50. Angels can teach us
50. ANGELS CAN TEACH US
Does God use angels to teach us? When I get to Heaven and meet my guardian angel, will I see all the occasions in my life when he inspired me to think rightly, even though I thought at the time that it was only me that was responsible for the thought?
Since the order of divine Providence disposes that lower things be subject to the actions of higher . . . as the inferior angels are enlightened by the superior, so men, who are inferior to angels, are enlightened by them.
(1) The revelation of divine things reaches men through the ministry of the angels. . . .
(2) The human intellect is strengthened by the action of the angelic intellect. . . . Natural reason, which is immediately from God (in His act of creating each human soul), can be strengthened by an angel.
(3) Again, the more the human intellect is strengthened, so much higher an intelligible truth can be elicited . . . from creatures. . . . Angels propose the intelligible truth to men under the similitudes of sensible things. . . . Thus man is assisted by an angel so that he may obtain from creatures a more perfect knowledge of God (I,111,1).
(4) To change the will belongs to God alone, according to Prov. 21:1: The heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord; whithersoever He will He shall turn it. (But the will can be moved indirectly from without by another human or an angel.) As regards an angel, this can be only in one way—by the good apprehended by the intellect. . . (thus both) an angel and a man (can) move the will by way of persuasion. . . (I,111,2).
(5) . . . the angels reveal things in dreams, as appears from Mt. 1:20, 2:13, 19. . . .
(6) Both a good and a bad angel by their own natural power can move the human imagination (I,111,3).
(1) Just about every important event in divine revelation (the Bible) is surrounded by angels.
(2) Angels can increase your mental energy.
(3) Angels can help you see the presence of God in creatures.
(4) Angels cannot directly move your will, but they can indirectly persuade your will through proposing truth to your mind.
(5) Angels can speak in dreams (this is rare). They can also make your ordinary dreams “good dreams” rather than “bad dreams”.
(6) Angels can pop ideas into your imagination. Didn’t you ever wonder where that great creative idea, prompted by “your” imagination, ever came from?
They can do all this because they are His angels. Their very name means “messengers”. They do not write the letters, they only deliver them. They are invisible not only because they are pure spirits, without bodies (unless they take them on) but also because they are transparent to His will and action. They are signs, they are pointing fingers. Like Mary, their whole life and joy is to point to Him; therefore they tell us exactly what she did, at Cana: “Do whatever He tells you.” And that is the one simple and adequate secret of all sanctity and all perfect joy.