why are angels invisible?

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 12 Sep 2004 19:24 PDT

Angelic beings are described in many religions, and details of their
characteristics vary widely, depending upon many cultural, historical,
and theological underpinnings. Which religion's angels are you
speaking of?

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Clarification of Question by sper-ga on 13 Sep 2004 06:07 PDT

The question "Why are angels invisibile?" was asked by a 4 year old
boy - Roman Catholic.  I'm certain that quoting a source or verse from
the Bible will not satisfy his curiosity.

Hello sper-ga,

Catholic teachings hold that angels are ?pure spirits? and thus
invisible. Sometimes they appear in human form so that humans can see
them. Their job in relation to humanity is to serve as messengers from
God. Catholics also have a traditional belief in guardian angels.

I?ve collected a variety of links to help you further explore the
Catholic viewpoint on angels. Many of them include lengthy discussions
of specific angels that are mentioned in the bible. I?m sure that you
will be able to formulate an explanation for your four year old
questioner based on these links.

Wishing you well.

~ czh ~



http://www.domestic-church.com/CONTENT.DCC/19980901/FRIDGE/EXPL_ANGELS.HTM
Exploring Angels

This is a Catholic Web site that offers activities and resources for
discussing angels with children.

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http://www.ewtn.com/library/ANSWERS/ANGELTR.htm 
ANGELS ARE A 'TRUTH OF FAITH'

The Catechism of the Catholic Church clearly affirms, "The existence
of the spiritual non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture calls
'angels' is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as
the unanimity of Tradition" (No. 328). Given that we do believe in
angels, we define them as pure spirits and personal beings with
intelligence and free will. They are immortal beings. As Sacred
Scripture attests, they appear to humans as apparitions with a human
form.

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http://www.catholic-pages.com/angels/what.asp
What are Angels?

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, of
all this is, seen and unseen.

Among those unseen things that God has created are what we call
"angels". That angels exist is clear from Scripture as well as Sacred
Tradition.

Angels are purely spiritual creatures, they do not have bodies, and
are not constrained by bodies as we are. They are personal and
immortal, just as we are. They have intellects and free will, just as
we do. Because an angel's mind does not depend on a body, an angel
cannot forget or get confused and his will is much stronger than ours.

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http://www.disciplesnow.com/catholic/html/article469.html
ANGELS

The name "angel" is taken from the Greek translation of a Hebrew word
meaning "messenger." The angels are spiritual beings, created by God,
and superior in nature to man. They are immortal beings whose role is
to minister to God and to do the will of God in obedience. They are
bodiless, spiritual intelligences who have their knowledge, not as man
who acquires knowledge through his senses, but by intuition.

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http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01476d.htm
Angels

(Latin angelus; Greek aggelos; from the Hebrew for "one going" or "one
sent"; messenger). The word is used in Hebrew to denote indifferently
either a divine or human messenger.

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http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p5.htm
I. THE ANGELS 

The existence of angels - a truth of faith 

328 The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred
Scripture usually calls "angels" is a truth of faith. The witness of
Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.

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.'"[188] 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".[189]

330 As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will:
they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all
visible creatures, as the splendour of their glory bears witness.[190]

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http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07049c.htm
Guardian Angel

That every individual soul has a guardian angel has never been defined
by the Church, and is, consequently, not an article of faith; but it
is the "mind of the Church", as St. Jerome expressed it: "how great
the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel
commissioned to guard it." (Comm. in Matt., xviii, lib. II).

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http://www.silk.net/RelEd/angels.htm
Angels in Catholic Teachings and Traditions

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http://skepdic.com/angels.html
angels

Angels are bodiless, immortal spirits, limited in knowledge and power.
God created angels to worship Him. Not all God's angels acted
angelically, however. Some angels, led by Satan, rebelled against a
life of submission, and were cast out of Heaven. These bad angels were
sent to Hell and are known as devils.

Even though angels are spirits and devoid of a physical nature,
believers in angels have had no problem depicting and describing them.
Angels, say their advocates, are invisible but can take the form of
visible things. Angels are usually depicted with wings and looking
like human adults or children. The wings are undoubtedly related to
their work as messengers from God, who lives in the sky.

Since angels are invisible but capable of taking on visible forms, it
is understandable that there have been many "sightings." Literally
anything could be an angel and any experience could be an
angel-experience. The existence of angels cannot be disproved. The
down side of this tidy picture is that angels cannot be proved to
exist, either. Everything that could be an angel could be something
else. Every experience that could be due to an angel could be due to
something else. Belief in angels, angel sightings and angel
experiences is entirely a matter of faith.

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http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/SaintOfDay/default.asp?id=1156
October 2 
Feast of the Guardian Angels 

Perhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the
belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and
imagined. Yet guardian angels are not just for children. Their role is
to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid
their prayer and to present their souls to God at death.
The concept of an angel assigned to guide and nurture each human being
is a development of Catholic doctrine and piety based on Scripture but
not directly drawn from it. Jesus' words in Matthew 18:10 best support
the belief: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for
I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of
my heavenly Father."

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http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintgak.htm
Feast of Guardian Angels

The term guardian angels refers to the belief that each soul has an
angel who is available to shepherd the soul through life, and help
bring them to God.



SEARCH STRATEGY

catholic angels
catholic angels children

From the Bible. Angels are "spiritual" beings, created by God AND his
son Jesus, before the creation of the heavens and the earth. [
Proverbs 8;22, 23..the earliest of His achievements of long ago...from
time indefinite I was installed, from the start, from times earlier
than the earth.]Verse 30.."then I came to be beside Him as a master
worker".Revelation 3;14..these are the things that the Amen says, the
faithful and true witness [ Jesus] THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION by
God".  God himself has always existed, with no beginning and no
end.[Revelation 1;8, 21;6, 22;13.."I am the Alpha and the Omega". 
Jesus was created, and the angels were created. They were in existence
when God created the heavens and the earth [ literally galaxies,
planets ] On witnessing this, they praised God. Job 38;4-7..".The
morning stars cried out together and all the sons of God began
shouting in applause". These "sons of God" and "morning stars" are the
angels/ holy myriads/ holy ones mentioned in Job 1;6, 2;1, 38;7 and
Deuteronomy 33;2. Angels were given the ability to materialise as
flesh and blood people and there are instances related in the Bible
when they did this. An angel announced to Mary, Jesus` mother, she
would bear a son. Their main job is as messengers, and the Hebrew 
word "mal-`akh" and the greek word "ag`ge-los" literally mean
messenger. The Bible specifically mentions invisibility in Colossians
1;15,16.."He is the image of the INVISIBLE God, the FIRSTBORN of all
creation..16..because by means of him [Jesus] all other things were
created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the
things INVISIBLE, no matter whether they are thrones or Lordships or
governments or authorities, All other things have been created through
him and for him. So according to the Bible, from which we first
learned of Angels, they are invisible, but can become , from our point
of view, flesh and blood, if their "duties" require it. Are there
many?. Daniel 7;10. "...there were a thousand thousands that kept
ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand that kept
standing right before him...the court took its seat and there were
books that were opened". Are angels to be worshipped? The Bible says
No! Revelation 19;10 , apostle John writing, " at that I fell down
before his feet [ the angels] to worship him. But he tells me; Be
careful!, Do not do that! All I am is a fellow slave of you and of
your brothers who have the work of witnessing to Jesus. Worship God,
for the bearing witness to Jesus is what inspires prophesying".

I met a woman (probably 70-ish) a few days ago who told me that she
had died twice and, on the second occasion, all the angels were
playing their harps.

She took that as her cue to start playing her guitar, which she did.

Whereupon, St Peter ordered her to get out of Heaven because she was
obviously too well to be up there.

And that was how she came to be back on Earth.

I wish I could play the guitar.

"I never saw an angel.

Therefore angels don't exist.

I never saw an electron.

Therefore electricity does not.."
http://www.huntamerica.com/wwwthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=578259&Main=573537

Actually if you watch TV you see electrons (or their effects)
constantly.  Whereas there is no proof there are angels.

Below is a link to a wonderful, well researched answer to the question
"whats the deal with Angels" from the awesome "Straight Dope" website.
It covers the history of angels as well as some key biblical
appearances. It very much covers the Catholic point of view as well as
Hebrew and Islamic ideas of Angels and how they have evolved from
ancient Mesopotamia to present. What you will discover is that most of
what we think of today about Angels has been made up, and is not
necessarily biblical. The article is very readable and not very long.
You will really enjoy it as it approaches the whole thing from both a
traditional and scholarly viewpoint, but is not a boring term paper.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mangels.html

Enjoy

higher dimentional beings. we would also be 'invisible' in the eyes of
an ant.  http://www.krishna.com

hey scubajim!

ah, but can you 'prove' that you have never seen the 'effects' of Angels?

Angels are invisible to us here on Earth as seen through the naked
eye, but they can be seen through the mind's eye.
Their energy can not stay in the energy frequency of Earth it is too
dense for them. They exist in a finer energy frequency that we can not
see.