Daily Reflections

Psalm 90/91:11-12, 10

God gave his angels charge over thee;
to keep thy in all thy ways.
– In their hands they shall bear you up
lest you dash your foot against a stone.

There shall no evil come to thee:
Nor shall the scourge come near thy dwelling.
– In their hands they shall bear you up
lest you dash your foot against a stone.

The Holy Guardian Angels

HOLY GUARDIAN ANGELS

God‘s love for us was not satisfied with giving us, His Son, Jesus, for our Redeemer, and Mary for our Advocate; He has been pleased to give us also His Angels to be our guardians “He hath given His angels charge over thee to keep thee and all thy ways“ [Psalm 90:2]. These holy spirits and princes of heaven are always present with us, and assist us in all of our actions. And on this account, out of regard to our guardian Angels, we aught carefully to refrain from every action, which can displease them.

In the prayer for the feast of Saint Michael [September 29] we ask that the Holy Angels may fulfil the specific office  entrusted to them of watching faithfully over us upon earth. This feast included together with Saint Michael, the whole of the Heavenly Court. A distinct feast of the Guardian Angels originated only at a later date.  Our guardian angels’ mission is to conduct us safely through the perils of our earthly life into the joys of Eternal Life. We can be assured of their powerful help in all things when we seek to win the joys of Heaven. “Specially love and revere the Guardian Angel of the diocese in which you live, those of the friends who surround you, and your own. Commune with them frequently, join in their songs of praise, and seek their protection and help in all you do, spiritual or temporal” (Saint Francis de Sales). Spaniards observed it in the 16th century and Pope Paul V [September 27, 1608] declared the feast of the Guardian Angels, a feast of the whole Church, and ordered that it should be kept on the first vacant date after the feast of Saint Michael. Clement X [1670] assigned it to October 2. Leo XIII raised to the rank of a greater double.

From a sermon by Saint Bernard, Abbot
(Sermo 12 in psalmum Qui habitat, 3. 6-8: Opera omnia, Edit. Cisterc. 4 [1966], 458-462)

That they might guard you in all your ways

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 instill 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 honor them as much as we can and should. Yet all our love and honor 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.

A Prayer to Our Guardian Angel

O angel of God, my guardian: save, protect, and guide me, who has been entrusted to you through the divine compassion of Jesus! I ask you, blessed angel, to whose care I have been commended, to be ever present to assist me. Before God Our LORD present my petitions to His most merciful ears so that he, because of His mercy and your prayers, may grant me pardon for my sin and a true knowledge and contrition for those present, and advice on how to avoid them in the future; and that He may grant me the grace to do good and persevere unto the end. Keep far from me, through the strength of Almighty God, every temptation of Satan; and may you obtain through your prayers before Our LORD what I do not deserve because of my works, that there may not be in me any room for, or sharing in, any evil; and if you see me at times straying from the right path and following the errors of sin, take care to bring me back to my Saviour along the ways of justice. And when you see me in any trial and tribulation, take care to obtain help for me from God through your sweet succour.

I ask you never to abandon me, but always to shield, visit, assist, and defend me from every wile and warfare of the demons, watching over me by day and night, at every moment and hour. Be therefore willing to remain with me as my guardian and companion. I also ask you, my protector, that when I am about to depart this life, you do not let me be frightened by the demons, nor let me fall into despair; and do not leave me until you shall have led me to the beatific vision of God Our LORD, where I shall be with you and the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of all the saints, for ever happy in the glory of Paradise which Jesus Christ Our LORD will give us, who, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns for ever. Amen.

Saint Francis Xavier

Saint Francis Xavier († 1552) was a great Spanish Jesuit missionary to Asia. [From The Letters and Instructions of Francis Xavier, M. Joseph Costelloe, s.j. Tr. ©

DAILY MEDITATION 

If it were only at certain times, they rendered us assistance, it would not be so wonderful; but to be conferring favours on us, every moment we exist, is inconceivable – and it is this our good angel does for us. If a prince of the royal blood came and spent some time in waiting on a humble peasant, in a poor cabin, everyone would be amazed, but if this peasant was his enemy, one from whom he could expect nothing like gratitude – if, moreover, he not only passed some months with him, but even resolved on remaining in his service as long as he lived, not withstanding all the vicious, propensities and vile habits which he discovered in him  – the wonder would be infinitely richer. Yet it is in this manner, O my soul! Thy good angel guards thee…… this amiable prince never quits us in this valley of tears.

The angels, says Saint Augustine, enter and go forth with us – they have their eyes ever fixed on us, and on what we do. If we remain at home, they stay with us; if we walk out, they accompany us; let us go where we will, on land or on sea, they are always with us; they are no less present with the merchant in his countinghouse, or the matron in the cares of her household, than, with the recluse in his desert, or the religious in his cell. O excessive bounty! – Even while we sleep, they watch over us– they are always at our side – so we are sinners, and consequently their enemies – though our interior deformity is so great, that if we saw it, we could not support the site – so we spend our lives in sin, or in such frivolous occupations, as certainly excite the pity of these blessed spirits– though we corrupt our best actions by numberless defects, they are never weary of our company. Even after death, they visit us in purgatory, and render us in its flames very great consolations. Is not this to be our slaves? Where would we be able to find persons who would sacrifice their liberty so perfectly in the service of kings? O bounty of our God! The princes of paradise, our slaves and servants!

Henri–Marie Boudon [d. 1702] – French priest, and Archdeacon of Evreux, spiritual master and proponent of clerical reform.

“The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision. It is a silent acquiescence to evil. The tragedy of our time is that those who still believe in honesty lack fire and conviction, while those who believe in dishonesty are full of passionate conviction.” – Ven. Archbishop Fulton Sheen