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107. The Speech of Angels

1. Angels manifest knowledge to one another, and to thisextent they "speak" to one another. But the speech ofangels is not a matter of sounds or of uttered words. The speech ofangels is a direct communication of knowledge from spirit tospirit.

2. An inferior angel can speak to a superior angel, eventhough, as we have seen, it cannot enlighten the superior angel; acandle cannot enlighten the sun, but it can burn visibly in thesunlight. An angel speaks by directing its thought in such wisethat it is made known to another angel, superior or inferior. Suchdirecting is done according to the free will of the angelspeaking.

3. Certainly the angels "speak" to God byconsulting his divine will and by contemplating with admiration hisinfinite excellence.

4. Neither time nor place has any influence on angelicspeech or its effect. Local distance cannot impede thecommunication of angels.

5. Angelic speech is the ordering of angelic mind toangelic mind by the will of the angel speaking. Now, itbelongs to the perfection of intellectual communication that it canbe private; even a human being can speak to another person alone.Therefore, the angels who are superior to human beings, must becapable of communicating thoughts, angel to angel, without makingtheir communication known to all the other angels. The scope ofangelic communication depends on the will of the angel speaking;this will determines the communication for one other angel, or forseveral, or for all.

"Whom do you seek, friend, if you seek not God? Seek him, find him, cleave to him; bind your will to his with bands of steel and you will live always at peace in this life and in the next."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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"A single act of uniformity with the divine will suffices to make a saint."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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"Before a man chooses his confessor, he ought to think well about it, and pray about it also; but when he has once chosen, he ought not to change, except for most urgent reasons, but put the utmost confidence in his director."
St Philip Neri

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