ANGEL TALK
“Grandma, now I have my very own SAINT MICHAEL statue! He’s my Patron Saint! It’s more than a foot tall! And you said it was imported from Italy? Wow! Thanks for my baptism birthday gift.”
“That’s a special homemade brass spear in Saint Michael’s hands. Your Uncle Rick made a new one for you because the one that came with the statue was kind of flimsy.”
“Yeah, that thin piece of wire that came with it couldn’t have done much harm to the devil under his feet. Why is the devil painted black and with horns? Is that really what the devil looks like?”
“Not at all! It’s just some artist’s imagination. And of course a statue is nothing but a reminder of something we can’t see. We never worship a statue.”
“I always stop by the stairwell at Sacred Heart Church after Mass to check on the big statue of Saint Michael mounted way up on the wall—it’s bigger than life.”
“Jeffrey, if you can imagine, Saint Michael the Archangel in real life could be bigger than the Statue of Liberty or the highest building in New York. But we can’t measure him because he is invisible; like all angels, he is altogether spirit without a body. God created us humans with both a body and a spirit so we can be seen and touched and measured. Angel spirits are persons, just as we are, but not people. They are not he or she or it.”
“That’s kind of hard to understand, Grandma. Who did God create first, people or angels?”
“He created angels first. They have a beginning but not an end, just like us. They are spirits and they will never die. Human beings can give birth to more human beings, but angels can’t give birth to more angels. The number of angels God created is still the same number as there were in the beginning. God Himself has no beginning and no end, so we say He is Eternal. He is the Creator of everything else.”
“Who is stronger, Grandma, us or the angels?”
“God made the angels way more intelligent than us and with gigantic strength and also free will.”
“What is ‘free will’ again?
“It means we can choose to do right or wrong. Like Adam and Eve. But they chose to disobey God and all of us born from that time ever after are messed up because of their choice. That’s why we need Jesus to save us.”
“Are all the angels good angels?”
“They were good when God created them. But because God let them choose whether they would love and serve Him; some of them chose not to, and there was a big fight in heaven among them.”
“Was there a leader-angel like an army commander of the bad spirits?”
“Yes, he was the most beautiful, powerful one called Lucifer. Later he would be called Satan or the devil. He wanted to be like God and refused to serve Him. He led a third of the angels to rebel against God. Every angel got only one chance to make his choice; he could never change his mind.”
“You mean the evil angels got stuck in that bad warp or force field forever? That’s scary! I’m glad that God figured it out another way for people to can say they are sorry and God will forgive them if they really mean it, because Jesus gave His life for their sins, right?”
“That’s right, Jeffrey.”
“Wow! Then what happened?”
“God told Michael the Archangel, who was the leader of the rest of the good angels and even more powerful than Lucifer, to throw the devil and his follower angels out of heaven to the earth. They are no longer in God’s presence. Those are the evil spirits on earth that make trouble for us and try to make us do wrong things."
“Why did God make angels in the first place? Couldn’t He just snap His fingers and everything would get done everywhere right away?”
“Sure He could. But God decided He wanted to do it through the angels He created. The Bible tells us that He made angels to serve us as messengers and guides and protectors to watch over us and take care of His entire business of running the universe for Him.”
“That would sure take a lot of angels! How can we know how many angels there are if we can’t see them?”
“The Bible tells us that there were ‘multitudes of the heavenly host’ who announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds. Also when Jesus comes again there will be hosts of angels coming with Him to carry out what He wants done. We have no idea how many gazillions that might be.”
“Do all the angels have the same jobs, and do they all look alike? Oops—I guess we don’t know what they look like if they are invisible.”
“I don’t think angels look like the little chubby baby figures with stubby wings we see in pictures. Remember, people don’t become angels when they die. Angels are special creations. It seems that when it’s necessary, angels can take human form to carry out the job God sent them to do for Him. The Bible tells about many such events; other times it describes how awesome and huge and powerful they looked. I guess they frightened people because every time they appeared the angel would have to say, “Don’t be afraid!”
“Do the angels stick around after they take human form?”
“I guess they can appear and disappear like Jesus did after His resurrection. Apparently there are different choirs of angels; some have counted nine divisions from what it says in the Bible about them.”
“Choirs—like singing groups?”
“No, when the word is used about angels it means a group or a sacred order or a division; like a rank or an organized way they are arranged according to the jobs God equipped them to do. The word angel isn’t really the name of the spirit being, but describes their job. It means ‘messenger,’ like what they do.”
“What are some of the ranks?”
“Besides ordinary angels, if there is such a rank, and Archangels, who are the highest, there are Seraphim, Cherubim, Dominions, Authorities, Thrones, Powers, and Principalities. They are named according to their assignments.”
“Where are the angels, Grandma?”
“They are everywhere, all around us, all over the earth, and because they are spirits, they can be in heaven and on earth at the same time. That’s what Jesus said about our Guardian angels—that while they are on earth watching over us, they are also looking at the face of God in heaven and getting their orders from Him and worshiping Him. We join with them in worshiping and praising God.”
“But can we talk to them?”
“Sure, but we have to be careful to talk to the good ones. We can ask their help against the evil angels because they know more than we do and are stronger than we are.”
“Can my Guardian Angel send invisible text messages to my mind if I ask him to guide me to do something I should do?”
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.”
“What’s my Guardian Angel’s assignment?”
“It seems that God has assigned one to each of us for our lifetimes to care for us and see that we get to heaven.”
“I’ve named my Guardian Angel ‘Joseph’. Do you think God recycles angels after they get you safely to heaven and gives them to another baby to be born on earth?”
“Jeffrey, I’ve named mine ‘Val’ and he’s been with me for almost 84 years. And he doesn’t grow old with me because a spirit can’t age! I don’t think we can prove it, but apparently we each have our own brand new Guardian Angel. There should be enough angels waiting around God to give them a new assignment so He doesn’t have to recycle them.”
“Well, Grandma, there sure is a lot to learn about angels. My patron saint, Saint Michael the Archangel, is not the same as my Guardian Angel, is he?”
“No, God picked out your Guardian Angel especially for you before you were born, but you picked Saint Michael by yourself to be your helper and protector when you were baptized last year. That was an excellent choice! His title is ‘Prince of the Heavenly Host’ so he is a big shot. He is now praying to God for you all the time. That’s what a ‘patron saint’ does.”
“There’s a special prayer to Saint Michael, isn’t there, Grandma?”
“I hope you will memorize this, Jeffrey. It is powerful:
‘SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL, DEFEND US IN BATTLE.
BE OUR PROTECTION AGAINST THE WICKEDNESS AND SNARES OF THE DEVIL.
MAY GOD REBUKE HIM, WE HUMBLY PRAY.
AND DO THOU, O PRINCE OF THE HEAVENLY HOST, BY THE POWER OF GOD,
CAST INTO HELL SATAN AND ALL EVIL SPIRITS
WHO PROWL THROUGH THE WORLD SEEKING THE RUIN OF SOULS.
AMEN.’
# END
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