Angelic Doctors

Seeking the healing ministry of the angels

07/28/2020

Matthew 13:36-43 Jesus dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Do you believe in angels? Sadly, so many of us have dropped our belief in angels into the dustbin of our childhood dreams, along with the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and the Santa Claus. Angels are like Trix Cereal. We are rebuked like the poor rabbit in the commercial: “Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!” But are angels really just for kids?

Well, one of the most sober and serene of the Scholastic saints didn’t think so, and we shouldn’t either. I am talking about St. Thomas Aquinas, also known as the “Angelic Doctor.” Now, he’s not called the Angelic Doctor because angels would come to him when they felt sick and they needed a doctor. Quite the contrary, Aquinas would teach us how to go to them when we are sick, especially when our sickness is the spiritual cancer called “sin,” a problem far worse than the coronavirus pandemic.

In his comprehensive “Summa Theologica” (a summary of theology), Aquinas asserts: “These lower things are administered by angels, according to Heb. 1:14, ‘They are all ministering angels’ (Summa Theologica, I, Q. 57, Art. 2). These “lower things,” according to Aquinas, included humanity and our salvation from sin. In other words, mankind is precisely the patient in the medicinal ministry of the angels. So teaches the Angelic Doctor about “angelic doctors.”

Aquinas, of course, was only amplifying what Jesus teaches in the gospel today in a parable that is also about the angels. Sometimes we skip over the critical role of the angels in the parable of the weeds and the wheat. But listen to it again. Our Lord explains: “The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.” By the way, a little later in the Summa, in Question 63 of the First Part, Aquinas adds that the Devil was originally a good angel who fell from grace through “pride and envy.” Did you know that the Devil was once a good angel called Lucifer, one of the highest angels? Hence the medieval maxim, “corruptio optimi, pessima” meaning “the corruption of the best becomes the worst.” An angel of light becomes a devil of darkness. Or as we would put it today: “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

But Jesus also explains the work of the good angels, these “ministering angels” according to Heb. 1:14. Listen now: “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers…Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.” Notice the imagery of light and sunshine as the effect of the ministry of the angels. Why is that? Well, when we are sick we want to stay in bed and in our dark rooms with the windows shut. But when we are healed and well, we want to come out into the sunshine and play. That’s how the angels “doctor” us, bringing us into the Light of Christ.

My friends, may I suggest two ways we can capitalize on this medicinal ministry of the angels? First, ask for the prayers of angels when you cannot overcome some stubborn sin. And we all struggle with stubborn sins. Sins like lust, pride, jealousy, resentment, anger, laziness, greed, ambition, racism, sexism, and so forth. The spiritual masters taught that each of us is plagued with a predominant fault; one sin in the face of which we inevitably fall. Ask the angels to heal you of that sin through their ministry. “They are all ministering angels.”

Second, ask the angels to help those you love in their spiritual struggles. Do you have children or grandchildren who have left the Church or don’t even believe in God anymore? Do you have loved ones who are enslaved to addictions to alcohol or drugs? Do you have family or friends you have had a falling out with and haven’t spoken to in ages? Well, send the angels as your ambassadors of good will, and let their intercession bring down God’s healing power. Hebrews said: “They are all ministering angels.”

Folks, go back to the dustbin of your childhood dreams and bring back your belief in the angels. Angels are our spiritual doctors and their ministry makes us happy and holy. Trix is only for kids, but the angels are for all of us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!