Father Chris, I see that many people say ‘God has a new angel’ when someone dies.  Do we become angels when we die?

This is a great question.  Essentially, we are asking, what happens when we die—but also, who are we?

We do not become angels when we die. We, as human beings are a union of the physical and the spiritual in the forms of body and soul.  Angels do not have bodies, and are not created to be a part of this union.  They are created to serve and minister in the spiritual realm.  We are created to minister to both the spiritual and physical.

He Who is the Son of God, our Lord, Jesus Christ, emptied Himself of the Glory of God, and became, as St. Paul says, “a little lower than the angels”—a human being.  He did this so He can raise what we are by nature to our proper place in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Because our Lord suffered and died, then rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, we have the possibility of standing before the Face of God—something that the Angels hide from because of His powerful Glory.

When we die, our souls are separated from our bodies.  They await the general Resurrection of all at the Second Coming of Christ, when our bodies will once again be raised up, made whole and reunited with our souls.  Then, those who are in Christ will truly serve as the union of physical and spiritual in the Joy of our Lord for all eternity!