Angels
An angel can illume the thought and mind of man by strengthening the power of vision, and by bringing within his reach some truth which the angel himself contemplates.
- Thomas Aquinas
Angels are spirits, but it is not because they are spirits that they are angels. They become angels when they are sent. For the name angel refers to their office, not their nature. You ask the name of this nature, it is spirit; you ask its office, it is that of an Angel, which is a messenger.
- Augustine
There are nine orders of angels, to wit: angels, archangels, virtues, powers, principalities, dominions, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim.
- Gregory The Great
Remember that the good angels do what they can to preserve men from sin and obtain God's honor. But they do not lose courage when men fail. Our Father has much praise for those of Ours who in this sense imitate the example of the angels.
- Ignatius of Loyola
The dignity of a soul is so great, that each has a guardian angel from its birth.
- Jerome
Angels are intelligent reflections of light, that original light which has no beginning. They can illuminate. They do not need tongues or ears, for they can communicate without speech, in thought.
- John of Damascus
posted by crystal | 2:22 PM
9 Comments:
I used to attend a parish called Guardian Angels; and my kids attend a school named Queen of Angels.
The thought that angels are all around, working for and protecting us is comforting.
Yes, but don't forget those "bad" agnels Ignatius also mentioned :-)
Look like you've covered all the angles -- er angels.
Kwakersaur: No - she hasn't quite covered all the angles on angels. Crystal, our blogs are pretty closely synchronized, I've got a post coming up called Angel in another two or three posts.
You may be talking about real angels here? I end up talking about a stone angel. But even stone angels can give off light. Paintings too. Maybe raising the question of what's a real angel...
Hi Darius. I'm not sure if I believe in angels as real, but Ignatius did, so I try to keep an open mind. He saw them as spirits that would try to influence a person towards or away from God, depending on whether they were good or bad.
A stone angel - like a statue? Mkaes me think of the Greek winged victory :-)
Both of my boys are named after Archangels: Dominic Gabriel and Hunter Michael. I figure they need all of the help that they can get! As usual, the pictures are gorgeous!
Thanks, Sherri :-)
Thanks for this, Crystal, both the words and the images are beautiful. You have the great Fra Angelico from the Prado Museum! Also, I really like the quote from John of Damascus, who also wrote some beautiful (if difficult) stuff on images during the iconclasm controversy.
"Intelligent reflections of light." Fantastic.
Thanks, Liam :-), I like Fra Angelo's work ... especially the "noli mi tangere"
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