solemnly and seriously than othermatters in it.

551. Must Catholics believe that angels have thephysical agility of an acrobat?

By God's revelation we have to believe that angels exist. Weare not required to believe in any theological explanations aboutthe nature and prerogatives of angels. But that does not forbid ourdiscussing their nature, and setting down what reason tells usconcerning them. Now reason compels us to believe in the physicalagility of angels. But that has nothing to do with the agility ofan acrobat. That agility is bodily and muscular. No one assertssuch agility of angels. Bodily and muscular agility, however, donot exhaust the varieties of physical agility. There are otherkinds. Wireless waves have tremendous physical agility. They are aphysical force, traveling with an incalculable rapidity of motion.Angels are physical, though immaterial and spiritual beings. Andthey are endowed with an agility proper to themselves.

552. Perhaps you mean that angels have the samemental agility as clever priests for escaping embarrassingquestions!

Angels have a mental agility far above that possessed by anyhuman mind. Being purely spiritual intelligences, they haveimmediate intuitions as opposed to human methods of discursivereasoning. Still, the reference to physical agility is concernedwith their physical rather than with their intellectualrapidity.

553. What precisely does the physical agility ofangels mean?

It means that angels are not conditioned by time or space as aremen, but that they can operate immediately in widely separatedspheres of action. And since angels are created spiritualsubstances, not possessing the omnipresence of God, they have to bewhere they operate, which supposes instantaneous transition fromone sphere to another. One who believes in angels cannot deny all possiblemovement to them. And if we admit that angels can act now here andnow there, we have no reason to deny that rapid transition ispossible to them.

554. Have non-Catholics "Guardian Angels"to protect them?

Most probably, even though they themselves do not think so.After all, our Lord's words could apply to any little childrenwhen He said, "Their angels always see the face of my Fatherin heaven." Matt. XVIII., 10. St. Thomas Aquinas says that Goddenies to no one the general helps towards salvation. Now amongstthe general helps he ranks the assistance of guardian angels, andgives it as his opinion that every human being has a good angelassigned to him for his protection against evil.

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MORE FROM VOLUME 2

• About the Author
• Introduction
  - Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty
• Preface
  - John Gregory Murray
  Archbishop of Saint Paul
• Forward
  - Dr Leslie Rumble, MSC

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