Lesson 4
ON CREATION

This lesson treats of God bringing everything into existence. The chief
things created may be classed as follows: (1) The things that simply
exist, as rocks, and minerals--gold, silver, iron, etc. (2) Things that
exist, grow, and live like plants and trees. (3) Things that grow, live,
and feel, like animals. (4) Things that grow, live, feel, and
understand, like men. Besides these we have the sun, moon, stars, etc.;
all things too that we can see, and also Heaven, Purgatory, Hell, and
good and bad angels. All these are the works of God's creation. All
these He has called into existence by merely wishing for them.

*32 Q. Who created Heaven and earth, and all things?
A. God created Heaven and earth, and all things.

"Heaven," where God is and will always be. It means, too, everything we
see in the sky above us. "Earth," the globe on which we live.

*33 Q. How did God create Heaven and earth?
A. God created Heaven and earth from nothing, by His word only; that is,
by a single act of His all-powerful will.

34 Q. Which are the chief creatures of God?
A. The chief creatures of God are angels and men.

35 Q. What are angels?
A. Angels are pure spirits without a body, created to adore and enjoy
God in Heaven.

"Angels" are not the same as saints. Saints are those who at one time
lived upon the earth as we do, and who on account of their very good
lives are now in Heaven. They had bodies as we have. The angels, on the
contrary, never lived visibly upon the earth. In the beginning God was
alone. We take great pleasure in looking at beautiful things. God,
seeing His own beauty, and knowing that others would have very great
pleasure and happiness in seeing Him, determined to create some beings
who could enjoy this happiness; and thus He wished to share with them
the happiness which He Himself derived from seeing His own beauty.
Therefore He created angels who were to be in Heaven with Him, singing
His praises and worshipping before His throne.

The angels are not all equal in dignity, but are divided into nine
classes, or choirs, according to their rank or office, and, as
theologians tell us, arranged from the lowest to the highest and named
as follows; angels, archangels, virtues, powers, principalities,
dominations, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. Archangels are higher than
angels and are so called because sent to do the most important works. It
was the Archangel Michael who drove Lucifer from Heaven and the
Archangel Gabriel who announced to the Blessed Virgin that she was to be
the Mother of God. The angels receive their names from the duties they
perform. The word angel signifies messenger.

*36 Q. Were the angels created for any other purpose?
A. The angels were also created to assist before the throne of God and
to minister unto Him; they have often been sent as messengers from God
to man; and are also appointed our guardians.

The duties of the angels are many. Some remain always in Heaven with
God; some are sent to earth to be our guardians and to remain with us.
Each of us has an angel to take care of us. He is with us night and day,
and offers our prayers and good works to God. He prays for us, exhorts
us to do good and avoid evil; and he protects us from dangers spiritual
and temporal. How unfortunate then must one be to cause him to return to
Heaven with sad complaints to God; such as: "The one whom I have in
charge will not obey Thy laws or use the grace Thou sendest him: with
all my efforts to save him, he continues to do wrong." He will be doubly
sad when he sees other angels returning with good reports and receiving
new graces for those whom God has committed to their care. If you love
your guardian angel, never impose on him the painful duty of bringing to
God the report of your evil doings.

Now, how do we know that the angels offer our prayers and good works to
God? We know it from the beautiful story of Tobias, told in the Holy
Scripture. (Tobias). This holy man loved and feared God. He lived at a
time when his people were persecuted by a most cruel king, who wished to
force them to give up the true God and worship idols, but many of these
good people suffered death rather than deny God and obey the wicked
king. When they were put to death, their bodies were left lying on the
ground, to be devoured by birds of prey or wild animals. Anyone caught
burying them was to be put to death by the king's servants. Tobias used
to carry the dead bodies of these holy martyrs into his house and bury
them at night.

One day when he returned very tired he lay down by the wall of his house
to rest, and, while lying there, some dirt fell into his eyes and he
became blind. This Tobias had a young son whose name was also Tobias;
and as he himself was now blind and poor, he wished to send his son into
a certain city, at a good distance off, to collect some money that he
had formerly loaned to a friend. As the young man did not know the way,
his father sent him out to look for a guide. Young Tobias went out and
found a beautiful young man to be his guide and he consented, and he
brought Tobias to the distant city. As they were on their way they sat
down by the bank of a river. Tobias went into the water near the edge,
and soon a great fish rushed at him. Tobias called to his guide. The
guide told him to take hold of the fish and drag it out upon the shore.
There they killed it, and kept part of its flesh for food and part for
medicine. Then they went on to the city, got the money and returned. The
guide told young Tobias to rub the part of the fish he had taken for
medicine upon his father's eyes. He did so, and immediately his father's
eyes were cured and he saw. Then both the father and son were so
delighted with this young guide, that they offered to give him half of
all they had. He refused to take it and then told them he was the angel
Raphael sent from God to be the guide of this good man's son. He told
the old Tobias how he (the angel) had carried up to God his prayers and
good works while he was burying the dead. When they heard he was an
angel they fell down and reverenced him, being very much afraid. From
this beautiful history we know that the angels carry our prayers and
good works to God. Again we learn from the Holy Scripture (Gen. 28) in
the history of another good man almost the same thing. The patriarch
Jacob was on a journey, and being tired, he lay down to rest with his
head upon a stone. As he lay there he had a vision in which he saw a
great ladder reaching up from earth to Heaven. At the top he saw
Almighty God standing, and on the ladder itself angels ascending and
descending. Now the holy Fathers of the Church tell us this is what is
really taking place; the angels are always going down and up from God to
man, though not on a ladder and not visibly as they appeared to Jacob.
Besides the guardian angel for each person, there are also guardian
angels for each city and for each nation.

Again (Gen. 19) angels appeared to Lot to warn him about the destruction
of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrha. Angels appeared also to the
shepherds on the night Our Lord was born (Luke 2). The catechism says
angels have no bodies--how, then, could they appear? They took bodies
made of some very light substance which would make them visible, and
appeared just like beautiful young men, clad in flowing garments, as you
frequently see them represented in pictures. Angels were sometimes sent
to punish men for their sins, as the angel who killed in one night
185,000 men in the army of the wicked king, Sennacherib, who blasphemed
God, and was endeavoring to destroy Jerusalem, God's city. (4 Kgs. 19).

But here is a difficulty. If God Himself watches over us and sees all
things, why should the angels guard us? It is on account of God's
goodness to us; though it is not necessary. He does not wish us to have
any excuse for being bad, so He gives us each a special heavenly servant
to watch and assist us by his prayers. If a friend received us into his
house and did all he could for us himself, we should certainly be
satisfied, but if he gave us a special servant, though it would not be
necessary, he would show us great respect and kindness. Moreover
whatever the angels do for us, we might say God Himself does, for the
angels are only obeying His commands.

*37 Q. Were the angels, as God created them, good and happy?
A. The angels as God created them were good and happy.

*38 Q. Did all the angels remain good and happy?
A. All the angels did not remain good and happy; many of them sinned and
were cast into Hell; and these are called devils or bad angels.

God did not admit the angels into His presence at once. He placed them
for awhile on probation, as He did our first parents.

One of these angels was most beautiful, and was named Lucifer, which
means light-bearer. He was so perfect that he seems to have forgotten
that he received all his beauty and intelligence from God, and not
content with what he had, became sinfully proud and wished to be equal
to God Himself. For his sin he and all his followers were driven out of
Heaven, and God then created Hell, in which they were to suffer for all
eternity. This same Lucifer is now called Satan, and more commonly the
devil, and those who accompanied him in his fall, devils, or fallen
angels.