How was the devil formed?

Fr. Oscar Lukefahr said Everything God creates is good.  He created all the angels in Heaven as good. However, as any good father would do, he allowed his angels the right to choose. One fallen angel chose to become evil, and he became a fallen angel, later to be named Satin, Lucifer or the Devil.

He said that while God created all good, he allowed the Devil to do is evil.  So the Devil did. However, because God was the creator of everything, including the Devil, the Devil could not defeat God nor destroy the kingdom of Christ.

The Devil chose to reject God and His good, and he chose to tempt the first man and woman to walk away from God and toward sin.  Adam and Eve were also given the right to choose, because what fun would it be to live in a world where you had no way to make it better.  So the Devil decided that he would tempt them.

He said:

Genisis said that God told the first humans not to eat from the tree of knowledge, and this was his way of saying that they must accept God's laws which tell us what is good and what is evil.  But the first human beings disobeyed God's command.  Seduced by the devil, they preferred themselves to God, thinking they could thereby be like God.

Instead, their sin brought tragic consequences.  Satan gave them a false image of God as one who was jealous to keep power from them.  They became afraid of God.  They lost the soul's control over their body, the accord between man and woman, harmony from creation, and freedom from death.

Sin flooded the world and has affected all of history.  It has affected us, for we are drawn toward what is wrong and trapped by evils which cannot come from God.  This can be unerstood only in connection with the sin of our first parents.  

Because of their sin, our first parents transmitted a human nature deprived of holiness and justice, a state known as original sin.  Original sin does not wholly corrupt human nature.  But id does deprive us of original holiness and weakens our natural powers.  It subjects us to ignorance, suffering, and death.  It gives us an inclination toward sin called concupiscence.  As a result, we must struggle with sin.  We are tempted by Satan and negatively influenced by sinful sinful situations in society.

So while everything God created was good, including angels and humans, he gave us the right to accept or reject his laws. Yet when one angel rejected God, he became the devil and created sin and hell.  Hell is one of the biggest deterrents for those who believe in God's laws from sinning.

Can you name your guardian angel?

I had dinner a while back with fellow members of the Knights of Columbus and our priest.  One of the Knights suggested we name our guardian angel.  Our priest concurred.  So we all discussed possible names for our angels. The name I pulled out of my head was Martin, as though my angel named himself.

Angels are superior to humans, and were actually created before God created man in his own image.  Angels are immortal, and were made by God to be his messengers, and their mission is to help us and guide us through life.  We enjoy their company from the time as we as we struggle with the trials and trivializations as well as the great joys of life.  When we struggle, they struggle with us; when we feel joy, they feel joy with us.

Your personal angel not only guides you through life, but also may affect your physical world.  For instance, during those moments when you are driving and wake up from your fantasy world, and you realize, "Wow!  How did I stay on the road?" Probably during those times your angel was driving for you.

Father Ryan Erlenbush of "The New Theological Movement" wrote:

Can my angel guardian affect the physical world around me? Yes. St. Gemma Galgani would regularly ask her guardian angel to mail letters for her – many letters were sent back and forth to her spiritual director while he was in Rome.

Anyway, I recently Googled "Can you name your angel?" and the answer I got was "No!"  It was no on every site I went to, including the Vatican (see section 217):

The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture.

Father Ryan Erlenbush  noted:

Can I name my guardian angel? Perhaps, but we must keep in mind that it belongs to a superior to name an inferior. Thus, it seems unfitting that a human being should name an angel.

So I guess it's not such a good idea to name our angels.  However, I have this feeling my angel's name is Martin anyway, so, perhaps he revealed it to me. Once again, I quote Father Ryan Erlenbush:

How do I find out my guardian angel’s name? You could try asking. But it is also possible that it will not be revealed to you immediately. I should think that in heaven, we would all know guardian angels’ names.

One author noted that parents name their children because children are supposed to look up to and respect their parents.  But people should not name their angels because angels are superior to humans, and we should look up to and respect them.

What are angels?

Do you ever wonder what angels are.  No, I'm not referring to the baseball team in California, I'm referring to the angels of Heaven.

When I asked my five-year-old daughter Laney this she said, "Angels aren't real."

I said they are.  In fact, I told her that we all have an angel to help us and guide us through life.  I told her I named my angel Martin, and that she should name hers. Yet this was all over her head, no pun intended.

So what are angels, at least according to the Catholic faith?  Oscar Lukefahr, in his book "The Catechism Handbook" defines angel this way:

Heaven refers to the angels, personal and immortal spiritual beings who are created by God and possess intelligence  and free will.  The word angel means "messenger," and angels are mentioned throughout the Scripture as those who do God's will and care for people.  Angels adore and minister to Christ.  Angels watch over and protect us as members of the Church, and we enjoy their company on life's journey.

Every have one of those moments where you are driving down the road and all of a sudden you wake up from your dream and wonder how you were still on the road and not on a ditch.  Well, I think it in such moments that your angel is watching over you.

Angels can't stop you from making bad decisions, and they can't stop you from dying.  But they surely can help you through life.  I believe your conscience is your angel talking to you.  He is telling you to make the right decision.

Catholic Online agrees with  Lukefahr, and adds:

Although the word "angel" in the Bible, meaning a messenger, nearly always applies to heavenly beings, it can occasionally apply to human messengers. Malachi himself said a priest was a messenger (malak) of the LORD of hosts (Malachi 2:7), and in the Book of Revelation the elders of the seven churches of Asia were called angels (1:20;2:1 etc.). But when we meet messengers doing supernatural things, there is no doubt they are heavenly beings - God's messengers, working for Him and for the ultimate benefit of mankind.

Catholic Online also discusses personal angels, such as I was discussing to my Laney.  It begins by quoting a Psalm (Psalm 91:10-12 ):

No evil shall befall you, nor shall affliction come near your tent, for to His Angels God has given command about you, that they guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

Catholic Online then describes your personal angel this way:

A heavenly spirit assigned by God to watch over each of us during our lives. The doctrine of angels is part of the Church's tradition. The role of the guardian angel is both to guide us to good thoughts, works and words, and to preserve us from evil...

He has charged His angels with the ministry of watching and safeguarding every one of His creatures that behold not His face. Kingdoms have their angels assigned to them, and men have their angels...

So even nations, such as the United States, has an angel guiding us on our path to share the Bible, capitalism, and natural rights with the world through our good example.  It is for this reason that the U.S. will always prevail.

So, should we all give our personal angels a name?  Recently I had a friend tell me tell me I should give my angel a name, and our priest, who was having dinner with us, agreed.  I Googled this, and the answer I got was from Catholic Answers:

I once attended a conference during which a priest said that we should name our guardian angels. So I did. Now I just heard someone say that we should never name our guardian angel because demons like the knowledge of names.