Dear Friends and Benefactors, 
For the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel (September 29), in one of the Matins’ lessons, Pope Saint Gregory the Great explained that as often as anything very mighty is to be done, we see that Michael is sent, that by that very thing, and by his name (signifies “Who is like unto God”), we may remember that none is able to do as God doeth. 
Hence that old enemy whose pride hath puffed him up to be fain to be like unto God, even he who said, I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High, [Isa. xiv. 13, 14], this old enemy, when at the end of the world he is about to perish in the last death, having no strength but his own, is shown unto us a-fighting with Michael the Archangel, even as saith John, [Apoc. xii. 7]: There was war in heaven Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. 
Unto Mary is sent Gabriel, whose name is interpreted the “Strength of God”, for he came to herald the appearing of Him Who was content to appear lowly that He might fight down the powers of the air. 
Raphael, also, as we have said, signifieth the “Medicine-of-God”, and it is the name of him who touched as a physician the eyes of Tobias, and cleared away his blindness.
ARTICLE OF FAITH – THE ANGELS

Pure spirits, the closest image and likeness of the Creator, were the effect of a Divine act of creation. As one Catholic writer explained, a spirit world was produced, at once, in its fullness and in its grandeur. When, at the word of the Almighty, light’s first rays lit up the primeval, shapeless world, still “wrapped in a mist as in swaddling clothes,” a wondrous song, a joyful melody filled the new heavens with never-ending strains. 
The Lord recalls these primordial times when He asks: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? . . . When the morning stars praised Me together, and all the sons of God made joyful melody.” [Job 38: 4, 7] These “sons of God,” living witnesses of the creation of the material universe, were our Angels, the morning stars of creation.
It is an article of Faith, firmly established in Scripture and Tradition, and clearly expressed in Christian Doctrine from the beginning, that this spirit world, our Angels, began with time and was created by God. This traditional belief of both the Old and the New Testament was given a more formal and solemn expression in the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215:
[God] “by His almighty power created together in the beginning of time both creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal, namely the Angelic and the earthly, and afterwards the human, as it were an intermediate creature, composed of body and spirit.” [D. 428. A similar definition was given in the Vatican Council in 1869, D. 1782, 1801.]
From this definition we learn that the Angelic spirits were created when time began and not from eternity. Like all other creatures they were produced by the almighty power of God, out of nothing. 
It would be heretical to affirm that the Angels are an emanation of the Divine substance. [Vatican Council I, D. 1804] Spiritual substances do not divide or split or multiply in any form whatever, nor change one into another; their individual existence can only be explained by creation.
The creation of the Angels is implicitly affirmed in all those passages of Sacred Scripture in which it is stated that all things were made by God; explicitly and formally their creation is mentioned by Saint Paul in one of those incomplete enumerations of the Angelic orders: “In Him [the Son of God, the Logos] were all things created in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers: all things were created by Him and in Him.” [Col. 1: 16]
Creation itself is a revealed truth, not so the exact time when the Angels were created. Nothing definite can be determined on this point from Sacred Scripture. Neither Jewish nor Christian Tradition agrees on the time when the spirit world, our Angels, came into existence. 
Many of the Fathers of the Church believe as very probable that the Angels were created before the material world. They were certainly created before man, because we find them already distinguished as good Angels and fallen Angels on man’s first appearance on earth. [Gen. 3: 1ff.; 3: 24]
This circumstance would seem to imply that a time had elapsed from the time of their creation. It does not seem probable that God, Who created this world for His Own glory, would have no created intelligences to witness the awe-inspiring act of its making. 
The passage from Job quoted above seems to prove that such witnesses did exist. They saw the marvelous manifestations of the Divine Wisdom, Power, and Goodness and praised the Lord, filling the heavens with “joyful melody.” 
Man himself was not there at the beginning of creation to give glory to God; some created “intelligence must have been present. The Angels were the first splendors created to reflect the glory of the Eternal. 
The first creative act must have produced a creature to the image and similitude of God, a creature able to understand, love, thank, and praise God. When the whole material world had been created, the Lord formed another similar creature, “a little less than the Angels,” consisting of body and spirit, able to know, love, and serve Him on earth as the Angels do in Heaven. 
We like to imagine the creation of the material universe placed between the creations of two orders of rational beings. One, heavenly, purely spiritual: the Angels; one, earthly, partly material, partly spiritual: Man.
Saint Thomas, with some of the Fathers of the Church, regards as more probable the opinion maintaining that the Angels were created together with the material universe because they are part of that universe. He does not regard as erroneous the opinion of those who hold that they were created before the visible world. [ Summa Theologica, Pars I, Q. 61, art. 3] 
The peculiar astronomical notions common in his day attributed to the Angels many duties that pertained to the physical government of the world, and thus they appeared more as a necessary part of the visible world than they actually are.
Another reason for that opinion is the authority of some of the Fathers who saw the creation of the Angels in the words of Genesis, chapter 1: 1, more exactly in the creation of Heaven: “In the beginning God created Heaven and earth.” 
Thus, for example, Saint Epiphanius: “The word of God clearly declares that the Angels were neither created after the stars nor before Heaven and earth. It must be regarded as certain and unshakable the opinion that says: None of the created things did exist before Heaven and earth, because ‘in the beginning God created Heaven and earth’ so that this was the beginning of all creation, before which none of the created things existed.” [Adversus Haereses, Par., 65, 5] 
Origen, however, is more careful with his opinion: “This also is part of the doctrine of the Church, that there are certain Angels of God and certain good Powers, which are His servants in accomplishing the salvation of men. When these, however, were created, or of what nature they are, or how they exist, is not clearly stated.” [De Principiis, Preface, 10] He does not read in the words of Genesis what is not written there.
The wording of the definition by the Lateran Council, reported before, which seems to be opposed to the opinion of priority of creation of the Angels, creates no difficulty whatever. It is said there that God “created together [simul] in the beginning of time both creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal, namely the Angelic and the earthly.” 
It is commonly admitted that the word “together” in this case has not the meaning of parity of time or simultaneousness, but parity of action. The expression was taken from Scripture where it is said: “He that liveth forever created all things together,” [Ecclus. 18: 1] meaning not that all things were created at the same time, but that all things were likewise created with no indication of time. 
Saint Thomas points out that this definition of the Lateran Council was aimed at a Manichaean heresy of emanation. It did not bear on the time of creation of the Angels but on the fact that they were produced by the act of creation, just like the corporeal, earthly creatures.
Both the existence and the creation of the Angels are dogmas of faith presenting one of the most inspiring and consoling aspects of our Religion. As the first creatures of this universe, the Angels were the first revelation of the Supreme Goodness of God and of His transcendent Beauty. Even though part of the universe, the Angels really constitute a world to themselves, the spirit world, so exalted and so different from our visible, material world.
When God created the first life in this world, He bade it to multiply upon the earth. The Lord blessed the first human couple He had created, saying: “Increase and multiply and fill the earth. [Gen. 1: 28] It took mankind thousands of years to discover and fill most of the earth. 
Not so with the spirit world. There are no more Angels today than when they were first created at the beginning of time. They filled the heavens from the start, and their number was complete from the beginning. Their spiritual nature, just like our human soul, cannot be produced except by the Divine act of creation, with the difference that the human soul is created only in the course of time, when it is needed to inform a human body at the time of generation. 
Except for the apostasy and desertion of the fallen Angels, the Angelic family has remained the same from the time it was called into being by the loving Father of all.
No matter when the Angels began, there was a time in that endless eternity when the Angels, like all the other creatures, did not exist. The Eternal Wisdom, the Word of God, refers to such an epoch in the timeless existence of God, where It says: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made anything from the beginning. [Prov. 8: 22] Therefore, they were not created from all eternity but in the beginning of time.
ANGELS ARE PURE SPIRITS

They can, however, take a visible form.

The Angels are pure spirits without bodies, whereas men have both body and spirit. Yet the Angels can take to themselves a bodily form, as did St. Raphael [Tob. 5: 18], when he undertook to accompany the young Tobias on his journey. At the sepulcher of Our Lord, after the Resurrection, the Angels appeared in the form of young men, and the same was the case after Our Lord’s Ascension [Mark 16:5; Acts 1:10].

The nature of the Angels is nobler than that of man; they have greater knowledge and greater power.

The Angels excel man in their knowledge, but even they do not know when the Day of Judgment will come [Matt. 24:36]. So, also is their power. An Angel destroyed the first-born of Egypt. Another caused the death of one hundred and eighty-five thousand soldiers of the King of Assyria, who had blasphemed God [Is. 37:36]. An Angel protected the three young men in the fiery furnace at Babylon [Dan. 3:49].

God created the Angels for His Own glory and service, as well as for their own happiness.

Among all the creatures that God has made, the Angels resemble Him the most, and therefore the Divine perfections shine forth the most brightly from them. They also glorify God by singing ceaselessly hymns of praise to Him in Heaven. The Angels also serve God. 
The word Angel signifies messenger. “Are they not all ministering spirits,” says St. Paul, “sent forth to minister to them that shall receive the inheritance of salvation?” [Heb. 1:14] Even the bad Angels promote the glory of God, for God turns their attacks on us to His glory and our profit. Goethe rightly describes Satan as “a power that always wills evil, and effects good.”

The number of the Angels is immeasurably great.

Daniel, in describing the throne of God says: “A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him: the judgment sat, and the books were opened.” [7:10] Holy Scripture calls them the heavenly host. In the Garden of Olives Our Lord said that if He were to ask the Father, He would presently send Him twelve legions of Angels [Matt. 26:53]. The number of Angels is greater than that of all men who have ever lived or will ever live.

The Angels are not all equal; there are nine choirs or ranks among them.

The rank is determined by the amount of gifts that God has bestowed on them, and according to the office assigned them. Nearest to the throne of God are the Seraphim, who burn more than the rest with the love of God; next to them are the Cherubim, who are distinguished by the vastness of their knowledge. We also read in Scripture of Thrones, Dominations, Principalities, Powers and three Archangels, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael. There is also a corresponding division among the fallen Angels.
The power and beauty of the good Angels is so ravishing, that St. Bridget says the appearance of one alone of them to mortal man would occasion immediate death. Father O’Sullivan tells us that their sanctity is beyond that of all the Saints, because they are filled with the “Divine unction”, having never been stained by sin, so that their charity is “exceedingly great”. According to St. John, they have the essence of the Godhood more than all other creatures. Thus, while we acknowledge their greatness, let us bless the hand of Him Who made them.
THE ANGELS – AN OVERVIEW
All the Angels whom God created were, at the beginning, in the grace of God and well pleasing to Him. But many of the Angels sinned through pride, and were cast down by God into hell forever [2 Peter 2:4].
When God created the Angels, He created them all in His grace. But none can be crowned without a struggle [2 Tim. 2:5], and God subjected the Angels to trial, that so, according to the universal law of the universe, they might earn their reward of eternal happiness. 
In this trial a large number of the Angels fell. They desired to be equal to God, and refused to submit their will to His [Cf. Is. 14:12-14]. They did not abide in the truth [John 8:44]. Hence arose a great war in Heaven [the ante heaven]. St. Michael and his Angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his Angels fought, and prevailed not, neither was their place found anymore in Heaven. 
The dragon was cast out and all his Angels with him [Apoc. 12: 8,9]. They were all cast down to Hell; not that they were confined to any local Hell. for they are allowed to wander about the earth tempting men, but they carry their Hell with them wherever they go, inasmuch they everywhere suffer the torments of Hell. Their leader was Satan or Lucifer, for this was his name before he fell, and he is said to have been the highest of all the Angels. 
The number of the fallen Angels is less than that of those who remained faithful. The fall of the Angels was the more terrible, because they had previously enjoyed such a high estate. The higher the place from which we fall, the worse the fall. At the Last Day the evil Angels will be judged, and their wickedness and its punishment will be made known to the whole world [Jude 6; 2 Pet. 2:4]. To deny the existence of the evil Angels is a grievous sin against Faith.
THE EVIL ANGELS
The evil Angels are our enemies; they envy us, seek to lead us to sin, and can, with God’s permission, injure us in our bodies, or in our worldly goods.
The evil spirits are our enemies. With all their spite they can do nothing against God; so, they vent their fury against men, who bear the image of God. Many theologians have asserted that the places of the Angels who fell will be filled in Heaven by men. 
“The knowledge that a creature of earth will occupy his place in Heaven.” says St. Thomas, “causes the devil more pain than the flames of Hell.” It was the devil who led our first parents to sin, and also Judas [John 13:27]. The devil can also, so far as God permits, injure the bodies and the goods of men, as in the case of Job and the possessed in Our Lord’s time. 
The devil’s great object is to effect the ruin of the Church, which he knows is to be the means of destroying his power on earth [Matt. 16:18; Luke 22:31]. He also knows that he and his Angels will one day be judged by the Saints [1 Cor. 6:3]. Many believe that as God assigns to each child at its birth a Guardian Angel. Hence, Satan assigns to each a special devil to tempt it. Therefore, we must work with one hand and with the other defend ourselves against the foe.
Yet the devil cannot do real harm to anyone who keeps the Commandments of God and avoids all sin.
The dog that is tied up cannot do any harm to those who keep out of range of his chain. The devil is like this dog. He can work on our memory and our imagination, but he has no power over our will or our understanding. He can persuade us, but he cannot compel us to evil. We must therefore energetically and promptly repel all bad thoughts that the devil puts into our heads. 
“Resist the devil.” says St. James [4:7], “and he will fly from you.” Our Lord dispatched the devil very promptly when He said, “Begone Satan!” It is a great thing to treat the devil and his temptations with great contempt, and also to turn our thoughts to other things, and not allow ourselves to be disturbed or troubled by his suggestions. 
He who allows himself to dwell on evil thoughts draws near to the dog who is chained, and is almost sure to be bitten by him. If the devil were allowed to use his full power against us, we could not resist him, for when he fell, he did not lose any of his natural powers, though he lost eternal happiness.
God gives the devil special power over some men:

  1. God often allows men who are striving after high perfection, whom he especially favors, to be tried by the devil for long years in some extraordinary way, in order to cleanse them from their imperfections, and thoroughly humble them.
    God allows His elect to be constantly besieged by the devil for years, and to endure temptations of extraordinary violence. Sometimes the devil appears to them in visible form; sometimes he assails their ears with hideous sounds; sometimes he is permitted to strike them and to throw them on the ground. God protects their life, but allows the devil to torment them with bodily pain and with sickness. They suffer the most terrible temptations against faith and against purity. 
    The evil one has no power over their souls, but sometimes God allows him power over their bodies, so that they do and say the most extraordinary things in spite of themselves, in order that they be humbled in the eyes of men. Sometimes they even pour forth blasphemous words, and have no power to prevent themselves from doing so. These assaults of the devil are called obsession. 
    Holy Job was assailed by the devil; and so was Our Lord in the desert; so were St. Anthony, St. Teresa, St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi, the Curé d’Ars, and many other Saints. These holy persons knew that God would never allow them to be tempted beyond their powers of resistance, and that God permitted these temptations for their greater sanctification. They were perfectly resigned to the will of God, and at length drove away the devil by their fearless resistance to his assaults. 
    Thus, when the devil threatened the life of St. Catherine of Siena, she answered, “Do what you can; what is pleasing to God is pleasing to me.” St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi said to him, “You do not seem to know that you are preparing for me a glorious victory.” St. Anthony in the desert defied him, saying, “How feeble you are! I suppose that is why you are bringing such a crowd of devils to tempt me.” 
    When those who are tempted meet the devil with the courage of a lion, he has no more power against than a startled hare, but when they fear him, then he comes on with all the force and boldness of a lion. He can always be driven away by the means of grace provided by the Church; by the Sign of the Cross, by invoking the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, by holy water, by earnest prayer, by the use of relics, etc. 
    The more violent the assaults of the devil, the greater will be the protection afforded by almighty God to His servants; often during times of trial they have revelations from God, or Saints and Angels appear to them to console and strengthen them. Those who deny the reality of these occurrences of which we so often read in the lives of the Saints, show very little acquaintance with the spiritual life. 
    Yet it is the spirit of the Church to receive all accounts of these preternatural and supernatural events with great caution, as there is always a danger of illusion or deceit. Nor need ordinary mortals fear such special attacks of the evil one; they are reserved for the special friends and favorites of God.
  2. It also sometimes happens that God allows men of vicious lives, or those who sin against faith, to be punished or led astray by evil spirits.
    God sometimes permits that the bodies of men who have given themselves over to the indulgences of their passions be possessed by evil spirits, as a town is occupied by a general who has conquered it. This state is called possession. 
    In the time of Our Lord there were many thus possessed, and who, in consequence were dumb [Matt. 9:32], blind [Matt. 12:22], and exceeding fierce [Matt. 8:28]. God permitted that then there should be many such, that He might show the power of the Son of God and the feebleness of the devils in His presence, and that He might drive them forth from those whom they tormented. 
    Yet it does not follow that all who were possessed were necessarily so through their own fault. Some children were possessed from their birth [Mark 9: 20]. Sometimes God allowed even holy men to be possessed for a time; but more often it was punishment for grievous sin, and especially for a deliberate friendship with the devil, as was the case with the witch of Endor [1 Kings 28:7 seq.; Cf. Acts 16:16]. 
    Such cases are not infrequent now in pagan countries. God also permits the evil spirits to mislead those who practice spiritualism, which consists in invoking the spirits of the dead in order to discover things secret, or that are taking place at a distance. 
    The devils personate the spirits invoked, and by their superior knowledge are able to reveal many things, by which they delude those who deal with them into thinking that they are really conversing with some departed relative or friend. 
    On these occasions the spirits will sometimes take a material form. Spiritualism leads to the loss of faith and morals, or at least to the ruin of the peace of mind of the person practicing it. Very often it is mixed up with a great deal of imposture.
    SAINT FRANCES OF ROME
    Born 1384 in Rome, died 1440 in Rome. St. Frances of Rome received a supernatural gift of visions from God. She is famous for her visions about hell. Perhaps throughout the Church’s history no other mystic has had so many descriptive visions of hell as St. Frances.
    Here is one of her visions on hell using her own words:
    The following text is taken from Rohrbaher, “Universal History of the Catholic Church”.
    While one-third of the angels sinned, the other two-thirds persevered in grace. One-third of the fallen angels are in hell tormenting the condemned souls. These devils are the ones who freely followed Lucifer and deliberately revolted against God. They cannot leave the abyss except with the special acquiescence of God, when He decides to punish the sins of men with a great calamity. These are the worst among the devils.
    The other two-thirds of the fallen angels inhabit the air and the earth. They are the ones who did not take a side in the battle between Lucifer and God, but remained silent.
    The devils of the air often instigate storms, winds and thunders to frighten souls, causing their wills to weaken and cede to inconstancy, thus preparing them to falter in the Faith and to doubt Divine Providence. The devils who live on earth among men to tempt us are the fallen angels of the lowest choir. The faithful angels of this choir are our guardian angels.
    The prince and chief of all devils is Lucifer, who is confined at the bottom of the abyss, where he punishes the other devils and the condemned men and women. Since he fell from the highest place among the angels, the Seraphic choir, he became the worst devil. His characteristic vice is pride.
    Below him and under his power are three other princes: First, Asmodeu, who represents the vice of impurity and was the head of the Cherubim; second, Mammon, who represents the vice of avarice and was the first among the Thrones; third, Belzebuth, who represents idolatry, sorcery and spells and was the chief of the Dominations. He is over everything that is dark and that diffuses darkness over rational creatures.

HOW THE GUARDIAN ANGELS SERVE US 
How much we owe to our Guardian Angels! God in His infinite mercy! and condescension makes use of their agency to bestow upon the weak and needy children of men an abundance of material and spiritual blessings. 
If we but knew all the favors which we continually receive from the holy Angels, our hearts would indeed be harder than stone not to be sensibly affected thereby. It would be necessary to reckon up all the evils which can befall us – whether in mind or body, in our spiritual or temporal goods, in regard to our private or public interests, by wars, pestilences or famines – in order to specify all the various kinds of assistance we receive from the Angels. Their constant thought and unremitting care – is to preserve us from sin, or to deliver us from it when we have fallen. They obtain powerful graces for us from the mercy of God, moderate our passions, remove hindrances to our use of grace and assist us to triumph over the evil one in temptations. They discover to us our faults and imperfections and move us to sincere contrition.
The good offices which the holy Guardian Angels perform in our behalf may be briefly summed up as follows:

  1. They preserve us from many unknown dangers to soul and body.
  2. They defend us against the temptations of the evil spirits.
  3. They inspire us with holy thoughts and prompt us to deeds of virtue in the Divine service.
  4. They warn us of spiritual dangers and admonish us when we have sinned.
  5. They unite with us in prayer and offer our prayers to God.
  6. They defend us at the hour of death against the last attacks of our spiritual foes.
  7. They console the souls languishing in Purgatory and conduct them to Heaven when their faults have been fully expiated.
  8. THEY PROTECT US
    Innumerable instances of the protection of the Angels in physical dangers may be cited from Holy Scripture, from the lives of the Saints and from the daily experience of ordinary persons. Among those mentioned in the Scriptures are the rescue of Lot and his family from the city of Sodom, the protection of the three Hebrew youths in the fiery furnace of Babylon, the assistance rendered to Judas the Machabee and his army, and the rescue of St. Peter in prison.
    In the life of St. Gregory of Tours it is related that while he was still a boy his father became dangerously ill. The devoted son prayed earnestly for his good father. That night his Guardian Angel appeared to him in sleep, saying: “Arise, write the Name of Jesus on a small wooden chip and lay it on your father’s pillow.” 
    In the morning Gregory related the vision to his mother, who bade him do as he had been told. He obeyed, and the father immediately regained his health. Two years later, the father again became ill. Gregory once more had recourse to prayer, and again his Guardian Angel appeared to him in sleep, instructing him to use the liver of a fish, as had been done in the case of Tobias. This admonition was followed and the father was cured a second time.
    Though the holy Angels are most solicitous for our bodily welfare, yet still greater is their solicitude for the welfare of immortal souls. It is especially when the virtue of holy purity is assailed that the Guardian Angels lend their powerful protection to their protégés, as is witnessed in the lives of St. Agnes, St. Agatha, St. Cecilia, St. Lucy, St. Theophila and other Saints.
    A touching story of a Guardian Angel’s protection of an innocent youth is related by the renowned Jesuit, Father Coret. One day in 1638, a young nobleman appeared at the monastery at noon and asked to see a certain priest. The priest came and, immediately upon seeing the stranger, received the impression that this was an Angel. The heavenly appearance, the majestic bearing and the Angelic demeanor of the young man were most striking. His countenance was fair, his eyes exceedingly kind, his hair blond, his features mild and delicate. 
    The noble visitor apologized for coming at so inconvenient a time, but added, “The zeal with which you labor for the honor of God and the salvation of youth urges me to leave nothing undone when the innocence and perhaps the eternal salvation of one of your pupils is in peril. You are acquainted with the youth, N.?” 
    The young man in question was a nobleman, about sixteen years of age, very handsome, possessed of great virtue and beloved by all. “Oh, how you would love him if you knew him as I do!” continued the stranger. “He is an Angel, but alas, into what danger of temptation will he be led today! He has been invited to a banquet. If he goes, it will be at the price of his innocence; he will suffer an irreparable loss!”
    Naturally, the priest was greatly surprised at his statement. He inquired of the stranger who he was and how he had learned of the snares which had been laid for the youth, but he received no other answer than that the youth was as pure as an Angel, very dear to God, and that his Guardian Angel was most solicitous to preserve his innocence. 
    Then the stranger added, “Often I am in the midst of those who would lead him astray. I come in the name of God and conjure you to prevent so great an evil. Be convinced that as the demons exert their power to corrupt youth, the Guardian Angels likewise do their utmost to protect them.”
    The stranger took his leave, and the priest hastened to inform the mother and the son of what had happened. He then made a search for his distinguished visitor, but he was never seen again, and the priest never doubted that this had been the youth’s Guardian Angel.
  9. THEY DEFEND US
    In the hour of temptation, when the enemies from hell break in upon us, the holy Angels intervene in our behalf and help us to conquer the craftiness of the enemy. They strengthen us in the fight, warn us against the suggestions of the tempter, disclose to us his snares and make us fear evil. The fallen angels, retaining the keen and penetrating knowledge proper to their spirit nature, wage fierce and constant battles against those creatures whom God had commanded them to serve. In their morbid despair and jealousy, with a strength surpassing the utmost might of man, they aim at our destruction. “Our wrestling,” says St. Paul, “is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and the powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.” [Eph. 6: 12]. But the paternal care of God shields us from their malevolent attacks by surrounding us with the protection of our good Angels. “God,” says St. Augustine, “has subjected the bad Angels to the good; they cannot do as much harm as they wish, but only as much as they are permitted for our trial and punishment.”
  10. THEY INSPIRE HOLY THOUGHTS
    “Your holy Angel is tender, gentle and mild,” says the devout spiritual writer, Hermas. “When he takes possession of your heart, he speaks of justice, modesty and benignity, of true love and piety. When such things make themselves felt in your heart, know that your holy Angel is with you.”
    It is peculiar to the good Angels to enlighten and instruct the soul of man, to inspire it with strength and fortitude and also, by spiritual consolations, by gentle persuasions, by calmness and refreshing peace, to lighten the fulfillment of every duty and to remove all hindrances to advancement in virtue. “Return to thy mistress, and humble thyself under her hand” [Gen. 16: 9], said an Angel to Agar, the handmaid of Abraham and Sara, thus reminding her of her duty. 
    St. Raphael taught the young Tobias how he should enter the married state in the holy fear of God and how, together with his parents, he should adore and praise God. [Cf. Tob. 11-12]. 
    Likewise, it was an Angel who exhorted the Roman centurion Cornelius to seek out St. Peter in order to be instructed by him in the True Faith. [Cf. Acts 10: 30].
  11. THEY WARN US
    Before the city of Jerusalem was captured by the Romans, voices were heard above the Temple saying, “Let us withdraw from hence!” Similarly, our holy Guardian Angel often urges us to leave those places, those companionships, those conversations, books and pastimes where danger threatens our soul and where, because of his Angelic purity and delicacy, he cannot bear us company. 
    His voice cries out to us in various ways – through the counsel of a friend, through the reading of a good book, through the voice of conscience, etc. How often, how lovingly, how mildly he instructs, warns, entreats and invites us! 
    He is most anxious to be our advocate at the throne of God, but if we do not heed his voice he will be compelled to be our accuser, for he can only fulfill his sublime task if we cooperate with him with ready willingness. If we harden our heart and refuse to heed his admonitions, he will one day be compelled to reveal our sins before all the world.
    Disobedience on our part would therefore be not only the basest ingratitude, but the greatest folly as well, for it is only for our own eternal welfare that our Angel thus warns us.
    Our Guardian Angel is likewise our loving admonitor. To reprove is an act very proper to love, for since love cherishes an inmost desire for the good of the beloved and shows itself also in deed, so it seeks to avert evil from the one beloved. 
    The administering of reproofs is a means toward this end, and this the Angel accomplishes by inflicting the sting of remorse of conscience. The moment we have committed sin, our holy Angel withdraws his consolations and pierces our soul with pain. 
    He strives to awaken in our heart vehement qualms of conscience and to move us to true contrition and penance. How great are our obligations toward this true friend who thus warns us of evil, chastises us and fills us with anxiety when we have done wrong!
  12. THEY PRAY WITH US AND FOR US
    Holy Scripture clearly teaches that the Angels pray in our behalf. The Prophet Zacharias, speaking of the supplicating Angels who were watching over Jerusalem, says, “The angel of the Lord answered, and said: ‘O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda?’ ” [Zach. 1: 12]. 
    And the Archangel Saint Raphael said to Tobias, “When thou didst pray with tears . . . I offered thy prayer to the Lord.” [Tob. 12: 12]. 
    St. Augustine says: “The Angels pray for us, not as if God did not know our needs, but the sooner to obtain for us the gift of His mercy and to secure for us the blessings of His grace.”
    On one occasion, while assisting at Holy Mass with special fervor, St. Gertrude was rapt in ecstasy. In this state she saw her Guardian Angel bearing her prayers to the throne of the Divine Majesty, presenting them to the three Divine Persons and imploring them to hear her petitions. The prayer of the Guardian Angel was accepted and Gertrude was blessed by each Person of the Godhead.
    St. Bernard frequently admonished his disciples to conduct themselves in an edifying manner in the performance of their devotional exercises, lest their Guardian Angels, who took part in them, should withdraw. 
    “How happy you would be,” he exclaimed, “if you could see how they hasten to join those who sing the Psalms and with what reverential bearing they remain among them! They assist those who pray and meditate. With great solicitude they go back and forth between God and us, bearing our sighs to the throne of God. Let us therefore strive earnestly to make their joy complete.”
    It is related that St. Gregory of Tours and others who slept at the time of prayer received a blow from their Guardian Angel. 
    The histories of religious orders recount many instances of holy souls being awakened by their Angels for prayer in the morning and being punished by them for small faults, such as not rising immediately or not giving themselves to meditation with sufficient fervor.

RECOMMENDED DAILY PRAYERS

GUARDIAN ANGEL PRAYER
Angel of God, my Guardian dear,
To whom His love commits me here;
Ever this day (night) be at my side,
To light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.

SAINT MICHAEL EXORCISM PRAYER

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

We will certainly need the help of the good Angels, along with the Saints in Heaven to spiritually and materially survive the increasing tribulations in the world.  According to several, things will be ‘heating up’ in the world, worst than the Canadian wildfires, beginning in October.  Keep praying the daily Rosary (all 15 decades if possible) and never compromise the True Catholic Faith.

AVE  MARIA!
Father Joseph Poisson

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Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://ourladyofmountcarmelusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Consecration-to-Immaculate-Heart-by-Our-Lady-of-Mt.-Carmel-SSPX-Marian-Corps.pdf

Featured Sermon
Given By His Excellency Bishop Pfeiffer

Consecration of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel to Immaculate Heart of Mary
http://ourladyofmountcarmelusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Consecration-to-Immaculate-Heart-by-Our-Lady-of-Mt.-Carmel-SSPX-Marian-Corps.pdf

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