As part of seeing the fullness of creation and our communion with the triune God, it is important to understand how Heaven and Earth are connected to each other; and how human beings and angels, while having separate roles in God’s revelation, have freewill to build a relationship with God and serve in His kingdom.
This starts with defining Heaven: While movies and TV may depict Heaven as a place in the clouds with pearly gates, glowing beings dressed in white, and harps playing in the background, the Catechism does not give an exact depiction. Instead, Heaven is explained as having two purposes: It is where God, the angels, and saints exist; and it represents eternal glory through God’s love and revelation (Catechism of the Catholic Church #326).
Which begs the question: What exactly do angels do? This also means defining what exactly is an angel. That is, an angel is a purely spiritual (does not have a human body) being that serves as an officer in God’s glory. For example, angels have been involved – and are still involved – in many aspects of God’s revelation and relationship with the natural world: from communicating directly with the Patriarchs and prophets, to proclaiming to the birth of Jesus, to helping carry out God’s plan of salvation (CCC #328 – 331).
Yet as human beings have the freedom to serve God or deny His will, so do angels. Therefore, *all* of God’s creation is in a symbiotic relationship with each other and with God. As such, all of God’s creation inherently has goodness and value. Moreover, because all God’s creatures reflect His love for us, we must, in turn, honor each other’s goodness and without malice (CCC #338 – 342).
At the center of creation on Earth are human beings: God has entrusted us with caring for His creation, honoring the Sabbath, and paving our path to salvation through God’s love and covenants (# 343 – 349).
At a men’s group I recently attended, and after I had just re-read CCC #325 – 354 (Heaven and Earth), I shared a sort of epiphany I had about my relationship with my father, who passed away in January 2019. My father was my best friend, and without a doubt, the most influential role model in my life. Yes, the “apple did not fall far from the tree” in my shadowing my father’s life. And I was indescribably devastated when he passed.
However, since then, and after some time of being in a dark place in the early part of 2019, my father has again been a strong, sometimes loud voice, in helping me direct my life. Knowing already that we Catholics have a relationship with God, and that we pray for the Blessed Mary and the saints to intercede via God’s will, I had overlooked something so key and powerful to God’s relationship with us: the angels in Heaven,
I have now been thinking about my father’s state in Heaven. Namely, as a spiritual being, now hopefully blissful in Heaven and in God’s presence, my father has been, in way, an angel in my life. Sometimes I want to wrack my brain about it, as it sometimes teeters on unbelievable in how his words – how he would exactly express himself – suddenly come into my thoughts and often set me straight about my doubts or frustrations.
And while I understand that angels as they relate to creation and God’s revelation, I still wonder how my father fits in with the grand scheme of my life choices. At the minimum, perhaps it is more than time that we refocus on how angels have been widely instrumental in helping share God’s love and revelation for us. I pray that we all continue to grow in this understanding.