14. The Third Hierarchy

The spirits of the third hierarchy are considered as entrusted by God with what we may call executive powers. They act upon the external world more directly than the other orders, and, as we gather from Holy Scripture, act as guides, directors, messengers, in carrying out the divine decrees regarding this world. The first of these three choirs is that of the Principalities. We assign to this class such spirits as the one whom the Prophet Daniel calls the “Prince of the Kingdom of the Persians.” These are the angels who have the guardianship of kingdoms and peoples; and they are endowed accordingly with wisdom, force, and authority for that purpose. When men are entrusted with preeminence under God, they too frequently employ it for their own private advantage; they forget that they are the servants of God and the people, and place their interests above the claims of morality and religion; they exalt themselves as if there were no God above them, and enforce their will as if there were no hereafter. On the other hand the characteristic of the celestial Principalities is the purity of intention with which they use their powers, seeking not themselves, but the glory of God and the utility of His creatures. Take care to employ with similar conscientiousness and unselfishness whatever preeminence you have received from God over others.

The Archangels are described by one of them, Raphael, as “the seven who stand before the Lord” (Job xii. 18). They appear to be the immediate chiefs of the last order of heavenly spirits, to be entrusted with the more important missions to men, and to be possessed of a more abundant grace, and splendour, and power. We learn from Holy Writ that the Archangel Michael was the leader of the hosts of heaven in the primeval contest between good and evil, when Satan and his followers revolted against their Maker and were cast out from His presence (Apoc. xii. 7). Daniel calls him “the great Prince who standeth for the children of the people” (Dan. xii. 1). He was the protector of the Church of the Old Testament, and now of its successor the Church Catholic. The Archangel Raphael was sent to Tobias in order to exemplify the great doctrine of the angels being the instruments of God’s Providence towards men. The Archangel Gabriel was entrusted with the messages from God to those concerned with the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity. Pay due homage to those great spirits. Glorify God on account of them. Implore their powerful assistance.

The Angels, in the specialized sense of the word, are the lowest of the nine choirs of blessed spirits; to all of whom, however, the name is applied in a general sense. These are the ordinary messengers of God, so often mentioned in the Old and New Testaments; and to them is committed the guardianship of individual men. They are “all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation” (Heb. i. 14). Although they are the lowest of the celestial spirits and inferior to many others in their endowments, yet they far surpass in intelligence, and holiness, and power, and beauty, all that we can conceive; so that those to whom they appeared sometimes thought they had seen the Divinity Itself (Judg. xiii. 22). The virtues that most strike us in them are their humility in undertaking lowly tasks, such as the guardianship of vile beings so inferior to themselves; their contentment with such duties; their devotion towards their Master, which makes them feel that nothing done for His sake can be ignoble; and the perfection and exactness with which they carry out His smallest commands. How pleasing to God is such service, and how glorious. Endeavour to serve Him in the same spirit.

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13. The Second Hierarchy

The three choirs of the second hierarchy are, according to St. Dionysius, associated with the external rule of God over creatures. The Dominations are the first of these. They represent the universal sovereignty of the Creator over all things; they manifest that perfection, assert it, and promote it. The petition of the Our Father, “Thy kingdom come,” expresses the object of their existence. The special virtues of these angels are, therefore, profound adoration towards the majesty of God, zeal for the maintenance of His authority, hostility to all those numerous forms of usurpation by which the devil, or the world, or the flesh, thrust themselves into the place of God as supreme objects of human homage and service. You require the spirit of these holy Dominations in yourself, and their aid in your work for God. A contest is always in progress between the two standards of Christ and Satan. A large portion of mankind have adopted, more or less consciously, the spirit of him who said “I will not serve,” and have cast off the yoke which is sweet and the burden which is light. The honourable service of God is the only true liberty. Those who cast it off only change masters, and they become the bond-slaves of evil, of misery, and of Satan. As far as you can, promote the reign of God in yourself and others.

The second choir is that of the Virtues. The meaning of the word in this connexion is rather that of Scripture than of common parlance. It does not mean moral excellences such as patience, faith, etc., but the strength, energy and overwhelming force of God. So the frequent expression of the Psalms “Dominus Deus Virtutum” is rendered “the Lord God of Hosts.” In the New Testament we read, “the power (virtus) of the Lord was to heal them” (Luke v. 17). The function of these spirits is to represent that perfection of God which “reacheth from end to end mightily” (Wisd. viii. 1), and compels all things to His will. This is that power of God which produces miraculous effects in the realms of matter and of mind. It may well be supposed that God entrusts to this choir of spirits the execution of His great works of power, and the duty of aiding others who are so engaged. The moral virtue that corresponds is Fortitude; it is the quality of Apostles and Martyrs, of mighty workers and sufferers. You need the aid of this blessed choir; you are so subject to weakness, discouragement, cowardice. “The scourge is come upon thee and thou faintest, it hath touched thee and thou art troubled. Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?” (Job iv. 5, 6). Only in the power of thy God.

The Powers represent that second aspect of the might of the Lord by which “He ordereth all things sweetly” (Wisd. viii. 1). This is a force in which there is no feverish exertion or abusive excess of power. The peculiarity of this choir is expressed in the Beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land” (Matt. v. 4). It is exhibited notably in the Church, which is always oppressed and always victorious; which does not take the sword of the flesh for her defence, and therefore cannot perish by the sword; and which finds that the blood of her martyrs is the seed of abounding harvests. In accordance with this, when the power of the Almighty was manifested to Elias, it was not in the great strong wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, “but in the sound of gentle stillness” (3 Kings xix. 12 Hebr.). To these angels is also attributed a special power against Satan and his hosts. Do not attach too much importance to mere natural vigour of character, to a restless animal activity, to excitement and enthusiasm in good works. Quiet effort united with prayer is the most efficient and lasting force. 

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12. The First Hierarchy

 

I. An ancient work formerly attributed to St. Denis the Areopagite sums up the ancient Jewish and Christian traditions concerning the different orders of the angels and the characteristics of each. The author gathers from Holy Writ, and principally from St. Paul’s Epistles, the names of nine choirs, and arranges them in three greater divisions or hierarchies according to their dignity. The first hierarchy comprises those spirits who are devoted to the immediate service of God, and stand, comparatively speaking, within the veil. The highest of the three choirs is that of the Seraphim. Their characteristic is the intense and burning love which they render to Him who is the source of all love, and is Himself infinite Love. They are the created representation of that high divine perfection; and in that consists their service and glorification of God. This keeps them for ever in the adorable Presence, worshiping, and crying one to another, “Holy! Holy! Holy! the Lord God of Hosts” (Isa. vi. 3). The love of God is the final service of Him, the most worthy of Him, the most perfect offering of yourself to Him. It is the completion and crown of the other departments of our service, and at the same time is the summary of them all. God sums up all His perfections for us in His love; and He desires above all things our love in return. Join yourself with the Seraphim, and ask them to bring a burning coal from the celestial altar to enkindle your frozen heart.

II. The Cherubim are the second choir. God is the sole object of their service, and they too stand for ever round His throne. We attribute to them a deep knowledge and science of God; it is accompanied indeed by an intense love, but this is subsidiary to the activity of their intelligence. Their characteristic is to reflect the infinite wisdom, to be representatives of the action of the divine intellect, to glorify it thereby, and to praise it. On account of their all-penetrating vision of the Divine Essence, they are represented by the prophet as being full of eyes, their bodies, and their necks, and their hands, and their wings (Ez. x. 12). They see and understand the beauty of God, and are the means of communicating this knowledge to the inferior choirs of the blessed spirits. The knowledge of God is perfect justice (Wisd. xv. 3). It is a great and lofty service of Him to think of His presence, meditate on His attributes, and seek out in His works the evidences of His power, and wisdom, and love. No science on earth is so wonderful, so beautiful, so satisfying to the soul. Value it beyond all.

III. The third choir in the hierarchy that immediately surrounds the majesty of God is that of the Thrones. God is a spirit, universally present, not limited to any spot; His throne, His presence chamber, His courts, can only be spoken of in a figurative way; we speak of such things to indicate, not really to describe, that which is ineffable. By the Thrones we mean a choir of spirits upon whom the divine Majesty, in some spiritual sense, rests and reposes. Isaias speaks of the throne of God being high and elevated, and of the temple being filled by those which were beneath Him (Isa. vi. 1, Vulgate). The virtue attributed to these spirits is a profound submission by which they recognize the supreme authority of God and exhibit it to others. Amongst men the throne of an earthly monarch is the symbol of his authority and even of his person, and itself receives honour on account of him whom it represents. You may become like to these spiritual Thrones by your submission to the will and pleasure of God, as made known either in Him or in His representatives. God will then rest and repose upon that throne with glory to Himself and with honour to you. Humble yourself thus, and He will make you truly great.

11. The Special Endowments of The Angels

 

 

I. “Star differeth from star in glory” (1 Cor. xv. 41). There are differences between the heavenly spirits; they have received various kinds and various degrees of grace from God. Amongst them, no doubt, as amongst men, their Lord has singled out some for special favour and for higher place. To some He has assigned a peculiar vocation, and duties which require greater capacities and graces. Some, possibly, like some of us, have responded with greater ardour, generosity and love to the advances of God, or may have used their opportunities to better effect than others. To all this must correspond a more abundant outpouring of divine favour. Moreover, the angels are arranged in different orders and choirs, and this involves differences of dignity, activity and glory. Your present sanctity and future reward depend partially on the free generosity of the Almighty, partially on the task and position assigned to you here, partially on your own efforts and fidelity to grace. Be content with God’s arrangements for you, and strive to do the best with such graces as you have. The last often becomes first; the humblest and the least endowed have risen to high spiritual perfection and glory, above those who seemed to be the wise and the strong according to nature and even according to grace.
II. With their difference of vocation and difference in correspondence to grace, the angels are also distinguished by a different perfection of virtue. The ardour of the Seraphim, the knowledge of the Cherubim, the submission of the Thrones, the other virtues of the blessed choirs, these are peculiarities special to each, which constitute their particular service towards God. So it is among the Saints. Each has his own character of holiness. Noah is noted for perseverance, Abraham for faith, Job for patience, Joseph for chastity, Moses for meekness, David for fervent devotion; and, in the Christian Church, St. Francis of Assisi for poverty, St. Peter of Alcantara for austerity, St. Ephrem for holy fear, St. Francis of Sales for sweetness, St. Thomas Aquinas for learning, St. Vincent of Paul for organized charity. So it should be with you. There is some form of usefulness in the service of God and man for which you have a special facility. There is some attribute of God or aspect of the life of Jesus which you have to manifest as your contribution towards the total exhibition of God in mankind. There is some particular virtue which God wishes to dominate your life. Pray to know what it is, and to have grace to fulfil your destiny.

III. It is to be remembered that each angel, although excelling in a particular virtue, possesses all others, and is not deficient in any one. Every possible virtue and excellence is common to them all. A perfection which is distinctive of one choir by its special brilliance is not therefore absent from other angels; nor is its possession by one angel a cloak or excuse for the want of other perfections in him. Your special virtue must not be your only one; your principal duty must not make you forget minor ones. Do not rely on any good work of yours, however meritorious, but remember that you have many great deficiencies known not to you but to your friends and enemies. Do not trust to one virtue as making you completely just, but fear lest by the violation of one commandment you make yourself guilty of all. You may, however, practise one virtue especially, and this will bring in the others and co-ordinate them round itself. This virtue may become the key-note of your spiritual life, tuning all the others into harmony, and giving them a special character. But it has an opposite pole, your predominant passion, which may easily become a key-note of evil and a source of other sins. Beware of it.

10. The General Endowments of The Angels

I. The Old Testament speaks of Lucifer under the figure of the King of Tyre, and makes known to us something of the first state of the angels. “Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God. . . . Thou wast a cherub stretched out and protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of God. Every precious stone was thy covering. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee” (Ez. xxviii. 12-15). It may be reasonably presumed that the case of Adam was parallel to that of the angels; and God created him in grace, spoke with him familiarly, and communicated to him both natural and divine knowledge. Hence has arisen the opinion prevalent in the Church and supported by the Fathers, that the angels were not created in an imperfect state, and on a lower level than the one they were destined to occupy; but that they were from the first placed on the supernatural level, clothed with sanctifying grace, and adorned with the infused habits of faith, hope, charity, and the other virtues required of them. How magnificent is the generosity of God to His rational creatures! It is far beyond the lavishness with which, as we know, He endows the material creation. It is beyond all our claims and desires. He so equips us for our career that we cannot fail except by the fault of our own malice.

II. The graces bestowed on the angels must have comprised the illumination of their primary faculty, the intellect, by the revelation of great truths and mysteries. St. Augustine thinks they can never have been in a state comparable to darkness or ignorance, but must have been from the first as full of the light of knowledge as they were of sanctifying grace. What that revelation consisted of we cannot know; probably it was much more than has ever been made known to men by the light of faith, but not amounting as yet to the Beatific Vision. They must have known much of the greatness and goodness of God, of their duties of love and obedience towards Him, of the future designs of His Providence, of His rewards and punishments. We may suppose that among these things were the mysteries that have been revealed to us, the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Creation of the world. The illumination of your intellect with divine truth is the chief foundation of your spiritual life and salvation. God has accorded this to you. He has not left you to be carried about by every wind of doctrine, but has given you a fixed certainty. It is one of the most precious of His gifts. Return Him thanks for it.

III. The Creator also must have given the angels the graces which belong to the will and which move it to action; and thus they were able from the first to co-operate with God’s action, to elicit acts of various virtues, and to merit an increase of the divine communications. Their first impulse would necessarily be one of movement towards God; for the essential qualities of a being assert themselves spontaneously, as the voice of nature always makes itself heard, and the faculties seek for that object which they are made to exercise themselves upon. This impulse was an attraction and not a compulsion; for, as rational beings, the angels were free, and so were able to conform themselves or not to the law of their being. As Adam loved and served God before the trial and rebellion and fall, so it is possible that even the angels who afterwards revolted may have aspired to God supernaturally before the trial was proposed to them. The good angels corresponded to grace from the first and persevered to the end. Be faithful to every call or grace from God. One step leads on to another. A small initial divergence from the straight line may continue till it becomes a gulf over which no man can pass.

9. The Creation of The Angels

 

 

I. The angels were created by God in the beginning. They were not from all eternity; they could not be, for none is eternal except the One Infinite, i.e. God. They were created therefore, and they had a beginning. We know that their creation took place before the sin of Adam, for it was a fallen angel that tempted him. Whether they were created in time, or outside of time and in eternity, we cannot say; nor whether their creation was an instantaneous act of God or extended through successive periods; nor whether these periods were moments or numberless millions of years. All we can do is to bear in mind, without drawing any inferences, the enormous magnitude of the scale on which God carried out those works which we have been able to investigate. It may be, as some have thought, that the celestial spirits are a component part of the cosmic system, created contemporaneously with it, more or less, and exercising functions connected with it. Others think of them rather as belonging to a higher order, supermundane or supernatural; as being of a different creation, the products of an anterior and generically distinct creative impulse emanating from the Divinity; as constituting in fact another universe of being, and only connected with this of ours by the duties assigned to some as messenger and guardian angels, and by the junction effected with us in our elevation to their supernatural plane. So, the creation of the angels would be intermediate in order and character between the infinite productive activity of God within His own being, and the external material production of our universe. Here are wondrous treasures of science, impenetrable to us now, but reserved for our knowledge in the kingdom of God.


II. Scripture gives us to understand that the angels were created in heaven. This heaven may be simply the supermundane state outside the domain of time and space; or it may imply a sort of preliminary admission to the antechamber, so to speak, of the Divine Presence. They are supposed to have been created in the state of supernatural grace, with some degree of knowledge of God and communication with Him, but not such as would amount to the Beatific Vision and their final perfection. This last constitutes the state of reward and confirmation in grace, and is incompatible with the state of trial and its possibilities of failure. The angels, then, although not perfectly possessed of heaven, were in the supramundane world, which is that sphere where their duties lay, and with grace they possessed the first stage of the heavenly life. You are in a similar state; you have grace and divine charity; you can enter into corporal union with Our Lord in the Holy Sacrament; the Church, to which you belong, is called in the Gospel “the Kingdom of Heaven.” Praise God for this.


III. The angels were created for the service of God, and for glory and happiness in His presence. God made them naturally adapted for this end, and for grace and sanctification, by the use of which they might merit the Beatific Vision. He gave them a great variety of endowments and powers, so that they might, by their activities, represent the divine attributes and glorify them. He also made them in vast numbers, so as to increase by multiplication the exhibition of His perfections. From the depths of His eternity God had desired to communicate happiness and glory to the angels; He devised such a trial and such means as would most conduce to that object; He foresaw the different results, and selected His own from among them for their rewards and glory. The greatness of God and His goodness merit that He should be adored and glorified by innumerable creatures; and this service rendered to Him constitutes their perfection and happiness. You have been made for this noble object. Take care not to fall short of it. Every negligence towards God is so much loss to yourself. 

8. The Movements of The Angels

I. Some of the heavenly spirits have the special function of being the messengers of God. This is signified by the word Angel, and Scripture tells us of their being sent to execute the decrees of God and to convey revelations and graces to men. Jacob saw them in vision ascending and descending constantly between heaven and earth. They are spoken of in Scripture as having wings, and so we represent them in pictures: this figure represents to us the instantaneous promptitude with which they obey the commands of God. In a sense we may say that the angels move from place to place, and we may speak of the rapidity of their flight. But this is speaking according to the material conditions of our lives. In reality the angels are not subject to the laws of space and to the three dimensions of length, breadth and thickness. They do not pass through intervening spaces, nor, strictly, do they pass from place to place. They become present here or there by acting or appearing in such a place or places. As forces are more immaterial they move with greater velocity. Sound is rapid; light, electricity and nerve impulsions are much more so; gravitation acts instantaneously, it has no rate, and cannot be said to travel between two bodies. The angels are much more immaterial. Learn hence to be prompt in acting on the inspirations of grace. When God makes known His will, it must be carried out at once, whatever the cost. If you attempt to choose your own time He may withdraw from you His inspiration, or the grace or strength or opportunity to carry it out.

II. The angels do not possess immensity, like God; they are not present simultaneously in several places. Each one has a finite action, which cannot, like the action of God, operate everywhere at once. An angel acts or speaks in a definite place, like those so often mentioned in Holy Writ; he is therefore in a certain place rather than in another, although he has no extension which can be measured as space. We may compare an angel to a human soul. The soul is in the body and not elsewhere; it is in every part of the body, and yet, although the body has dimensions, the soul has not. In some sense an angel moves from place to place, inasmuch as he acts now in one place and now in another. More we cannot say, as our mind and language are only adapted to the conditions of space and its dimensions. Endeavour to keep your soul on a higher spiritual level even though you have to live on the material plane. Keep it removed as far as possible above the ordinary conditions of sensual, worldly, selfish, sinful life.

III. It appears likely that the functions of the angels as ministers of God’s will on earth, include some amount of physical power over material things. Thus an angel conveyed Habacuc from Judea to Daniel in the lions’ den; Satan also transported Our Lord to the pinnacle of the temple. Angels slew the first-born in Egypt, destroyed the army of Sennacherib, and scourged Heliodorus when he intruded into the temple. It is the way of God’s Providence to carry out His designs through created agencies, through the powers of nature or human energies. No being is useless, or without its special function in carrying on the life and motion of the universe. By analogy those mighty spirits of God must have their uses, and duties proportioned to their great powers. We know that they help us, even in our physical necessities. What else they do we know not; but we can place no limit to the possibilities of their action whether in the spiritual or the material sphere. Lead a life of holiness and prayer like that of the angels, and God will give you great powers and great duties; even material nature will be in some sense subject to you.