INVISIBLE ALLIES:
A RETREAT GUIDE ON ST MICHAEL AND THE ANGELS
The newest Retreat Guide from RC Spirituality, Invisible Allies: A Retreat Guide on St. Michael and the Angels, is now available at www.RCSpirituality.org.
Angels are not human beings who have died, gone to heaven, and earned their wings. The classic Frank Capra film, It’s a Wonderful Life, got that part wrong. Angels are purely spiritual beings, which means they don’t have bodies; they are entirely immaterial. But it also means that their spiritual powers of intelligence and will are not limited by their dependence on the five senses, as human intelligence and will are. In the whole hierarchy of God’s creation, from atoms to rocks to plants to animals to human beings to angels, angels are the most superior creatures, the ones closest to God in their very nature.
But when God through the incarnation became man in Jesus Christ, the relationship between humans and angels changed. Angels still have the superior nature, but we have been given the grace of a more intimate friendship with God, a sharing in God’s divinity, through grace, that even the angels don’t enjoy.
In this Retreat Guide, Invisible Allies: A Retreat Guide on St. Michael and the Angels, we will explore, a little bit, how God wants the angels to be involved in our Christian journey, and what role they are called to play in the dramatic history of our salvation.
- In the First and Second Meditations, we will reflect on the Church’s two liturgical celebrations dedicated to angels, and try to draw spiritual lessons for ourselves from those appearances.
- And in the Conference, we will bring some clarity to the often ignored, exaggerated, or misunderstood reality of the fallen angels—the devil and his demons, and how they try to tangle up human affairs.
About Fr. John Bartunek, LC
Fr. John Bartunek, LC, S.Th.D, received his BA in History from Stanford University in 1990. He comes from an evangelical Christian background and became a member of the Catholic Church in 1991. After college he worked as a high school history teacher, drama director, and baseball coach. He then spent a year as a professional actor in Chicago before entering the religious Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ in 1993. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 2003 and earned his doctorate in moral theology in 2010. He provided spiritual support on the set of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” while researching the 2005 Catholic best seller “Inside the Passion”–the only authorized, behind-the-scene explanation of the film. Fr. John has contributed news commentary regarding religious issues on NBC, CNN, Fox, and the BBC. He also served as the English-language press liaison for the Vatican’s 2005 Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist. His most widely known book is called: “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer”. He has also published four other titles: “Seeking First the Kingdom”, “Answers: Catholic Advice for Your Spiritual Questions”, “Meditations for Mothers”, and “A Guide to Christian Meditation”. Fr. John currently splits his time between Rome and Rhode Island, where he teaches theology as an adjunct professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and at Mater Ecclesia College. He is also continuing his writing apostolate with online retreats at www.RCSpirituality.org and questions and answers on the spiritual life at www.RCSpiritualDirection.com. FATHER JOHN’S BOOKS include: “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer”, “Inside the Passion”–The Only Authorized Insiders View of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, “Meditations for Mothers”, and “A Guide to Christian Meditation”.
