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The reply to the first question is in the negative. This
is the common opinion and seems to be of faith because of
the testimony of Sacred Scripture and of the
Fathers.[1208] Special reference is made to the
words, "Show the things that are to come hereafter, and
we shall know that you are gods."[1209] Thus
prophecy is the proper sign of divinity and a motive of
credibility, "amply demonstrating the infinite knowledge
of God," just as a miracle "demonstrates His
omnipotence," in the words of the Vatican
Council.[1210]
Proof from reason. Future contingent beings cannot be
known certainly by the angels either in their causes or in
themselves; not in the created causes because these are
contingent and indifferent; not in the uncreated cause,
that is, in God's free decree, which is naturally
inaccessible to every created intellect; not in
themselves, for in this way future contingents are known
only by God inasmuch as God's knowledge alone is
measured by eternity, which embraces all
time.[1211] Hence the angels cannot naturally know
future contingent beings; unless at the most they may have
some conjectural knowledge.
The reply to the second question is also in the negative
because of the testimony of the Scriptures.[1212]
The reason is that such secrets of the heart are not parts
of the universe. As free they are not necessarily
connected with our wills, and as immanent they are not
connected with exterior beings. They have therefore no
connection with the parts of the universe and thus are not
properly parts of the universe. They belong to a higher
order known only to God and if they are sacred secrets
they belong properly to the kingdom of God. Such is the
privileged character of the interior life, "hidden with
Christ in God," which the angels cannot know
naturally. St. John of the Cross emphasizes this point
in his teaching that the demons cannot know the secrets of
our hearts.
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