Angels

ANGELS by Fr. John Trigilio

As the Angelic Doctor explains in the Summa, the Angels, or ANY being for that matter, once in possession of the Beatific Vision, can NEVER be tempted to any evil whatsoever. In cruder terms, it is like winning the Publishers' Clearing House Sweepstakes and getting 10 million dollars. Once you have it, no one can bribe you with a penny ($0.01) to commit a crime with them. That enormous disparity between one cent and ten million dollars pales to the chasm between the Beatific Vision and any created good in the universe. Ergo, once an Angel or Human Being HAS the Beatific Vision, they are COMPLETELY and TOTALLY and PERFECTLY satisfied. St. Thomas says that the object of the intellect is truth and the object of the will is goodness. God IS the Truth and He IS the Supreme Good (SUMMUM BONUM). As the perfection of TRUTH and GOODNESS, being the Truth and the Good, then once the intellect and will possess the VISION of Divine Essence, then their souls are "finally at rest" in the words of St. Augustine.

Had the Angels been in Heaven, they would have had the Beatific Vision. Having the Beatific Vision, they metaphysically could NOT have been tested or tempted and Lucifer and his accomplices would NEVER have rebelled and sinned. They must have existed in some state, not a place as they were pure spirit and had no bodies, ergo, they took up no space. Being spirits, they could exist in a state or dimension, but having no matter or mass, they did not need a place to be. The Beatific Vision is the final reward, hence, the Angels had to be worthy of such a gift just as man needed to prove himself. Luckily for us, our wills are not angelic. We can change our minds are therefore we are reformable and we can convert from our evil ways and turn back to God. Angels are frozen for eternity by a single act of their will.