Angelology

Father Hardon’s writings on angelology examine the nature and mission of angels within Catholic theology. These articles cover guardian angels, fallen angels, spiritual warfare, divine providence, and the role of angels in salvation history.

The Strategy of the Devil in Demonic Temptations

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. As St. John tells us, we are tempted from three sources: by the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world is the attractive sinful conduct of other people. The flesh is our concupiscence, the natural inclination that we now have after the fall of the human race, to […]

The Archangel Raphael

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. We shall concentrate on this meditation on one book of the Old Testament, the book of Tobias, also called the Book of Tobit. Unfortunately as we know, this book is missing in both the Jewish and the Protestant Old Testaments. Jews, after Christianity was established, dropped this book because […]

At the Beginning of Time, God Created the Angels as Individual, Immortal Spirits with Intelligence and Free Will

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Before we say anything else, I think we should ask ourselves: Why have twelve teleconferences on the angels and demons? This is no idle question because for many people angels and demons are figments of a pious or frightened imagination. In the Anglo-Saxon world, we are so preoccupied with […]

The Fall of the Angels and Our Probation on Earth

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. If there is one lesson that we need to learn in life it is that our stay here on earth is a probation. We commonly speak of the trials of life. We should say that our life on earth is a trial. It is a test. It is God’s […]

The Holy Angels

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Our retreat theme, surprisingly, is on the Holy Angels. For our opening meditation I think we should begin by asking ourselves “Why a retreat on the angels?” Why concentrate on the angels? Our focus will be mainly on the good angels but we shall also include in our meditation, […]

Devotion to the Angels

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. I do not hesitate to say that devotion to the angels is one of the hallmarks of being a true Christian. It was an angel who first appeared to our Lady to announce her conception of Jesus Christ at Nazareth. It was an angel who appeared to the shepherds […]

We All Have Our Own Special Guardian Angel

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. There are few aspects of the Christian faith that are more satisfying to the human spirit than to know that each one of us has our own personal guardian angel. We may say this is part of God’s loving providence over the human race. If there is one thing […]

What is Devotion to the Angels and Why is it so Important?

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Our closing conference is a double question: What is devotion to the angels and why is it so important? A simple preliminary answer is, devotion to the holy angels is veneration of the angels; it is especially important today because the unholy angels are so active in the modern […]

The Angel Gabriel Appearing to Zachary and Announcing the Birth of John the Baptist

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Our present meditation is on: The Angel Gabriel Appearing to Zachary and Announcing the Birth of John the Baptist As we have seen, briefly and only very sketchily, the angels are so prominent in the Old Testament we can almost say the Old Testament is the bible of the […]

The Annunciation

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Our present meditation is on: The Annunciation It is the same Gabriel that announced to Zachary that Elizabeth, in her old age, would conceive and bear a son. Given the magnitude of this great mystery of the Annunciation, I thought we should have three meditations on the angelic Annunciation […]

Our Lady’s Receiving the Message from Gabriel

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Our present meditation is on the second part of the Annunciation: Our Lady’s Receiving the Message from Gabriel After his opening greeting, ‘Hail Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women,’ the archangel then continues, what we might call his prediction or prophecy. On […]

The Angelic Visitation of Our Lady’s Annunciation

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Our present meditation is on the Third Part of the Angelic Visitation of Our Lady’s Annunciation Gabriel the archangel told our Lady that she was to conceive and bear a son who would be the Son of the Most High. Unlike Zachary, Mary did not doubt. She did not […]

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