REFLECTIONS

God, Angels, And Us

Feast of the Blessed Trinity

Fr. Johnny C. Go, SJ

Mary the Queen Parish

11 June 2006

Posted Tuesday, 13-Jun-2006 10:24 AM    

     Let’s talk about angels and human beings.  I will give you four statements comparing ourselves to angels. I want you to answer “True or False”—quietly to yourself.  Let’s see how much you know about angels.

     First:  We have physical bodies; angels don’t.  True or False?

     No. 2:  We are finite beings (meaning, we are limited); angels are infinite

                beings.  True or False?

     No. 3:  We are created beings; angels are not.   True or False?

     No. 4:  We live in space and time; angels don’t.  True or False?

     Let’s check our own answers.  The first statement is True. Obviously, we have physical bodies, and angels don’t.  We are partly physical and partly spiritual beings, while angels are purely spiritual beings.  And because we have bodies, we are creatures of space and time, and angels are not.  So statement # 4 is also True.

     What about statements no. 2 and 3?  Actually, they are both False.  Even if angels have no physical bodies, and just because they are not limited by space and time, they are still finite and limited precisely because like us, angels have been created by God.

     If we will construct a table comparing angels and human beings, this is how it will look:

     Angels and human beings are similar in that both are created beings and therefore, finite.

     Angels and human beings are different in that angels are purely spiritual beings who are not limited by space and time, while we are have both spirit and body, so we are partly spiritual and partly physical, and are creatures of space and time.

     Now, what will happen if we include God in this comparative study?  How would God compare to angels and human beings?  I think the table will look something like this:  Unlike angels and human beings, God is the only Being Who is both Uncreated and Infinite.  But like angels and unlike us, God is purely spiritual and is not limited by space and time.

     Now, you may ask :  “Is there something that God, angels, and human beings have in common?”  The answer is “Of course!”  God made angels and human beings like himself in that like Him, angels and human beings have both intellect and free will:  Like God, angels and human beings can think and choose for themselves.

     But there’s an interesting difference between how people exercise their free will and how angels do it.  We human beings are limited by space and time, so usually we’re not capable of making a final definitive decision about God that will determine our fate in the afterlife.  Our fate in the afterlife—whether it’s eternal happiness or hell—will be determined not by one single choice, but by the sum of our daily decisions in life.  This can be deceptive because we may forget that every minor choice we make shapes that final decision that will determine the kind of eternity that we will have.

     On the other hand, angels are not limited by space and time, so they are capable of making a final and definitive decision about whether they accept God or reject Him.  That’s why with just one choice, the angel Lucifer is transformed because he turns his back to God irrevocably and eternally.

     Anyway, so far we’ve seen the similarities between angels and human beings.  We’ve also seen the similarities between God and angels—and even the similarities between God, angels, and human beings.  But what about similarities between God and human beings?  Do we have anything in common with God that angels don’t?  In other words, when the book of Genesis said that God created man and woman out of His image, is there something akin to the divine that is unique and peculiar to human beings?  It can’t just be intellect and free will because as we saw, these have been given to angels too.

     When I studied philosophy some years ago, I read St. Thomas Aquinas’ “Treatise on Angels.”  You may not know this, but Aquinas practically wrote a term paper about angels.   In that treatise, he makes a fantastic claim about angels that I think can help us answer our question.

     As we know, every individual human person is a member belonging to the species “human beings.”  For example, Jack and Jill are individuals, and they both belong to the species “human beings”: They resemble one another, but are distinct individuals.  Jack and Jill are individuals belonging to the species “human beings”: They are distinct and equal.

     This is true for all material beings, whether living or non-living.  For example, there is the species “dogs,” and there are individual dogs that exist in the world—members of that species that are alike in many ways, but are distinct from one another.  So you can have a huge dog named Brownie, and someone else has a smaller dog named Fifi.  Brownie and Fifi are members of the species “dog”:  They are distinct and equal.

     This is true because Jack, Jill, Spot, and Fifi are all material beings, and they have matter.  They have physical bodies, and it is matter that creates individuals out of members of their respective species.  Hence, within every species, there is equality and distinction among the members.

     Based on this, Aquinas then makes his fantastic claim about angels:   He says that since angels have no matter, each angel is its own distinct species.  In other words, there are as many species of angels as there are individual angels.  For example, the angel Gabriel is not only an individual angel belong to a species “angels,” but is an entire species of angels in himself. The same is true for the angels Michael, Rafael, and every other unnamed angel in creation.  Unlike us, angels are species in themselves.  According to St. Thomas, they are distinct but are not equal.

     Now, what about God?  Today we celebrate the Feast of the Blessed Trinity symbolized by this icon created by Andrei Rublev. According to this incomprehensible doctrine, there are three Persons in one God:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  What are their characteristics?  According to the doctrine, there are three essential characteristics:  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct from one another, equal to one another,—and one with one another!  In other words, within the one Godhead is a community of three equal and distinct Divine Persons.

     At this point, we can go back to that problem we stated earlier:  “Do human beings have anything in common with God that angels don’t?”  It seems that the answer is yes.   The Divine Persons in the Blessed Trinity are distinct, equal, and one.    From St. Thomas Aquinas’s theory of angels, each angel is a species in himself; hence, though they are distinct, they are not equal.  However, like the Divine Persons in the Trinity, though for completely different reasons, we human beings are also distinct and equal.  It would seem then that we humans are capable of building community in a way and to the degree that angels, given their nature, cannot.  We are called to become one in spite of our distinction from one another and precisely because of our equality with one another.

     Let’s end with three questions to think about on this Feast of the Blessed Trinity based on the three characteristics of the Divine Persons:

     First:  Distinction from Others:  Do I celebrate the gift of uniqueness that God has given me?  Or do I, for some reason, reject it?

     Second, Equality with Others:  Do I treat others as truly my equal—especially those different from me or considered inferior to me? 

     Third, Unity with Others:  Do I accept God’s call for me to build community with others?  Or is it simply lip-service or a game of charades for me?

     Let us examine our lives, identify where we need to grow, and on this Feast of the Blessed Trinity, ask the Triune God for that grace.

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