What do we know about angels?

By John Pearring

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072421.cfm
Exodus 24:3-8
Matthew 13:24-30

Today’s parable in Matthew 13 gets special treatment by Jesus later in the chapter. Jesus rarely explains his parables. He does so this time, giving us both insight and prophecy into the analogy of poisonous weeds growing up with good wheat. 

An enemy poisoned a farmer’s wheat with a look-alike plant. That enemy is the devil, a fallen angel. Jesus said the bad seed must grow up with the good and will only be removed in the harvest. Jesus will then call upon the angels to gather the wheat and separate the weeds at that time. A lousy angel poisoned humanity at the beginning of time. Good angels, though, have been told they must cull the poisoned from the healthy humans at the end of time.

A fitting act of recompense? I think we need to know about these angels who will do the “harvesting” at the end of the age.

“He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned [up] with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Several sections of the Catholic Catechism inform us about angels. First, there is our similarity to them. “Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love. They can therefore go astray.” (CC: 311)

In section 290, the catechism explains that God created both the spiritual realm of heaven and the corporeal (or mortal) realm of our universe. “From the beginning of time made at once out of nothing both orders of creatures … that is, the angelic and … the human creature … share in both orders, being composed of spirit and body.” 

We’re similar to angels in intelligence, freedom, capability to sin, and body and soul.

St. Augustine says that “Angel” is the name of their office, not their nature. They are “spirits.” “With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God … the ‘mighty ones’ who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word.” (CC: 329) So, for clarification, we’re temporal body infused with eternal spirit, and angels are immortal spirits capable of bodily appearance. 

As Christ is the head of the Body, the Mystical Body, he is also at the center of the angels. “They belong to him because they were created through and for him.” The angels minister to Jesus and also to us. This is a dramatic difference in God’s purpose.

The roles angels have played in human history are classic. Those times are often the most tumultuous part of our affiliation and relationship to angels. Jesus chose to become one of us, his created people. “… [Angels] closed the earthly paradise; protected Lot; saved Hagar and her child; stayed Abraham’s hand; communicated the law by their ministry; led the People of God; announced births and callings; and assisted the prophets.” (CC: 332)

At their peak in our history—Jesus’ birth to his Ascension—angels have announced God’s intentions. Remarkably, announcements have not taken place since then. The angels announced Jesus into our history. Their proclamations of Jesus’ birth and his resurrection, in essence, identifies the angels as confirmation of God’s rule and presence. Since the Ascension, we seldom hear of angels making proclamations. They’ve certainly assisted in miracles, attested by many. The upcoming proclamation by them is likely going to be big.

In all things, throughout scripture, the angels have been reported as worshippers of God. Their consistent song is, “Glory to God in the highest!” While we may not see angels, they are part of our religious experiences. Most significantly, in our central liturgy, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, the angels join us. We call upon them to be with us. They are there, then, always benefitting the whole church. 

Angels are also with us personally. “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” (CC: 335) Angels do not work alone, though. St. Thomas Aquinas says they work together for the benefit of us all.

At the harvest, the final act of this age, we are gathered and separated from the weeds by beings who know us intimately. They are not strangers, aliens, or from a brand new body of God’s creation. The angels are as ancient as the universe. 

“From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. They carry us to heaven. May the angels lead you into Paradise.” They will do so with the whole of creation at its end. “They will be present at Christ’s return, which they will announce, to serve at his judgment.” (CC: 336) 

Our relationship with angels is similar to our saints. We revere them. This does not mean worship. It means to recognize them as venerable, honoring them with the utmost respect.

There is some valuable purpose to using the angels for the harvest, I believe. The fallen angels’ sin of separation from God directly affected us. At the harvest—the end of this age—those of us recruited and transformed by the very devils formed from angels will all be separated from us. 

The head of the fallen angels is the one who tempted us. “The devil ‘has sinned from the beginning’; he is ’a liar and the father of lies.’” And more is said. “The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God. ‘The devil and other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.’” (CC: 391)

The angel’s repudiation of God tells us about our own repentance. It is in their condemnation due to abandonment of God that we know our fate. No repentance is possible if we align our worship, lives, and loyalty to the ‘father of lies.’ God has never wished that we would be seduced by the devil. We have a choice. 

“The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. In its consequences, the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God.”

And he did so. When Jesus returns with the angels, all will be put right. These angels minister to us now and will be part of the final restoration on the last day.

“When the Lord comes in glory, and his angels with him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him.” (CC: 954)