Guardian Angels

Angel of God,

my guardian dear,

To whom God's love

commits me here,

Ever this day,

be at my side,

To light and guard,

Rule and guide

Monday 2 Oct was the feast of the Guardian Angels. It is a special day for all Catholics to pause & thank God for the gift of those angels who watch over us & protect us every day of our lives. As the Church teaches: "From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their (the angels) watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united to God." (Par 336, The Catechism of the Catholic Church)

It bases this teaching on several passages from Scripture including:

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, who shall receive the inheritance of salvation?" Hebrews 1:14

"I myself will send an angel before you to guard you as you go and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Give him reverence and listen to all that he says. Offer him no defiance; he would not pardon such a fault, for my name is in him. If you listen carefully to his voice and do all that I say, I shall be enemy to your enemies, foe to your foes. My angel will go before you and lead you to where the Amorites are and the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Jebusites; I shall exterminate these." Exodus 23:20-23 (1st reading from Mass for the feast)

"The disciples approached Jesus and said, 'Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?' He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, 'Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.' ” Matt 18:1-5, 10 (2nd reading from the Mass for the feast)

What are angels? The name angel describes their function, it means one who is sent, a messenger. In this case the ones sent are incorporal beings of might & power beyond anything we can fully comprehend or imagine.

As I said earlier, Guardian Angels are a gift given to each of us from God. As St Jerome said in a commentary on the reading from Matthew: "How great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it" Their message they were sent with, God's love for each & every one of us. They proclaim the message of this love in 4 ways or actions. These ways are mentioned in the prayer from my childhood (& that I still pray daily) I opened this blog with; light, guard, rule and guide. How do they do this? In part, here is how:

Light: They bear the true light that was sent to guide us. the light of the Gospel message, that Jesus is the way, the truth & the life, that Jesus is the light of the world. The angel in a spiritual way speaks this message to the soul he is responsible for.

Guard: They watch over us. They do battle against the evil spirits (fallen angels) that come to attack us. & at times they are allowed to intervene to protect us physically. I can swear to this based on experiences in my own life. 1 time was when I was driving & a car nearly sideswiped me. Even though I couldn't see anything I could feel something keeping our 2 cars apart.

Rule: They do this in the same way that a governor of a region ruled in the name of a king. They have all the authority of the king at their command to ensure the kings will is done. In this case the king is Jesus.

Guide: This ties in with their role to light. As I said, they speak to our souls. When we seek God's guidance, He provides it through His angels. In this they cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit. They may actually speak the message to our hearts. In some supernatural way they may lead us to a specific passage in Scripture, or to a specific place or person so that we can be at the right place at the right time to be used by God in a special way.

I'd like to end with this reflection from a sermon by St. Bernard. I would challenge all to accept & live out the challenge he places before us:

"He has given his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. Let them thank the Lord for his mercy; his wonderful works are for the children of men. Let them give thanks and say among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them. O Lord, what is man that you have made yourself known to him, or why do you incline your heart to him? And you do incline your heart to him; you show him your care and your concern. Finally, you send your only Son and the grace of your Spirit, and promise him a vision of your countenance. And so, that nothing in heaven should be wanting in your concern for us, you send those blessed spirits to serve us, assigning them as our guardians and our teachers.

He has given his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. These words should fill you with respect, inspire devotion and instil confidence; respect for the presence of angels, devotion because of their loving service, and confidence because of their protection. And so the angels are here; they are at your side, they are with you, present on your behalf. They are here to protect you and to serve you. But even if it is God who has given them this charge, we must nonetheless be grateful to them for the great love with which they obey and come to help us in our great need.

So let us be devoted and grateful to such great protectors; let us return their love and honour them as much as we can and should. Yet all our love and honour must go to him, for it is from him that they receive all that makes them worthy of our love and respect.

We should then, my brothers, show our affection for the angels, for one day they will be our co-heirs just as here below they are our guardians and trustees appointed and set over us by the Father. We are God’s children although it does not seem so, because we are still but small children under guardians and trustees, and for the present little better than slaves.

Even though we are children and have a long, a very long and dangerous way to go, with such protectors what have we to fear? They who keep us in all our ways cannot be overpowered or led astray, much less lead us astray. They are loyal, prudent, powerful. Why then are we afraid? We have only to follow them, stay close to them, and we shall dwell under the protection of God’s heaven." (Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings, 2nd reading for the feast)