Guardian Angels
We celebrate the Seven Holy Archangels and Guardian Angels . Let us know who they are, what we teach and how we relate to them .
Angels are messengers of God. Specifically, the guardian angels are in charge of taking care here on Earth .
A little history
Who are the angels? What is your mission?
Angels are spiritual beings created by God for a free choice of his divine will. They are immortal beings, endowed with intelligence and will.
Because of its spiritual nature, angels can not be seen or collected by the senses. In some very special occasions, with the intervention of God , have been heard and seen physically . The reaction of people to see or hear has been in awe and respect. For example , the prophet Daniel and Zechariah.
In the fourth century religious art represented angels or human figure shaped . In the V century wings were added as a symbol of their readiness to do God's will and move from one place to another without the slightest difficulty. In the Bible we find some reasons why the angels are represented as human beings looking bright and winged . For example , the prophet Daniel writes that as a boy , Gabriel , flying swiftly , came to him ( from 8.15 to 16 , 9.21 ). And in the book of Revelation are frequent visions of angels cry , sound the trumpets , deliver messages or carriers of cups and incense burners , others rise, fall or fly , others who are standing in each of the four corners of land , or next to the throne of the Lamb.
The mission of the angels is to love , serve and give glory to God, to be his messengers , care and support of men. in the presence of God , mindful of his orders , praying , loving , watching, singing and praising God and proclaiming His perfections . You can say that they are mediators , guardians , guards and ministers of divine justice .
The presence and action of the angels appear throughout the Old Testament in many of their holy books . Appear frequently in the life and teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the letters of St. Paul in the Acts of the Apostles and especially in Revelation.
By reading these texts , we can find out more about angels :
Angels protect us, defend us and strengthen us physically to fight the forces of evil. Struggling with all his power for us and with us. Examples are the miraculous deliverance of Peter who was taken from prison by an angel (Acts 12.7 ss ) and when the angel of the Lord stayed Abraham 's arm so as not to sacrifice Isaac.
The angels of the Lord communicate important messages in certain circumstances of life. In moments of difficulty, light may be asked to make a decision to solve a problem , act wisely, discover the truth , such occurrences have the Virgin Mary , Joseph and Zachary. All received messages from the angels .
The angels fulfill the Lord's punishment sentences . Examples are the punishment of Herod Agrippa ( Acts ) and the death of the Egyptian firstborn (Exodus 12:29).
The angels have our prayers to the Lord and lead us to him accompany us throughout our lives and lead us with all goodness, when we die , to the throne of God for our final encounter with Him This is the last service we provide, but more important, because the death did not feel alone. As an example, when we have the Archangel Raphael says to Tobias : "When you pray , I had their prayers to the Lord "( Tob 12.12 to 16 ) .
Angels encourage us to be good. They see the face of God, but are also ours. We must keep the inspiration of the angels on how to behave properly in all circumstances of life. As an example , we have the text that says: " The angels rejoice when one sinner who repents " (Luke 15:10).
Angelic hierarchy
It is often listed nine angelic choirs , or orders . This hierarchy is based on the various names found in the Bible to refer to them. , the choirs of angels are superior to the lower part of their knowledge.
Every three choirs of angels are a hierarchical level and all together form the heavenly court.
I. Supreme Hierarchy :
• Seraphim • Cherubim • Thrones
II. Media Hierarchy :
• domination • Virtues • Powers
III. Lower Hierarchy :
• Principalities • Archangels • Angels
Angels : They are the " worshipers "of God. Seraphim means " . " Seraphim constantly praise the Lord and proclaim his holiness. Isaiah read 6.2.
Cherubim They are the " gatekeepers "to the things of God . Appear to be the keepers of the ark of the covenant and the way to the tree of life. Between two cherubim Yahweh communicates revelations. " He sits upon the cherubim . "
They are discussed in Genesis, Exodus, Ezekiel 's vision (1.4) and in the Letter to the Hebrews (9.5) .
Powers , Virtues , Thrones and Dominions Principalities : In the Bible we find these various names when speaking of the angelic world . San Dionisio interprets the names of different groups of angels as belonging to their degree of perfection. For San Gregorio these names refer to his ministry: the rulers are responsible for the distribution of spiritual goods , the virtues are responsible for making miracles, the powers are struggling against adverse forces , the domination are the participate in the govern-ment of societies, and the thrones are those who are attentive to the reasons of God's activity .
Angeles : Its mission is to help men reach eternal salvation , guiding and protecting them from the dangers of soul and body.
Archangels : We might call the "assistants "of God. They are angels who are in direct service of the Lord to carry out special .
San Miguel Archangel : Is that the sky threw Lucifer and the angels who followed him and who maintains the beat- call against Satan and other demons to destroy their power and help the Church Militant to achieve final victory . The name Michael means " Who is like God. " Their behavior and loyalty should invite us to always recognize the Lordship of Jesus and seek at all times the glory of God.
Archangel Gabriel : In Hebrew means " God is strong " , "strength of God. " Always appears as the messenger of the Lord to accomplish missions and as the bearer of happy news. For example , he announced to Zacharias the birth of John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary the Incarnation of the Son of God.
Archangel Raphael: Its name means "medicine of God. " Has an important role in the life of Tobias to show the way forward and I had to do. Tobias obeyed throughout the archangel Rafael without knowing it was an angel sent by the Lord. He was commissioned to present their prayers and good works to God. And they left as a message to bless and praise God and always do good and never stop praying .
He is considered the patron saint of travelers having led Tobias on his travels by land and by sea. He is patron of physicians (diseases of body and soul) by the cures he made in Tobit and Sarah , father and wife of Tobias.
Who are the Guardian Angels ?
God has given each man an angel to protect and provide the path of salvation while in this world. States in that regard St. Jerome: "Great is the dignity of souls when each of them, from the moment of birth has an angel destined for safekeeping . "
In the Old Testament we can see how God uses His angels to protect men from the action of the devil, or just to help free him from danger, as when Elijah was fed by an angel (1 Kings 19 , 5.)
can also be seen many events and instances in which one sees the mission of angels : the message to Joseph to flee to Egypt , the release of Peter in prison , the angels ministered to Jesus after temptations in the desert.
The Guardian Angels mission is to accompany each man in the way of life , care in the land of the dangers of soul and body, protect from evil and guide you through the difficult path to Heaven . You can say it's a traveling companion who is always beside each man, through thick and thin. Not separated from it even for a moment . while working With him , while resting , when having fun, when he prays, when he asks for help and when it asks for it. Not away from him even when he loses the grace of God for sin. We provide help in a better mood to face the difficulties of daily life and the temptations that arise in life.
Many times you think of the guardian angel as childish , but should not be so, for if we think that the person grows and this growth will have to face life with greater difficulties and temptations, is the guardian angel of helpful.
For the relationship of the person with the guardian angel to be effective , you need to talk to him, call him, treat him as the friend who is. That may become a faithful and powerful ally of ours . We trust our guardian angel and ask for help , as well as he guides us and protects us is being close to God and can tell you directly what they want or need. Remember that the angels can not know our innermost thoughts and desires if we do not know of a way, because only God knows exactly what 's inside our hearts. Angels can only know what we intuited by our deeds , words , gestures, etc .
they can also ask for special favors to the guardian angels of others to protect them from certain danger or guide them in a difficult situation.
The cult of the Guardian Angels began in the Iberian Peninsula and then spread to other countries. There is a book about this devotion in Barcelona on 1494.
What do they teach the angels ?
To glorify the Lord, proclaim His holiness and pay their homage of adoration, love and unbroken praise.
To accurately and promptly comply with all orders they receive from the Lord. To fulfill God's will without question their orders or delaying the fulfillment of these
To serve others. They're worried about us and want to help in the various circumstances that we face throughout life. This should encourage us to serve our brothers and generously shared with them pain and joy and the gifts that God has given us .
Note about demons or fallen angels.
God created angels as pure spirits, all of which were in a state of grace, but some , led by Lucifer, the most beautiful of the angels, by their malice and arrogance , refused to worship Jesus Christ , God made man, to feel superior beings and so rejected God forever with a free and intelligent act on his part ..
Lucifer, Lucifer, Devil or Satan and the rebellious angels who followed him, turned into demons were cast out of heaven and were confined to a state of eternal torment where most will never see God. Did not change their nature , are still spiritual beings and real.
Lucifer is the enemy of God , whom Jesus called "the deceiver "," the father of lies . " Their constant activity in the world looks away to the people of God through deception and invitations to evil. Want to avoid being known, to be loved and to reach eternal happiness. It is an enemy that has to fight to get to heaven.
The demons are organized in hierarchies, as they were originally created , the lower subordinates to superiors.
Satan and his demons began their evil actions with Adam and Eve and not giving up on their work. They take advantage of man's inclination toward evil by nature that was damaged after the original sin . They are very clever and disguise the bad as well.
Is it a "must "believe in angels ?
As shown above, all Scripture is full of verses and whole chapters that speak of angels. If we believe in Scripture, we can not deny the existence and action of the angels.
In addition to the testimony of Revelation , we have the Holy Fathers of the Church who left us beautiful and evocative descriptions of the angels that were taken up by St. Thomas not only in the theological but a dynamic Christian.
The Church defined dogma of faith the existence of angels.
In the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, due to the dualism that existed in the Middle Ages , it was explained that God is creator of all things , the visible and invisible , the spiritual and the corporeal creatures , and that each other and created them from nothing.
In 1870 , due to materialism and rationalism that existed at that time, the First Vatican Council again affirmed the existence of angels.
Paul VI turned to reveal the existence of angels in 1968 to formulate the "Credo of the People of God. "
In the Church's liturgical reform of 1969 was established on September 29 to remember the archangel San Miguel , San Rafael and San Gabriel and October 2 as the day for a memorial of the Guardian Angels .
Why devote two days of the liturgical year the angels?
It's easy to forget the existence of angels by the busyness of life and mainly because they do not see them . This oversight may miss us thank you very much that God intended for us by angels. For this reason, the Church has set these two holidays for at least two days a year, we remember the angels and archangels, we rejoice and thank God that we have assigned a guardian angel and take advantage of this day to ask your help.
Watch your faith
Currently there is much talk of the angels are all types of books that address this issue , are sold " angels " of gold , silver or quartz people hang them around his neck and discuss their importance and their names. Be careful when buying these materials, they often give the angels powers that do not belong and bring to a place of semi - gods, become " charms " that break into idolatry, or create confusion among promptings of the Spirit and counsel of the angels.
It is true that angels are very important in the Church and in the life of every Catholic, but they are creatures of God , so that they can not be equal to God or worship them as gods . They are not the only thing that can bring us closer to God or we can reduce the whole teaching of the Church to them. Do not forget the commandments of God , the Commandments of the Church, the sacraments , prayer, and other media that help us live close to God.
References: Catholic.Net
