Seeing God's Goodness in Fallen Angels

Have you ever thought about the fall of the angels? It really is fascinating. To think of rebellion in Heaven, a celestial battle, St. Michael the Archangel expelling Lucifer from the heavenly host. My question is, why have there not been fantastic movies made about this!

We were praying about this, the fall of the angels, in a month-long spiritual retreat I recently completed. And it was precisely in contemplating this scene that the goodness of God struck me in a particular way. God created. Maybe it is like standing in a sandbox. There is just you and the sand. But then you start making castles and roads in the sand, pools and rivers. That is like God and creation. He animates. He gives being. What He makes is good.

But then the freedom He bestowed is abused. He, the giver of every gift, finds himself rejected, spurned, unwanted. They walked. But that is precisely where God's goodness shines so brilliantly. He let them walk. He loves and respects to such a degree that whatever choice the other makes, He responds with love. If the choice of the other is to spurn, to reject, and even to hate, He respects and loves and never obliges.

We know how the story goes. Man fell, too. God respected man's choice to sin. I am fallen as well. I have rejected God so many times. And His love is so radical that He honors my freedom and refuses to impose upon, which would be to limit, my freedom.

Will we know each other in Heaven?

"The Fulfillment of All Desire" is the title of a great book on the spiritual life authored by Ralph Martin. Have you ever wondered about heaven and, particularly, about whether or not we will know each other there? For example, your spouse, your best friend, your parents or siblings, your mother-in-law...St. Catherine of Siena was a mystic in the 1300's and is a doctor of the Church. She actually touches on this theme in her work "The Dialogue," which is a conversation between her and God the Father.

In 1 Samuel 18 the future king David has a beautiful and profound friendship with Jonathan, the son of Saul. It says that Jonathan loved David as he loved himself. This endures even when his father out of jealousy ends up seeking David's life. It is a beautiful example of friendship in the Bible. St. Catherine says in her work, and this is cited by Ralph Martin in his, that not only will we know and recognize each other in Heaven, but our friendship will be even deeper and more intimate. Those healthy friendships we have in the Lord will only reach new heights.

So look forward to heaven! And let's strive to live friendships now in anticipation of how they will be there.