Symbolism in the Church #25

On the high altar we have throughout the year the statues of the angels on one knee on each side of the tabernacle. From time to time we will put out angel stands for plants, candles, or other things to set on. These statues should remind us of God’s army, ready to help us. But this army is different than any human army. I do not think we really appreciate the graces we get from these heavenly creatures. I was recently telling some people about the history of these creatures of God. Many people came to me afterwards to tell me they never heard about that. So here is the long story short.

While God was creating all that is “visible and invisible,” He created the angels first. Of all beings, God is the greatest. The angels are the greatest of creatures because they are pure intellect and understand all of creation in the spiritual and physical realm. Of the angels, He created the nine choirs of angels with their designated power appropriate to the reason for their task God has given them. Of all intelligent beings, humans are on the bottom. We have a physical nature and have a limitation to our knowledge. The angels are far more powerful than we could ever be by nature. We are subservient to them.
Of all the angels, the most powerful of all creation was Lucifer. His name means Light Bearer. He was supposed to bring the light of God himself to all creation. It is the light of truth and goodness. Lucifer was so powerful; he could see through time up to the point when Jesus becomes a human being. The thought of the second person of the Blessed Trinity made Lucifer angry. You see, when Jesus united himself to humanity, He offers Himself as the one flesh union that marriage symbolizes. God made Himself one with us and this is something angels cannot do because they do not have bodies. Lucifer became jealous of us and said, “Non servum,” “I will not serve.” Though by nature humanity is way lower than the angels, since humanity was united to Jesus, we were raised up above the angels by grace. That means that the angels serve us. That is why we have guardian angels.
But Lucifer took a third of the angels and was cast out of heaven by Saint Michael, the Archangel who was raised up by God to do so. The angels are now demons. This whole battle is depicted in the book of Revelation starting at chapter 11:19 through Rev 12:18. The battle is real. Lucifer has now become Satan. He was the “Light Bearer” and is now the Prince of Darkness. He was supposed to bring the light of truth to all of creation and is now the Father of Lies. He hates humanity and will do anything to keep us from the love of God. It sometimes means giving us whatever we want and getting us focused on just having fun so that we can forget our final destination.
The bad angels hate us, but what does all this say about the good angels who chose to serve us? How they dedicate everything they do for us! They said yes to dedicating their entire existence and being to help us get to heaven. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, they help us! How awesome is that! Have you thanked your angel today?