Introduction:

The angels in the heavenly kingdom are pure spirits created by the Most High God. He is love and he created them in love. They are beings of immense intelligence, perfect spirits who are full of the power of God's Holy Spirit. This means they excel in righteousness and desire only to serve God and to do what is good and just for us. They are the eternal flames which are mentioned in scripture (Heb 1:7). Their life force is constant from the day of their creation - they need no sustenance. The Catechism states that "With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God." And this is so true. Every single aspect of their being is designed to serve God; it's the way they were made.

There is no pride in them, no disorder, no jealousy, no envy, no havoc, no chaos, nothing unholy - they are all without fault.  We know from scripture that love desires nothing for itself. Therefore, their creation can have been nothing other than an unselfish act on behalf of God - to which the angels have responded with their generosity, their charity and their love of the Most High God. It is of them to whom the psalmist refers when he says “He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire.” The flames of love in their hearts burn like a furnace for God. It is a depth of love that we, unknowingly, have desired all our lives. And we will not be complete until we too become servants who are flames of fire.

The angel host is obedient to the Most High because they have turned their faces towards him completely. However, there was a time when some of the angels made the ascent to pride. The result was their ruin. These turned away from God because they deigned to be something other than what God desired. They chose not to serve and cannot and will not turn back. They are now known as fallen angels and are opposed to all that is of God.

Our human perspective:

There are many suppositions concerning angels. Some correct, some erroneous. An example of the latter is that we die and become angels. This would be impossible because humans and angels are two totally different species. We are human, they are spirit. Nevertheless, there is a certain amount of overlap which means we can relate to them and they can relate to us.

The truth is that angels are magnificent supernatural beings who reflect God's glory and wield great power.  They have knowledge beyond our understanding and every single one of our brother angels knows exactly how much God loves him. The psalmist describes them well when he says that they excel in strength, that they fulfil his commands and hearken unto the voice of his word.

And they number beyone trillions. There are armies, legions; a countless number which is beyond our ability to comprehend. They fill the Universe and order the Cosmos.

They are messengers and defenders of the realm to whom God has assigned specialist tasks. They are also ministering spirits and warriors. Evidence for the latter comes from the scripture where we find Jesus in Gethsemane where he can be heard stating that, at his request, God the Father would put at his disposal more than twelve legions of angels.

Consider this carefully: "put at my disposal", "more than", "twelve legions".

Although this provides evidence of the power of the angels. It also illuminates Jesus's authority over the angels and highlights the fact that he was the heralded Messianic one of whom the prophets spoke. The one who would save us from our sins.

Matthew 24:31 provides further evidence of how closely the angelic ministry is linked to Christ's salvic mission. "At his command they will gather God's people at the end of time." The angels do not want to return empty handed so they have a vested interest in our lives.

Angels were created before us and there is a school of thought which believes that a great deal of knowledge was infused into them at the moment they were brought to consciousness i.e. awakened into the light and love of God. It was therefore - at some point - revealed that God was to take human form in Jesus. Being born of a woman, who was a lower order creature, meant that Lucifer, an Archangel of the highest rank, would have had to serve God in the form of a mere man. He therefore rejected this at the moment of his creation, tempted many angels from God and asked for his own realm. Which Almighty God supplied.

Another theory is that the angels enjoyed God's continued favour for millennia upon millennia and that both Michael and Lucifer were friends. However, when the extent of angelic intervention in our lives was revealed to Lucifer it resulted in his refusal to serve. Being bound by pride and unable to except God in human form, he rebelled and tempted many angels with their independence. There was war between the angels and we know the subversive ones went to Hell because it is written that "The angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling — these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day".

This was a disaster in angelic history. Referred to as the "Great Temptation", many strayed from within the limits of their own principalities. Because an angel's knowledge is so perfect, and they see things so acutely, it meant that their decision was taken in the full knowledge that it would be eternal. Put simply, the obedient angels chose with their whole beings to serve God whereas the disobedient angels chose to oppose his will. With Lucifer they were then formally banished from the heavenly realm.

What affect this had on the choir of Archangels is not known. But one can hazard a guess. For more information go to: https://www.beingacatholic.co.uk/gabriel-came-in-place-of-lucifer

In his goodness and generosity, God rewarded the angels who chose him with a deeper relationship and gave himself to them in a more intimate relationship. They now no longer have to live by faith but behold him face to face in the beatific vision. Their wills are now - by their choice - fixed in goodness. They have no wish, no desire, to sin.

It is more likely that the second of these two theories is more accurate because it would be highly unlikely that an angel would make the ascent to pride after having been brought into the fullness of God.

We know these angels are submissive to Almighty God and enjoy his friendship and that they are the spiritual beings whose love for him could not be quenched by the Evil One - who courted them with promises of their own self-governance (which was obviously a lie). We know there are a great number of them - "myriad"  (Hebrews 12:22).

The church teaches that there are approximately 9 choirs of angels and that Archangels form part of this angelic heirarchy. We know that angels have names because Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are spoken of in scripture. Christian and Jewish traditions both hold the belief that there are seven of these Princes. However, it is more likely that there are many many more - thousands, maybe even millions.

We are not fully sure of the role of Archangels but since they are so close to God we must never underestimate their power - particularly Michael as his name translates to being "One Whom is Likened unto God". When one considers this, one realises that his name signifies tremendous strength, ability and knowledge - as well as humility.  As God is unfathomable then we must assume that Michael too has tremendous depths. It will be the same with the other Archangels. What we do know is that all of the Archangels have particular charisms. Prince Raphael, for example, is noted for his healing. His name, after all, translates to God Heals. It's believed that he was responsible for disturbing the waters in the Pool of Bethesda. One of the gifts of Prince Raphael is healing tears. These are the same tears which the Holy Spirit brings during healing. Hence Raphael's name: God's Healing.

Although all wield sceptres of divine power, one of their defining characteristics is their great humility and allegiance to one another and to God. To see Lucifer separate himself from their ranks would have been felt very deeply.

It is similar for us when we witness the fall of a soul into the ways of the Evil One. And many have fallen.

To see us in such great numbers willingly separating ourselves from God is something which is also felt very deeply by our angelic brothers. The Archangel Michael himself was once quoted as saying: "Of all the earthbound creatures, you are the only ones capable of grasping the concept of God...  And yet you choose not to!" It is a fact that he is amazed that so many of God's children actively - and sometimes so vehemently - despise and deny their God.

Our downfall is not too dissimilar to the angels - and those ruined souls are a terrible sight.

As mentioned earlier, the angels and Archangels coexist in a hierarchy which includes the likes of Seraphim, Thrones and Principalities. Each angel is a totally unique species i.e. he is one of a kind. It must be noted though, that higher and lower orders do not mean the same to them as they do to us.

Every angel holds rank. He is (his name) from the rank of the... (his rank). Just like a soldier in an earth-bound army. God's kingdom is one of order and the Celestial Hierarchy is designed by God's hand which means it is not yet within our current ability to fully fathom.

Although called to obedience, they a free beings. They, like us, have free will, opinions, likes, dislikes and preferences and all of them have their own very unique sense of humour.

We would be well served if we remember that, when we speak to others, their angels constantly behold the face of Almighty God. This is because they are - by virtue of their nature and their wills - able to be in more than one place at any one time.  What this means is that they can be fully conscious of us whilst also being before Almighty God as well as being engaged elsewhere in God's kingdom. They are not limited to one dimension nor are they limited when communicating with other angels or people.

Multi-tasking barely sums up angelic ability.

If you would like an in-depth explanation of the angels then Pope Jean Paul 11 wrote a Catechesis on them. You can find it here:

The work of the Holy Angels.

Angels are totally involved in working for God.  They have been fully integrated into his plans for us since before the beginning of the Universe which, itself, is estimated to be in the region of 14 billion years old. At its genesis the angels were given God's blueprint for its formation which would ultimately result in our creation. Our angelic brothers were there when God created the fabric of time and space. They understood fully that our physical essence would be formed from the stars. It was their job to oversee the formation of the uncountable number of galaxies and to fine tune everything for our existence. They undertook this work in joyful service for the greater glory of God.

This is inline with the writing of St Thomas Aquinas who stated that all things material are governed by the angelic heirarchy. Through his teaching he guides us into the understanding that the whole material universe is moved, arranged and sequenced by the angelic orders which consist of a countless multitude. The reason why creation is so perfect is because the angels cannot be in error concerning their judgement or execution of any task. Unlike us, they do not make mistakes.

As God's people we can achieve some success with comprehending the concept of an almost boundless magnitude of angels if we allow ourselves to  meet the fact that at least one guardian angel is responsible for each star. If we look at this 'locally' and take the tally of stars in the Triangulum galaxy for example (which is around 40 billion), and then add to these the 100 - 400 billion stars in our own Milky Way galaxy then we can start to form a picture. However, once we address the fact that there are around 1 trillion stars in the Andromeda galaxy then things can start to get a little out of focus. It then becomes more difficult for us to grapple with the notion of the sheer expanse of God's angelic host when we meditate on the fact that the mass of stars estimated in the known Universe is possibly around 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. However, this really is just an estimate. It's likely that this approximation is even higher. It may be a fact that there is no cardinal figure to which we can relate which is sufficient to number the angels or the stars.

As a side note: If we reflect for a moment that the sum of people so far who are estimated to have lived on this planet could be in the region of 117 billion then we must consider the fact that being the guardian angel of one of God's children is a very exclusive responsibility.

At some level, all of these angels have always been familiar with the atomic, molecular and the nuclear. They have understood star and galaxy evolution ever since God infused his knowledge into their spiritual intelligences and they have experienced the results of God's creative power for billions upon billions of years. Unlike us, they are capable of knowing the Universe in a very intimate way - and they do. Because they are the physicists who built it.

They knew what was required for the formation of seams of gold and so engineered the necessary supernovae and neutron star collisions. Atoms were fused billions of years ago to form precious metals. The earth's gravitational field was generated and just the right amount of intense heat and pressure beneath the surface of the earth created the diamonds. It's the angels to whom we must give thanks because they set in motion everything necessary for the sun and the sea and the soil. It's to them to whom we must be thankful because without their collaborative efforts we would not have the animal kingdom because they are the ones who sequenced DNA.

They are the voices mentioned in the book of Job which speaks of "morning stars who sang together". The angels are "the sons of God [who] shouted for joy.

Our angelic brothers carried out God's plan with precision and they still work because - just as red giants fade - new stars are continually being created. Amongst their duties and responsibilities they also inspire and influence us. Their activity and creativity is totally interwoven with ours. It has to be as we are so dependent on God - who is in constant communication with his angels. There is a continuous transmission, imparting, conveying, reporting, presenting and relaying of information, knowledge, commands and requests between the angels and also between the angels and the Trinity. 

Put simply, we would not survive without angels. 

The morning stars who shouted for joy still control the cosmos. They unleash the mighty comets and hurl fiery meteorites across space. The holy angels of God maintain his creation and keep order in the night sky: Triangulum, the constellation of Orion and the planet Venus are visible only because the angels make them so. And it's the angels who will oversee the collision predicted between the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy in approximately 4.5 billion years from now. 

God's flaming sentinels understand the inner most working of black holes, gamma ray bursts and energetic explosions. And they desire fellowship with us and wish to help us understand God's creation in a way which is particular to each one of us.

It's the work of the holy angels and Archangels to bring about the fulfillment of the promises made by Almighty God (Isaiah 55:11). It's to them to whom we must turn for prosperity. They walk the journey of life with us in the same way Prince Raphael did with Tobias: protecting, delivering, advising and offering the hand of friendship.

It's the holy angels who will crown us when we enter God's glory.

Guardian angels. (feast day: 2nd October)

"Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared."

We know we are given angels because Jesus speaks of them in scripture. In Matthew 18:10 he says in relation to children "Beware of ever despising one of these little ones, for I tell you that in Heaven their angels have continual access to my Father who is in Heaven."

These don't desert us just because we get older.

There are many references to angel guardianship in scripture but the main one to which many refer as evidence is psalm 91: "he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways".

We are assured of their protection because scripture tells us that the angels will lift us up in their hands, so that we will not hurt ourselves.

The Cosmic Liar himself - of course - knew this portion of scripture well and even tried to use it. He tried to tempt Jesus to the false ego because he understood that Jesus was watched over by God's angelic beings. We know this because it is written that ministering spirits came to him after the temptation in the wilderness: "Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him."

Guardian angels consider their role to be a great honour and - to a degree - take on our form. We know this because, in Acts 12, Rhoda the servant girl announced that it was Peter at the door. To which their reply was "It can't be, it must be his angel". Put simply, this is because Peter's angel was not too dissimilar to Peter.

It is not known whether our Guardian angels appear like us from the moment of their creation or from the time Almighty God asks them to step forward to perform their task. Needless to say, this is complex and requires immense intelligence, power, humility and love. The work of guardian angels is vastly under-estimated and guardianship comes at great personal cost to each one of these disciplined spirits. We know this because we know that love is sacrificial.

In catholic culture (alongiside other denominations) we celebrate these Lords of the Celestial Realm. We name churches after them and we have a feast day once a year as a memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels. We've officially honoured guardian angels since the 4th century. If anything, the Holy Guardian Angels are worthy of honour because of their small number. They are a very exclusive band of brothers. This is because we only number into the hundreds of billions whereas  the overall number of angels could run into the octillions. It is a fact, therefore, that comparably, our number is very small. Even if the earth survives for another 200,000 years we will ever be equal in number to the angels as we will only ever run into the hundreds of billions - perhaps a trillion (if we consider the children who die in the womb or in early infancy).

Being a guardian angel of one of God's children is such a exclusive responsibility. It's to the guardian angels that we have such a debt of gratitude.

These guardian angels are acutely aware of our circumstances in life. They know every intimate detail. It is, as Our Lord says, that every hair on our heads have all been counted. Therefore it's very important that we consider our angels in our everyday life. We must speak to them and ask advice. Important matters such as relationships, work and difficult times should be things we bring before our angels. They speak the language of love and are steeped in wisdom. It is to them to whom we must turn should we wish to develop greater empathy and understanding of others. Including animals.

We know that buildings and places of work have Guardian angels and that towns, cities and churches also have them. Evidence for this is found in Revelations we find that the churches of Sardis, Philadelphia (Asia Minor)  and Laodicea having letters actually addressed to their angels.

The angels see us as being so dependent on God. And we are. We really are the children of God. 

Therefore, you'll do yourself a great service if you regularly reflect on the fact that your Guardian angel was there when Christ was born. He also saw Satan fall like a bolt of lightening from Heaven. He sees things you can't and he has perfect knowledge. So ask him to help you get into a relationship with him and ask him to help you get closer to God.

He is beautiful and he loves you. He has prepared for a long time for this and he's here to protect you, look out for you, advise you and fight your corner. He sees Satan as a defeated foe and will help you to understand how the enemy is in a losing battle.

And try not to sin. Because when you do he sees the damage it does. His desire is to have a deeper relationship with you but sin impedes this. The sad fact is that Satan laughs at him when you sin. So, always remain in a state of repentence; keep a penitent heart and learn to revere and respect the one who is for you. The words which request forgivenes should never be too far from your lips.

There's nothing to prevent you from bowing to him. It's a sign of respect and it's done in the knowledge that he comes from God and carries his word. You may also place your thanks for him on the altar during mass where it will ascend to courts of the Most High God. And you can, of course, share your Holy Communion with him spiritually.

Ask him to help you grow your bond with him. You can also request him to humiliate you as well. Not in the dictionary sense of the word but in a spiritual way. He can bring you into a greater awareness of who you are and who he is so that you learn to be lowly in the sight of God and in your own eyes. Do bear in mind though, that sometimes he may allow a fallen angel to tempt you. This is to test your commitment to God. But it's done in friendship and love. The book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) speaks much about friendship. For example, the scripture advises us to test a potential friend throughly and to not trust quickly. Your angel wants to know that you won't just be a friend when it's convenient and you're getting what you want. Like God, he will seek to ascertain whether you'll be faithful during temptation or tough times. His friendship is a sturdy shelter. Anyone who has found the friendship of an angel has found wealth beyond measure.

He will always speak the truth so you know he can be relied up to give you insights into how he sees you. Jesus did this for us when he spoke of how we need to become like little children before we enter God's kingdom. Jesus - who had put his Godhead aside to take flesh - knew how much like children we had to become before we could fully enter into his father's house. Our angels can help. Ask them to. They know our traits, weaknesses and strengths. They can help us to see how much like children we are and how dependent on God we really are.

The first step to becoming the children of God is to admit that we are indeed children and that we are part of his family. Angels are our benefactors who come bearing gifts.

And share with him the things which make you laugh. Tell him about the things you wish to do, the places you want to see, the clothes you want to wear. Ask him to come with you. Share your adventures with him. And also the mundane tasks. Run a list by him, mention things in passing to him, talk things through with him and mention to him things you can't find.

You may even discover that things pop into your mind that would not normally. Or you remember things you thought you'd totally forgotten.

When you cry, your angel knows. So share your tears with him too. He can't cry with you but he can weep. You can ask him to sit with you during a meal, you can share with him what you find amusing and when you greet others you can quietly greet their angels.

You can also share prayer time with him. Ask him to share with you the joy of praising God.

You can also make an act of the presence of other angels. When you go into a building, know that it has its Guardian angels. There's nothing stopping you from saying hello or giving them a wave.

When you're attacked by the enemy then call on your angel. Ask him to help you hold your ground and to stand firm. He knows how to do this because he stood his ground during the attack from the Evil One. His discipline helped defeat Satan in the heavenly realm. It's because of this that you know you can trust him to be a formidable ally. You are both fighting the same war. As he has sustained the most ferocious attacks from an Archangel, you know he can tough it out with you.

He knows what it's like to be tempted because Lucifer tempted him once. He resisted and loves God and will help you to resist too. But he will always respect your free will. However, when you do sin, go before the priest in confession and your angel will rejoice when you repent (Luke 15:10).

During periods of sin, don't worry, just bring your plight to a priest as their advice is given in the presence of their two guardian angels. And when you do sin always remember that God is always a merciful and positive God. You may get down about your sin but God doesn't. His ways are not your ways so just repeat the words Laus et Jubilatio. This translates to praise and jubilation. We must always be in this joyful state before God because he is a loving, forgiving and merciful God.

The beautiful thing about the Guardian Angel is that your relationship carries on with him into the next life and it's eternal. By this time you will definitely know his name, where he works and all about him.

Angel communication and collaboration:

God could have quite easily spoken to Mary, Daniel, Joseph and Zechariah personally. But he chose to send Gabriel. "I am Gabriel", replied the angel. "I stand in the presence of God and have been sent to speak to you."

In another instance the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and spoke to him in the depths of his spirit. So we know that angels are very much part of the divine way of doing things. It is clear that they work with him and play a major part in the way creation works and is balanced.

It is believed that we vastly underestimate the amount of angelic influence in our lives. So much so that many people believe that God has spoken to them when in fact it's their Guardian angel.

There are others who think they have been brought into the presence of God or who have felt some kind of holy anointing when what's actually happened is that their angel has given them spiritual consolation. This is why it's so important to pray for the gift of discernment of spirits.

Remember, angels are so beautifully holy and close to God that their voices can sometimes be mistaken for the Holy Spirit himself.

They do speak directly to us though; this is part of the gift of locution.

Angels can choose to speak to you with a voice either internally or externally. The church teaches that we are mind, body, soul and spirit. Therefore, in the case of internal communication this will be heard through the spiritual element to our minds - as with all locutions. Alternatively they can communicate in the same way they do with other angels and infuse knowledge or prompt us. But which ever way they choose, they do it only with the permission of Almighty God. No angel or demon is permitted discourse of his own volition.

Do bear in mind though, that angel communication is not always gentle. Peter's angel struck him on the side to wake him and yours is quite within his rights to do the same or similar to you. 

But this is as nothing in comparison to the situation where the hand of the angel was found poised and ready to destroy Jerusalem as depicted in the book of Samuel. At God's word he withdrew his hand which means that a single angelic act of will is sufficient to destroy cities in their entirety.

What this translates to is that an angel will act in total obedience to his God and no physical act of man is sufficient to stay his hand. In view of who they are you would not be causing God offence if you were to refer to an angel as Lord, Holy Angel or My Lord. We must take as our reference the book of Judges where we find the Angel sitting under the oak tree and then appearing to the wheat threshing Gideon.

Here we see Gideon referring to him as Lord. When we listen to the dialogue between Gideon and the Angel we realise that he is speaking as God.

The worship of Angels:

Although they are very beautiful, powerful and influential, it is not permitted to worship angels: We know this because when John fell down at the feet of the angel who had revealed the things to him he was immediately admonished and told to worship only God. Jesus also tells us that we must worship God and serve him alone. However, we must consider and reflect on how close the angels are to God, how much they give him glory and how very much like him they are.

This intimacy can be witnessed in the book of Genesis. Consider how the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham whilst he was on the mountain with Isaac (Gen 22:11). Again he speaks as God and for God.

The interchangeability between God and the Angel of the Lord is also found in Exodus (3:2) because the angel of the LORD can be seen appearing to Moses as a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. In this passage Moses physically sees the Angel of the Lord. Here the angel spoke in God's name and with his absolute authority. He spoke for God and as God. This should come as no surprise to us because this is a trait apparent in all God's saints. The angels's exact words were "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Clouds above the Red Sea

It is then written that the Angel of the Lord was to go ahead of Israel to guide them. However, when they arrived at the Red Sea we witness God and the angel working together as both move from the front of the camp to the rear as a way of separating his children from the Egyptians. This is the angel of whom God spoke when he told Israel he was sending him and that they were to listen to his word and to be obedient to him. This is an angel who made his presence known and who really did speak to them.

There is little doubt and most people now believe that it was the Angel of the Lord to whom Moses spoke on Mount Sinai when he was given the ten commandments. Evidence to support this comes from Galatians where Paul speaks of the law being given to us by angels. "It was administered through angels by a mediator." We know this is with reference the angel being the administrator and Moses being the mediator. Furthermore, in Acts 7, we see Stephen making it quite clear that it was indeed an angel who spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Nevertheless, for those who may still doubt whether the commandments were given by an angel then a quote from the Litany of the Angels makes it abundantly clear. 

"Who delivered the Divine Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, pray for us".

Mount Sinai

Moreover, we also witness the Angel of the Lord in the book of Zechariah speaking as God and for God. But this is perfectly permissible as Elohim is a name for God but it can also be applied to any of the angels. The difference is that God is the Elohim of Elohim. This sets him apart because he is the Father of all fathers.

In sum, this is the extent of the relationship which the angels have with God. They can indeed speak as him. They are father-like to us, have a deeply intimate relationship with the Most High and possess strength which is way beyond ours. So much so that the psalmist refers to them as being masters in power. They fullfil God's mighty word and speak the language of God's perfect love. To be aware of the closeness of the angels in relationship to God is to see how much of a gift from God they really are. But it's also an indication of how close we will be when we come into our inheritance. After all: they will be like the angels (Mark12:25).

The moment God wills it is the moment an angel attends to it.

For confirmation of this we hear Daniel who says: As I was praying, Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came swiftly to me at the time of the evening sacrifice. He explained to me, “Daniel, I have come here to give you insight and understanding. The moment you began praying, a command was given. And now I am here to tell you what it was, for you are very precious to God.”

Daniel 9:21–23

Here Gabriel speaks to the world: "For you are very precious to God". Gabriel also spoke to Zechariah and Mary and various translations of the bible have us hear his word: "Listen". We must listen to the angels, we must walk with them as the Israelites were commanded. As mentioned above, God gave his angel charge over his people during their exodus from Egypt. The full text is as follows "I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him. But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say [and do everything I say], I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.

God makes it clear in the above statement that he will be speaking through his angel.

Our reality must be the same today as that of the Israelites. It must be just as God-centred and our reality must  be based around the truth the angels bring. They are always communicating with God. Not only does God speak through them, he acts through them, supplies through them and loves through them. He can even forgive through them. In Zechariah 3:4 we witness the angel of the Lord even taking away the sin of the high priest Joshua. In Isaiah 6:7 we see the prophet becoming aware of his sinfulness in the presence of the Seraph. One of their order touches him on the lips with a hot coal and forgives his sin. Through this we see that we must learn to become like Isaiah and confess our sins to our angels. If, during prayer, we are honest with ourselves in the presence of God and his angels, we are forgiven. Our angels then lift us up and give us words of comfort.

Angels forgive sins and are also present during mass. During the liturgy, the celebrant petitions the angel of the church to help us present ourselves and our offerings to God. Angels present to God both theirs, the priest's and the people's intentions. Through their assistance, the offering of the bread and wine then become divinised.

It is the special privilege of the Guardian angel of the church to worship Our Lord before the consecrated host and chalice as they are elevated in tandem before the people.

Language: We know from Saint Paul (1 Corinthians 13) that men and angels speak different languages.  "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels..."

Angels speak all languages and they also speak in tongues. Which is the language of God. Anyone who speaks in tongues does not know the meaning, unless they are given the gift of interpretation. But an angel understands what is said in tongues perfectly because he is fluent. The language of God was infused into his mind at the moment of his creation. He is without fault and can therefore communicate with God in the fullness of this language. Although we say we pray in tongues, it's not actually us, it's the Holy Spirit within us who speaks. In the case of angels, it is his own language. 

What we know about angelic communication with us is that an angel does not need words. He can use any means - and frequently does. Some more direct and and forthful than others.

Naming your guardian angel:

Although once a popular practise, the church has now warned against it. In fact, it's actually classified as sinful. We are simply not permitted to name our Guardian angels. This is God's domain only. Angels already have names. If we were the ones who had been given charge over them then it would be within our remit to name them. However, it's the other way round. Should we decide to go naming angels then we over-step our remit. The fact is, God has only allowed us to name each other and the creatures in animal kingdom:

Genesis 2:19: "So out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them".

Genesis 2:20: "The man gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals".

In becoming one of us, Jesus demonstrated his humility. As we are a little lower than the angels then it means that he too - the Son of the Most High God (God himself) - was made (temporarily) lower than the angels. His nature of flesh meant that he was subjected to the same perils, disasters and politics as us. He got up every day and worked a job.  But we must never forget that he was not named by any human. One of God's high ranking angels, Gabriel, came with instructions concerning how Jesus was to be named.

All angelic names in some way reflect God. We may simply not possess sufficient knowledge of the cosmos, heavenly places or history to understand why God has given him his respective name - because his name is related to his nature and the area of his work.  Nevertheless, should the Most High wish you to know the name of your angel then it's guaranteed that he will bring you into the knowledge or relationship required. Should you ask him his name then - as nothing is impossible to God - God may just allow it to be revealed. Just don't expect it to be something like Brian or Norman.

Cornelius, in Acts 10, saw a vision of an angel and here he refers to him as "Lord". Until we know the name of our angel we commit no sin if we do likewise.  We must always bear in mind that the greatest among us will always be a little lower than the most lowly angelic spirit.

When considering whether God would reveal an angelic name we must consider that in Isaiah 9:6, the name of the Son of the Most High God was revealed to us in it's fullness. There are no secrets in heaven and if it was permitted that we should know the name of the Son of God then it is equally permissible to know the name of an angel. After all, Michael, Rapael, Oriel and Gabriel are all Archangels with whom we have familiarity.

When you find yourself alone, in the desert solitude, then take heed of Gabriel's message when he says "Do not be afraid". Remember that you have found favour with God and as the angels came to minister to their Lord in human form they will come to join you. Part of the discipline of the spiritual life is to walk and talk with the angels. After all, this is just a preparation for when we are in heaven and will be as they are (Matt 22:30). 

Prayer to your Guardian angel: 

Angel of God's light, whom God sends as a companion for me on earth, protect me from the snares of the devil, and help me to walk always as a child of God, my Creator.
 
Angel of God's truth, whose perfect knowledge serves what is true, protect me from deceits and temptations. Help me to know the truth, and always to live the truth. 

Angel of God's love, who praises Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, who sacrificed His life for love of us, sustain me as I learn the ways of Divine love, of sacrificial generosity, of meekness and lowliness of heart. 

Thank You, my heavenly friend, for your watchful care. At the moment of my death, bring me to heaven, where the one true God, Who is light, Truth and Love, lives and reigns forever and ever.

Amen.

Couple's prayer to Gabriel.

Pray for us holy Archangel Gabriel and light our way to the heavenly Jerusalem. Bring our petitions before the throne of the Most High God and whilst in adoration before him ask the Holy One to help us to make our sacrifice. Keep our paths illuminated as we journey towards God’s kingdom.