"Bless the Lord, all his angels, powerful heroes, doing His orders, to hear the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all his host, his servants, doing His will " (Ps 102, 20-21).
St.. he tells us many times about angels. It describes many events, in which it shows the angels as God's messengers, announcing God's purposes. (Angelos in Greek means messenger).
The church and the angels glorify God
We often join the angels in the sacred liturgy, to glorify God. And this is what we say in the preface, ,,that angels gazing at the glory of God glorify His Majesty, they pay homage to him and praise him with joy.
And we connect with them. We joyfully sing God's holy Name together : Holy, Holy…"At the beginning of the Mass., when we confess our sins, we ask angels, to intercede for us to God. And our faith in it, that God created the spirit world, we express in words : “I believe in one God, The almighty father, Creator of heaven and earth, all things visible and invisible " (Profession of Faith from Holy Mass).
To honor the angels, The Church specially instituted two holidays : 29 September in honor of the holy archangels Michael, Gabriel and Rafał, a 2 October in honor of the holy Guardian Angels.
We ask angels at a Christian funeral, to bring the soul of the deceased into heaven.
The mission of angels
The holy books of the New Testament describe the participation of angels in more important events related to the person of Jesus Christ. And yes : the angel announces the Blessed Virgin Mary, that she would become the Mother of the Savior ; at the birth of the Lord Jesus, angels appear to the shepherds and announce to them the birth of the Savior : "Glory to God in the highest". The Scriptures also speak about angels., when he describes the prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, His resurrection and ascension. In all these cases, angels, being messengers of God, they notified people of the fulfillment of salvation, about the birth, death, the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus.
St.. he says, that angels are also to help people to salvation : “Aren't they all ministering spirits, sent to help them, who are to gain salvation?” (Hbr 1, 14). That is why we call these angels Guardian Angels. They always accompany us, they help to do good and protect from evil (by. Ps 90, 11).
Evil spirits are opponents of God and man
St.. it also speaks of the existence of evil spirits. They are angels, who have broken off their friendship with God and have separated themselves from him. The fallen angel is called "satan" in the scriptures (hebr.) or "devil" (gr.) - what does "opponent".
St.. it portrays Satan as the enemy of God and people, because he is trying to separate man from God, and thus deprive him of friendship with God and eternal happiness.
Through Satan, the first people lost God's life : "And death entered the world through the devil's envy" (Mdr 2, 24). St.. He also warns against Satan, which "…he is a liar and the father of lies " (J 8, 44). It encourages wakefulness, lest the devil lead us to sin with his temptations, who robs us of our salvation (1 P 5,8-9).
How will I answer God ?
I thank God for that, that, for the salvation of all people, he sends angels to them. I will express my gratitude in prayer :
"God, who in ineffable Providence you deign to send us your holy angels as guardians, we humbly ask you : let us constantly defend them in their care and enjoy their company in eternity " (Collect of the Mass. about Angels - 2.X.).
■ Think :
1. How do we know, that there are angels ?
2. What is the role of angels ?
3. How we worship angels ?
4. When we worship God with the angels ?
5. Why do we call Satan the adversary of God ?
6. What Satan wants to lead man to ?
■ Remember:
19. What Scripture. talks about angels ?
St., talks about angels, that they are God's messengers to people, they make known to them God's purposes and help them to save.
20. What Scripture. talks about evil spirits ?
St.. he says, that evil spirits broke off friendship with God, they have become his opponents and want to turn people away from God.
■ Task :
What prayers do you know in which :
a) the words of an angel are used ?
b) we ask the angels ?
■ Compare :
Word of god : "It simply came to our notice then, I tell you, joy arises in the angels of God out of one sinner, who converts " (Luke 15, 10).
The teaching of the Church : "We believe… into the Creator of visible things - to which the world belongs, in which we live - and the unseen, which are pure spirits, which we also call angels " (Paul VI's Creed).
"Bless the Lord, all his angels, powerful heroes, doing His orders, to hear the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all his host, his servants, doing His will " (Ps 102, 20-21).
