Angelic Assistance Series, Part 1: Why Is It So Hard to Get Angels Right?

By Thomas McKenna

God’s holy angels are essential to our Christian worldview. They are God’s faithful servants and our powerful guardians on the way to heaven. But because they are part of His invisible creation, they are often misunderstood. In fact, it’s easy to lose sight of who these holy beings are without the guiding influence of the Church. 

As we begin this month dedicated to the Guardian Angels, let’s examine a few errors that distort our understanding of the angelic nature. We have to be clear both about who they are and who they are not. 

In this first article of our Angelic Assistance Series, we will start by sidelining some notions about angels that get in the way of a proper Catholic understanding of them. 

Hallmark Card Angels

Among the numerous bad influences on our idea of angels is the Italian Renaissance (apologies to art lovers and Italians in general). We could call this the Hallmark Card Angel error. 

We see it every year in Christmas card reproductions of images from the Renaissance (15th – 16th centuries). Angels are sometimes presented as Italian princes casually walking and talking with their charges, dressed fabulously, of course. Or, they are made to look like teenage girls in flowing gowns playing violins for the Holy Family. Worse yet, some Renaissance angels look like chubby babies with wings plucking harps, hovering around clouds in heaven, or even leaning on window sills looking bored!

So, what’s wrong with this presentation? 

In short, these types of angels will never go to battle for us against the principalities and powers of evil. They are sentimentalized angels. This trend has the effect of diminishing their immense spiritual power and lowering them to a human level. In the Bible, however, people usually fall down in terror when they behold a true angel’s glory! 

The New Age

Most books in the “Spirituality” section of a bookstore these days fit the New Age profile of angels, which is antithetical to our Christian concept of them. Oftentimes New Age gurus will use the holy Archangels – Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael – as hooks to lure unsuspecting Christians into their traps.

New Age “angels”, however, are not angels at all but illusions. They are presented as touch-feely companions who just want to make us happy and serve our personal needs. These kinds of angels find car keys for us, get us jobs, comfort us in times of stress, open up pathways to romantic relationships, and even let us feel the brush of their wings so that we never have a moment of sorrow in our lives.

Unfortunately, these are all deceptions coming from a non-Christian but very subtle and dangerous spiritual movement that seeks to lure us away from the Truth of Christ. They are actually demons dressed as “angels of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). St. Paul condemned all types of distorted angel ideas in the pagan world (Colossians 2:18), and if he were alive today he would undoubtedly mince no words about the New Age.

Holy angels don’t find things for us. That’s not their mission. They do not create love opportunities or touch us with their wings as they fly by. They don’t even comfort us in an emotional sense. Their ministry is exclusively to sanctify us and get us to heaven. 

Culture and Technology

Distorted angels of culture and technology are a special distraction for the younger generations. Video games and graphic arts today make angels look like seductive-females with wings or buff blonde guys with huge swords and a taste for violence. These are not angels. They are techno-fantasy creations. 

The cultural view of angels is hardly better. Literally thousands of books have been published in the past few years with the word “angel” in the title. They cover everything from romance novels to tales of assassination and revenge. Hollywood, of course, is fascinated with angels, but their angels are rarely the holy type. 

The Truth of the Angels 

All these alternative views of angels swarming around us can lead to some serious distortions of the truth of these glorious beings. But we can’t afford to be ignorant about the nature and activities of God’s holiest servants. This is a time when we need the good angels more than ever!

It is hard to get angels right, but now that we have a better idea of what angels are not, our next two articles will focus on what the Church actually teaches about the reality of God’s holy angels. 

Source: Peter Darcy, Natures of Fire: God’s Magnificent Angels, 2021.

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