What the Holy Scriptures and the tradition of the Church tell us about the abode of the angels.
In the beginning, God created “heaven and earth”, “the visible and invisible universe”, as we recite in the Creed. In this invisible universe, He created the angels, pure spirits, clothed in light, immersed in the blissful embrace of the Trinitarian light. This place is commonly called Paradise or Heaven, or the Kingdom of God. A place that surpasses all imagination, that is inconceivable to the mind of man and indescribable: even the most sublime words of the greatest of poets could not reflect and contain all this beauty.
An imagery language
Certain biblical verses describe Heaven with symbolic and pictorial language to bring man into a better understanding and give him a sketch of heavenly realities. Thus, to describe the state of supreme peace which will reign in Paradise, it is said that: “the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down near the kid, the calf and the lion cub will be fed together, a little boy will lead” (Is 11, 6). Or else in the book of Revelation, to describe its light, Saint John compares “its brilliance [à] that of a very precious stone, like crystalline jasper” (Rev 21.11) and he writes that men “will no longer need the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light” (Ap 22.5).
All is light where the righteous angels are beholding the Eternal God. However, before the creation of man, one of the angels rebelled against God: Lucifer, the most beautiful of the angels who refused to serve God and led to the fall of a third of the angels in hell, in the awful embrace of eternal darkness. As the Bible recounts, in fact, these angels did not keep “the dignity of their rank, but left the dwelling which was theirs. The Lord keeps them chained forever in darkness” (days 6), “where there is [a] weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 8.12).
On a mission on earth
However, many theologians, including saints, agree that angels are often on “mission” on earth. In Genesis, concerning the righteous angels, it is said: [Jacob] had a dream: Behold, a ladder was erected on the earth, its top reaching to heaven, and angels of God ascending and descending” (Gen 28.12). These pure spirits, sent by the Lord, come to help the creatures entrusted to them in their journey on earth. They protect them physically against dangers, they enlighten their intelligence with divine inspirations and guide their steps towards eternal life by their spiritual presence and, in rare cases by divine will, by materializing their incorporeal spirit. However, while helping men on earth, faithful angels have the divine ability to associate action with contemplation, never losing the beatific vision of God!
Also discover the representations of angels in art:
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Where do angels dwell?
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