July 31st, 2010
Tom Pringle
Guardian Angel
Paragraph 5. Heaven and Earth (cont’d)
In Brief
(350) Angels are spiritual creatures who glorify God without ceasing and who serve his saving plans for other creatures: “The angels work together for the benefit of us all” (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I, 114, 3, ad 3).
(351) The angels surround Christ their Lord. They serve him especially in the accomplishment of his saving mission to men.
(352) The Church venerates the angels who help her on her earthly pilgrimage and protect every human being.
(353) God willed the diversity of his creatures and their own particular goodness, their interdependence, and their order. He destined all material creatures for the good of the human race. Man, and through him all creation, is destined for the glory of God.
(354) Respect for laws inscribed in creation and the relations which derive from the nature of things is a principle of wisdom and a foundation for morality. Read more »
July 30th, 2010
Tom Pringle
Sistine Chapel
II. The Visible World (cont’d)
(343) Man is the summit of the Creator’s work, as the inspired account expresses by clearly distinguishing the creation of man from that of the other creatures.
(344) There is a solidarity among all creatures arising from the fact that all have the same Creator and are all ordered to his glory:
May you be praised, O Lord, in all your creatures, especially brother sun, by whom you give us light for the day; he is beautiful, radiating great splendor, and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High. . . .
May you be praised, my Lord, for sister water, who is very useful and humble, precious and chaste. . . . Read more »
July 29th, 2010
Tom Pringle
Earth | Source: NASA
I. The Angels
The angels in the life of the Church (cont’d)
(336) From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.
II. The Visible World
(337) God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity, and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine “work,” concluded by the “rest” of the seventh day. On the subject of creation, the sacred text teaches the truths revealed by God for our salvation, permitting us to “recognize the inner nature, the value, and the ordering of the whole of creation to the praise of God.” Read more »
July 28th, 2010
Tom Pringle
St. Michael the Archangel
I. The Angels (cont’d)
Who are they?
(329) St. Augustine says: “‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit,’ from what they do, ‘angel.’” With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they “always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” they are the “mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word.”
(330) As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.
Christ “with all his angels”
(331) Christ is the center of the angelic world. They are his angels: “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him…” They belong to him because they were created through and for him: “for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created Read more »
July 27th, 2010
Tom Pringle
Earlier today, I posted this on the Catholic Vote Action blog:
Participants Carry American Flag at Immigration Rally
This Thursday, July 29th, the controversial Arizona immigration law is set to take effect. While the majority of Americans agree with the passage and enactment of this law, the Church has opposed it from the beginning.
In the most recent show of opposition, Bishop Gerald Kicanas testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law on July 14th. In his testimony, the bishop of Tuscon remarked on the Arizona law, calling it an example of the frustration the American people have with Congress for the legislature’s laxity in passing immigration reform…
To read the full post, click here.
