A compelling (and, I realize, old) thread. Thanks to all who posted, I’ve enjoyed reading it.
I was rather recently reconciled from being Protestant to becoming Catholic. I’ve treasured moving from naturalistic assumptions regarding Mary and the communion of the Saints to more consistent views of the roles of our “cloud of witnesses” in glory. This has entailed moving from indifference regarding “guardian angels” to a recognition that I have one. One of the Saints that compels/ convicts me the most has been Padre Pio; I’d heard that he named his guardian angel and sent him (personal pronoun rather than “it,” but not to be taken as masculine
per se) on errands and named him. This intrigued me and led to a few experiences where specific intercessions were answered. Having heard that I ought to, I did ask for a name, but it felt presumptuous; there was no intelligible answer. I didn’t persist long as any answer would have lacked certainty in my epistemology. Now I know not to ask. Regardless, as many have noted, the realization that I have a guardian angel, and the service of that angel in response to my intercessions, has been an encouragement. Not many days after I began to specifically ask for his protection before going to sleep, I woke up in the morning to smell a very strong gas leak that had been going all night; our family was all fine, and we were able to stop the leak and air out the house safely.
I’d heard that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had condemned seeking to ascertain the name of your guardian and searching for that documentation led me here, where I learned from the
OP and
Edmundus1581’s post with the helpful
link (# 13) that it was actually the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, who stated, " The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture." Thanks for the citations, substantiated assertions are invaluable! :tiphat:
In addition to thanking the posters, and sharing my own experiences, I had a few thoughts to add.
:twocents: To Adam Cook’s post (# 76) I’d add the abstruse verse from 1 Corinthians 6a (RSV-CE), “Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” By the way, I liked the simile with Lieutenants and Sergeant Majors in describing us and angels in the heavenly οἰκονομία (household/ law of the house); very apt!
:twocents: As some have noted, including the OP in his most recent post (# 138), the
why not isn’t really given, but we are still called to obey. I have been reading The Way, by St. Josemaría Escrivá and he had some relevant quotes on obedience that I hope ya’all will enjoy and find as pertinent as I did:
618 The enemy: “Will you obey, even in this ridiculous little detail?”
You with God’s grace: “I will obey, even in this
heroic little detail!”
620 If obedience doesn’t give you peace, it’s because you’re proud.
:twocents: I had a range of thoughts regarding the “why not” the OP proposed. As far as the demonic οἰκονομία using names as part of magick, while that’s accurate, we needn’t fear the chains in our new οἰκονομία. It is war, and our enemies are three, as I think St. Athanasius put it: the Devil, the world and sin. The first is a person (Lucifer, Satan, the Devil) followed by many persons (demons) hell bent on our damnation, but even those of us who threw open the doors of our souls to Satan are no longer puppets to that marionette (praise God!). I am putting this poorly, but I am cautious to ascribe truth to that hellish household’s concepts of truth - particularly in terms of power and free will. As the OP pointed out, St. Anthony was right, the Devil is powerless against humility. As we “stand firm” (Ephesians 6:13), exercising a will that is strong and freed enough to choose “Thy will be done,” we need to be humble enough to obey, but also full enough of faith in our new King that the fiery arrows of doubt won’t harm us. Inadvertent presumption and even willful disobedience are powerless before the grace in the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation and the Eucharist. Sin is more deleterious to the life of the soul than Satanic oppression; inadvertently opening doors by invoking demonic names (a foreign concept to much of our naturalistic society), won’t force us to sin. We can trust God and our guardian angels to protect us from the full effects of such inadvertent near occasions of sin, and minimize the danger to our souls. It is not until we actually fall into idolatry (or deliberate disobedience) that we move from a state of grace into the old state of slavery. I know this is nuanced, perhaps even expressed poorly and not far from where the conversation ended up, but it seemed worth mentioning since it’s been an important part of my own philosophical and spiritual journey out of darkness.
… more nuts than usual anyway) because I had so distinctly remembered reading (several years ago) that dialogue with an angel from sacred scripture where the angel, when asked his name, replied “Why should you want to know my name, *which is mysterious *(or, according the KJV '…which is secret’) .”
) so don’t feel bad about it, but the forum rules say that we shouldn’t “resurrect” an old discussion thread. You can start a new one, though, and put a link back to this one in it if you so desire.