Church teaching - angels

[emile2]

Thank you for this forum. My question - can the angels hear our thoughts? I would hope our guardian angels can for the sake of silent communing with them. If so, however, does it mean the bad angels can hear them, too (which I hope is not the case)? Thank you.

 

[dranzal]

I hope somebody more qualified than I am can answer this question for you. I don’t know what sources to consult for this information, but I believe that the official teaching is that they cannot hear our thoughts unless we deliberately direct thoughts to them. They can put thoughts in our head, and the evil ones can put temptations there, but they cannot just read everything that’s going on it them. Sometimes it seems like they can, but that’s because they are watching us close, and know humanity very well. Also, the good ones have God on their side, who does know our thoughts.

Again, I hope somebody more qualified can give a more official answer, because this is a good question. Also, if anybody has a source they could mention so we know where we could turn to look this up?

 

[glenaitken]

Dranzal has the right idea. They can read our thoughts only when we want them to, or if God decides that it is a good idea. there are two books that I would recommend on the subject:

1. Peter Kreeft’s angels and demons book
2. Ancient Wisdom on Spiritual warfare in the Modern Age- Glen Aitken- visit lulu.com (me)
   they do a lot of other cool things too! the demons essentially work the saqme way as the angels because they have the same kind of nautre, but they do not have grace to aid them. THey are really more restricted than most people realize

 

[fatherjackhaket]

angels!!! thats nearly as mad as that thing about the loaves and the fishes

 

[glenaitken]

angels!!! thats nearly as mad as that thing about the loaves and the fishes

What do you mean? Are you denying the existance of angels and the miracles of Christ? I saw that your profile said you are Catholic. Catholics believe in both of these things. I Don’t understand your comment. It seems to be jibberish to me.

 

[fatherjackhaket]

come your not supposed to take it seriously i mean its only a laugh

 

[NPC]

come your not supposed to take it seriously i mean its only a laugh

With a name like Fatherjackhaket, I presume you’re giving the Fr Ted Crilly response… or maybe Fr Dougal… a Fr Jack response would most certainly not be appropriate on CAF!!

Seriously though, I would agree with the previous posters (except Fr Jack - sorry). One can certainly talk with their guardian angel, and I would expect that they can hear our thoughts too, as Dranzal said, if that is who we direct them to. Unfortunately, just as God has His helpers in the angels, so too does Satan, and they will try their best to oppose the good guidance given by the angel of God. Also, the Church does believe in Guardian Angels- there is apparently a day set aside each year to honour the angels - October 2nd. Scripture contains many references to angels and their relationship with people. St Pio also had great trust in his guardian angel and he encouraged people to talk to their angel. (There is a good book I read some time ago about Pio and the Guardian Angels - it’s called Send Me Your Guardian Angel, authored by Fr Alessio.)

 

[CentralFLJames]

I have read that only spoken words are subject to being heard by the demonic beings (fallen angels). But we can take in confidence that God does not permit our good conscious words nor our spiritual words spoken through our personal relationship with His Holy Spirit and intended for Him alone (prayer) to be heard by demonic beings. However, idle words, gossip, slander, rumor, etc. are all instantly heard since this is willful conversation taken outside of God’s kingdom and protection. This is why Christians should avoid these behaviors since demons will leverage this kind of talk to further seperate us from God and take it as essentially “prayer to the devil.” We invite an escalation of spiritual warfare against ourselves any time we do this.

Angelic beings were created as beings of pure intellect. They do not need to “reason” as we human beings do. They just “know” instantly “the situation” without having to consciously access it. Fallen angels also retain a portion of that original pure intellectual nature and can derive the state of our minds and souls from our actions and what we say. We can be certain that God protects all private conversation and thoughts that are directed to His will or good intentions. But we can also assume the devil and his minions who are all over the planet waiting for us to step outside God’s protective grace to instantly pick up on any evil thoughts or intentions and seek to exploit that to pull us further away from God. Our guardian angel(s) will intervene to prevent an evil exploitation when its clear that it was a mistake of thought or word. But they will not override our right to free choice nor the consequences that God may permit Satan to apply unless we repent and ask for forgiveness.

We are all in constant spiritual warfare and our angels are always trying to fend off temptations from demons and other evil entities but do not have permission from God to intervene against our elected free will. Thus prayer and blessed articles with associated protections becomes an important and necessary spiritual weapon to carry with us at all times since its easy to stumble if we get off the narrow path to trip up on the many temptations that are all over as snares.

But its better to be on offense than on defense in my opinion. Pray proactively for such things as God’s mercy and peace on the whole planet (Divine Mercy Devotion and Rosary with Fatima devotions etc.). We need to think of ourselves individually more as God’s warriors rather than as wounded and suffering souls who can do nothing but ask for God’s help for ourselves. Go on offense!

This short prayer (part of the Holy Face Devotion) is especially effective in invoking instant fear in God’s enemies to scatter them:

“Arise O Lord and let Thy enemies be scattered and let them that hate Thee flee from before Thy Face.”

James

 

[Mattcos]

I have recently see the Exorcism of Emily Rose. I don’t know if this is a true story, however, the end credits claim that it is. Therefore, based on this assumption, Emily didn’t want to be possessed, but she was until her death at age 19. If our guardian angles are supposed to protect us where was hers?

Here is another question. In the case of possession, why wouldn’t holy communion immediately destroy all demonic forces in ones body, as this is the body and blood of Jesus?

I believe, that Jesus’ taught us that love is a large part of his lasting commandment. Why couldn’t the prayers of the ones that loved Emily save her from possession. Is the power of love somewhat limited in the case of possession?

I have a lot of questions about these matters I thought that you might be able to shed some light on them for me.

Thanks,

Mattcos

 

[NPC]

Mattcos,

Firstly, I think ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’ is based on a true story. I have never seen it, but I have heard that the focus is really on a court case which followed rather than the exorcism itself… I’d say the topic is discussed in some form on CAF.

It’s tough to answer the question ‘where was her Guardian Angel’ just as it is for someone to as ‘where was God’ when such-and-such happened. Remember that God told Moses that he was to heed the angel that was sent to him, because the angel had been given authority by God. So if an angel is doing God’s work and we question the angel, we question God. While we cannot know the mind of God in such circumstances - the question of why bad things happen to good people- we are to trust in his wisdom. It happened for a reason, but we cannot p(name removed by moderator)oint the reason. As I said, I have not seen the film, but I often think when certain tragedies and trials such as this occur God could be using such people as a means of causing others to live out Christian values. For example - in the case of a tragic car accident it is amazing how the whole community rallies around the affected family. In such cases little squabbles they had no longer matter, they do whatever they can to help each other and the family, they turn to God in prayer… Although it doesn’t take away from the tragedy, tragedy can be a unifying experience. As to why God allows possession to take place, I don’t think we can know - some people open themselves to it by partaking in occult practices, while those who are so close to God (as St Pio and St John Vianney were) frequently experience demonic attacks since Satan wants to lure all away from God- and the one’s Satan is most in danger of losing are those who are very close to God.

Regarding giving Holy Communion to the possessed person- since Christ is truly present, infinite graces can be gained by those who receive. However, as far as I know, giving Communion to a possessed person is discouraged since the person will often not voluntarily receive (because of the demon’s fear of Christ), and so there is a danger that the Body of Christ might be abused if given to the afflicted person. Also, the demon will often ‘lie low’ and give the impression that the person has been liberated, thus tricking the family and exorcist into believing that the ordeal is over (and then Communion can be given), but often the demon will then return once the family have fallen for his deception. That is why it is constant prayer that is recommended, the Body of Christ is too precious for one to take the risk. Prayer and fasting are the main tools for the exorcist, but they themselves will get strength from the Eucharist.

I hope this answers your questions somewhat, although I’m sure others can give a more substantial response…

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Thank you for this forum. My question - can the angels hear our thoughts? I would hope our guardian angels can for the sake of silent communing with them. If so, however, does it mean the bad angels can hear them, too (which I hope is not the case)? Thank you.

No, angels cannot “read our minds”. We can intentionally communicate silently with them.