Dec 16 Sat
What was the fall of the angels?
“Satan and the other demons, about which Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church speak, were angels, created good by God. They were, however, transformed into evil because, by a free and irrevocable choice, they rejected God and his Kingdom, thus giving rise to the existence of hell. They try to associate human beings with their revolt against God. However, God has wrought in Christ a sure victory over the Evil One.” (Compendium,74)
When we speak of the first sin, we think of that of Adam and Eve. But, before that, there was a seductive voice trying to tempt them. And that voice was that of Satan and the fallen angels.
So, before that sin of Adam and Eve, there was the fall of the angels. Some of the angels, misused their freedom, by rebelling against God. Being pure spirits, when the angels make a choice, it is of totality. Thus, their sin is radical and irrevocable.
Later, the Devil whispered to Adam: “God knows that on the day you eat from this tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God in the knowledge of good and evil.” That is, you will establish what kind of actions are to be considered right or wrong from now on. This is the pretension of being like gods.
It is not that God created hell, but that the fallen angels, by becoming evil, created a condition which is hell. Because hell is the state of full rebellion against God.
There not is a defect of mercy on the part of God, but an impossibility of forgiveness, because there is no repentance.
There is an expression of St. John Damascene in which he explains that "there is no repentance for angels after the fall, as there is no repentance for men after death. Because the angels, from the metaphysical point of view, by the structure of their own being, when they make a choice, it is full, absolute and irrevocable, there is no possibility of repentance".
When men die, and their soul is separated from the body, their choice of acceptance or rejection of God's grace is eternally fixed.
God affirms to us in Christ his victory over the Evil one, the liar, the murderer, the one who has only comfort by dragging us too into his state of disgrace.
God intervenes in all things for the good of those who love him. Even when we are tempted by the action of the Evil one, God is able to redirect that action to his plan of salvation for all of us.