Angels

In medieval times, cosmology was dominated by two main influences: the teaching of the Catholic Church and the writings of the ancient Greek astronomer, Ptolemy. In the medieval conception, the sun and the stars revolve around the flat earth in their fixed spheres, moved by the minds of the angels, who themselves obey the will of God. Thus for instance we have the famous last line concluding Dante's 'Divina Commedia': 'l'amor che move l'sole e altre stelle' ( the Love that moves the sun and other stars).

All this was overthrown by the theories and discoveries of Copernicus, Tycho, Kepler, Galileo and Newton--i.e. the scientific revolution. And in the 20th century, our spacecraft blasted into space, without meeting any angels or smashing any heavenly 'sphere' that keeps the stars in their place, and the scientific cosmology of a cold and impersonal universe was established without question. Angels disappear from our science and our worldview. From being the delegated rulers and guardians of the universe, they go the way of gremlins and the bogeyman.

Angels of course survive in the minds of the religious. But the discredit of the cosmology of angels and the general assault of modern thought have put most of the faithful on the defensive. Justifying the existence of God is difficult enough, not to mention the swarms of heavenly beings that happen to float around and co-exist with us.

The numerous biblical accounts of angelic actions and visitations provide but tantalizing hints of their actions and operations. In any case, few Christians will pay much attention to angelic issues, regarding these as either too 'new age' or perhaps a distraction from God. Indeed while almost all Christians will believe in the idea of personal 'guardian angels', few will have anything at all to do with them. These poor guardians are quite simply ignored, often in the name of avoiding idolatry.

Yet Christians believe in God the Word, the infinite Energy who holds in himself the ultimate form of all divine qualities: Love, Power, Light, Wisdom, Peace etc. Human beings embody these divine qualities finitely and to different extents: some more wise, others more loving and some more inclined to power and rule etc. In our spiritual life, we are called to become more and more the 'temple of God', or in other words to bring forth the quality and gift that God wishes to manifest in us.

The angels can be understood as beings who are already the pristine vessels and mirrors of the Word, each of them clearly embodying some unique aspect and glory of Godhead. Thus the old medieval conception of the different choirs of angels, each choir being a group of angels specialising in some divine quality, e.g. cherubim as the wisest of angels, seraphims as the ones who burn most with love and so on.

Taking all this together, it takes no great leap of thought to see that our guardian angels are probably divine vessels that are akin to our potential selves, i.e. if we are meant to be cherubic folks with light and wisdom being our dominant gifts, then cherubic angels or even cherubims will be our guardians. The guardian serves as the spiritual inspiration and temple that channels the infinite energy of Christ in a way most suited to our potential development.

Thus instead of being irrelevant, angels serve as the instruments who bring close the Presence of God--and specifically to the very Aspect most attractive and relevant to us.