The Fatima Center wishes you a blessed Feast of St. Michael the Archangel!
Modern man tends toward two opposite errors concerning angels and demons. The materialist dismisses them as superstition, while the credulous person may attribute every strange event, illness, or misfortune to demonic activity. Catholic teaching rejects both extremes.
Angels and demons are real spiritual creatures. They do not possess bodies, yet they can act upon the material world. Sacred Scripture gives many examples of such activity. St. Thomas Aquinas explains how spiritual beings can influence material bodies, the senses, and the imagination while remaining entirely subject to Almighty God.
Angels Can Act Upon Matter
Angels are incorporeal intellectual substances. They are not souls inhabiting celestial bodies, nor do they possess material bodies as men do (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 50, a. 1; q. 51, a. 1).
Yet their immaterial nature does not prevent them from acting upon matter. St. Thomas teaches that bodily things are subject to angelic power with respect to local motion. An angel can therefore move physical objects and employ natural causes to produce effects in the material world (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 110, aa. 2-3).
Sacred Scripture provides numerous examples. The angels struck the inhabitants of Sodom with blindness (Genesis 19:11). At the Resurrection, an angel descended and rolled back the stone from the tomb (Matthew 28:2). When St. Peter was imprisoned, an angel struck him on the side, caused his chains to fall away, and led him through the prison doors (Acts 12:7-10).
Angels may also assume visible forms when God wills it. The Archangel Raphael appeared and traveled with Tobias, yet this did not mean that he possessed a human body by nature. St. Thomas explains that angels may assume bodies for the purpose of communicating with men (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 51, aa. 2-3). When appearing in bodily form, an angel is simply exercising his ability to manipulate matter, affect man’s senses, and/or influence man’s imagination.
Demons Retain Their Natural Powers
Because angels are not composite material beings but simple spiritual beings, they do not “change their mind.” Rather, each angel’s free-will decision to obey or disobey God is unchanging.
Demons are fallen angels. They were created good but became evil through their own free choice. Their fall deprived them of grace, but it did not destroy their angelic nature. They therefore retained the preternatural intelligence and powers proper to angelic creatures. (When using theological terms precisely, only God has the power to work supernatural acts whereas angels perform preternatural acts. God can, of course, work supernatural acts through His chosen agent, be it an angel or human.)
This explains how demons may produce genuine physical effects.
The Book of Job gives one of the clearest examples. Within strict limits, satan is permitted to afflict Job. Job’s servants are killed, fire consumes his sheep, a violent wind destroys the house where his children are gathered, and Job himself is later afflicted bodily (Job 1:12-19; 2:6-7).
St. Thomas refers to these events when explaining that demons can produce real physical effects through natural causes (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 114, a. 4).
The Gospels likewise recount cases of demonic possession. The possessed man among the Gerasenes displayed extraordinary strength and broke chains and fetters (Mark 5:2-4). When Our Lord permitted the demons to enter the swine, they forced the herd to rush into the sea (Mark 5:12-13).
Yet even possession does not give a demon ownership of the human soul. The soul is created and sustained by God. The devil may exercise extraordinary influence over the body, but not man’s soul. However, a human can, by his own free will, choose to give the devil direct access to, and influence over, powers of his soul.
Influence Over the Senses and Imagination
Angelic influence can also reach human faculties connected with the body.
St. Thomas teaches that angels may act upon the imagination and senses by affecting the bodily organs associated with them (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 111, aa. 3-4). This helps explain certain dreams, visions, apparitions, and demonic deceptions.
St. Joseph, for example, received angelic messages in dreams (Matthew 1:20; 2:13, 19). Demons, conversely, may attempt to deceive by stirring the imagination or passions. But one limitation is essential: neither angels nor demons can force the human will.
They may suggest, tempt, frighten, attract, or stir the passions, but the will remains free. St. Thomas states that even when passions are aroused by angelic influence, the will remains capable of consenting or resisting (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 111, a. 2).
The devil can tempt. He cannot compel sin.
It is also wrong to blame every sinful thought upon satan. St. Thomas teaches that not every sin results from direct demonic temptation. Fallen human nature, bad habits, disordered passions, and free choice are sufficient causes for many sins (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 114, a. 3).
Demons Cannot Work True Miracles
The preternatural powers of angels greatly exceed our own, but they remain infinitely beneath the power of God.
St. Thomas distinguishes between an event that merely appears miraculous to man and a true miracle properly so called. A true miracle exceeds the power of the entire created order. Since angels and demons are creatures, God alone can work miracles in the strict sense (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 110, a. 4).
Demons may nevertheless produce extraordinary effects that seem miraculous because their knowledge of nature exceeds ours. They can manipulate natural causes, move matter, affect the senses, and deceive appearances.
But they cannot create something from nothing. They cannot truly raise the dead by their own power. Nor can they substantially transform a human being into an animal. St. Thomas explains that apparent transformations may instead involve deception of the senses or manipulation of natural causes (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 114, a. 4).
This distinction is important in judging occult phenomena. Something may be preternatural without being divine. Sacred Scripture warns of “signs, and lying wonders” connected with the coming of Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
An extraordinary manifestation is therefore no proof that something comes from God.
Satan Is Always Subject to God
The most important principle is that satan is never God’s equal.
Christianity has always rejected the ancient heresy that there exist two comparable strong powers struggling against each other, one good and the other evil, one light and the other dark. Many pagan religions, gnostic philosophies, New Age spiritualities, and occult beliefs posit such an error. This error has seeped into pop culture as well (think of “the force” in Star Wars). Every demon, including satan, remains a creature. They only exist because God sustains them, and they can do absolutely nothing outside the strict limits permitted by Divine Providence.
The Book of Job makes this unmistakable. The devil cannot attack Job without permission. God sets the boundary: “Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand: only put not forth thy hand upon his person” (Job 1:12). Later, satan is permitted to afflict Job bodily, but he is forbidden to take his life (Job 2:6). (It is easy to see how devils full of pride strive to deceive men into thinking the power of evil can be comparable to God.)
The demons act maliciously, but God remains sovereign over their activity and can draw good even from their attacks (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 114, a. 1). Nor has God left men defenseless. Catholic tradition teaches that each person is entrusted to the care of a guardian angel, whose mission is ordered toward our salvation (Summa Theologiae, I, q. 113, aa. 2 and 4).
Thus, the words of Eliseus remain consoling: “Fear not, for there are more with us than with them” (4 Kings 6:16).
Avoiding Superstition
Catholics should therefore take demonic activity seriously without becoming fascinated by it. Not every illness is demonic. Not every nightmare is an attack. Not every unexplained event is supernatural. Natural causes remain real, and Catholic belief does not justify abandoning medicine, reason, or ordinary prudence.
At the same time, Catholics should not act as though the material world were sealed off from spiritual influence. Scripture and Catholic theology clearly teach otherwise.
This is why occult practices are so dangerous. Divination, spiritism, magic, and attempts to communicate with unknown spiritual powers seek knowledge or influence outside the means permitted by God. St. Thomas warns that demonic deception can be involved in such practices (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 95, aa. 2-4).
The proper Catholic response is not curiosity about demons but fidelity to God: prayer, the Sacraments, sacramentals, devotion to Our Lady, the invocation of St. Michael, and resistance to temptation.
The Angel of Fatima
Fatima itself reminds us that the invisible world can truly act within the visible one.
Before Our Lady appeared in 1917, the Angel of Peace appeared to Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta three times in 1916. The children saw him, heard him speak, and learned from him prayers of adoration and reparation. At the final apparition, the Angel appeared with a chalice and Host and gave Holy Communion to the children.
These events perfectly accord with traditional Catholic teaching. The Angel remained a spiritual creature, yet God permitted him to appear visibly and act within the material world for the good of souls.
The devil desires that men either deny his existence or become obsessed with him. The Church teaches us instead to acknowledge the spiritual battle while keeping our eyes fixed upon God.
Angels are powerful. Demons are dangerous. But God alone is Almighty.