THE GUARDIAN ANGELS

A MESSAGE FOR THE FEAST OF THE HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS

The Church celebrates in some way every aspect of the Divine Work – of creation, redemption, sanctification and glorification. One aspect is the existence of spiritual creatures whom we call angels. The Church celebrates the Feast of the Guardian Angels on October 2, which is today.  The angels help us in many ways, such as often protecting us from physical danger. More importantly, however, angels can help us in regard to sin. St. John Bosco said, “When tempted, invoke your angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped! Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: he trembles and flees at the sight of your guardian angel.”  Also, angels help us at the end of our lives. St. Alphonsus Liguori said, “The powers of hell will assail the dying Christian; but his angel guardian will come to console him. His patrons, and St. Michael, who has been appointed by God to defend his faithful servants in their last combat with the devils, will come to his aid.”

The Church teaches that every human being has a guardian angel given to them at birth. St. Basil the Great said, “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd, leading him to life.” Some have thought that priests, and perhaps others in important positions, have a second angel, but this is not taught by the Church.  Communities of human beings also have guardian angels, so indirectly the angels of our communities are also our guardian angels.  St. Michael, for example, is recognized by the Church as the guardian of the Church.  At Fátima the angel who appeared to the children in 1916 identified himself as the guardian of their country, “the angel of Portugal.” Thus, it is also piously believed that the United States has a Guardian Angel.  We can therefore honor these guardians of our communities on this feast day, as well as our personal guardian angel.

The nature of the angels as spirits makes them invisible to our human eyes. However, as we learn in Genesis 18 and in book of Tobit, with God’s permission they sometimes make themselves seen under a human form. Thus, some holy men and women, such as Padre Pio and St. Gemma Galgani, had the privilege of seeing their guardian angels and speaking to them.  You can pray to your guardian angel, just as you can pray to any saint. It is important to note that this is not an act of worship, but of the honor due to the ministers of God sent to serve our salvation (Heb. 1:14).  You may pray to your guardian angel and to anyone else’s angel. Often, people will ask the intercession of their children’s guardian angels.  The prayer to our Guardian Angel is familiar and one of the first prayers we learn as children: “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, to rule and guide.  Amen.” 

This important intercessory role is further shown in the New Testament in Apoc. 8:3-4.  “And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God.”  Following Scripture and Tradition, therefore, popes and saints have encouraged Christians to seek the help of their angels through prayer. As St. Bernard of Clairvaux said, “We should 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.”

[Summarized from www.ewtn.com]