THURSDAY, TWENTY SIXTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Memorial of The Guardian Angels
Ex 23: 20-23 Ps 91: 1-6,10-11 Mt 18: 1-5,10
CHANNEL OF GOD’S CARING LOVE
Belief in angels is unique to Christianity. Bible refers to the angels more than 300 times! God’s angels care for us and they constantly intervene in our lives! Today the Church honours Guardian angels. God has assigned each of us a guardian angel. The Catechism teaches us, “from infancy to death human life is surrounded by angels’ watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. … Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God” (CCC, n. 336).
Some of the saints have left us convincing experiences they had with their guardian angels. St Gemma Galgani, a young Italian mystic of has given remarkable testimonies of how her guardian angel helped her in her prayer life. “Seeing the great charity her angel lavished upon her, Gemma loved her angel immensely, and his name was always on her tongue as well as in her heart,” writes her spiritual director.
Saint Carlo Acutis, the newly canonized Italian teenager, spoke about guardian angels with devotion and practical advice. He says, “Continuously ask your guardian angel for help. Your guardian angel has to become your best friend.” He encouraged people, especially the children he taught catechism, to rely on their guardian angel for protection and guidance in daily life and in overcoming personal shortcomings. Acutis had a special devotion to angels, naming his own guardian angel Gabriel.
Pope Benedict XVI once said, “My family taught me a prayer when I was a boy that has remained with me over the years, ‘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 prayer reminds us of the constant presence of our Guardian Angel assigned to us by God.” Learning then, from these saints, let us too make a habit of trying and connecting with our divine guardians in whose care the Lord has left us during our earthly exile!
Response: For you has he commanded his angels, to keep you in all your ways.
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