Angels. Beautiful celestial beings God has supplied to protect us. Today we celebrate the Memorial of the Guardian Angels. This beautiful prayer comes to mind:
"Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day (or night), be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen."
Sometimes I forget my Guardian Angel is around. I'm taking the longer periods of "quiet" as an indicator I am making some good choices lately. Believe me, there are times I believe all of heaven fires a million warning shots only to have me ignore my conscience and make choices based on what makes me feel better . . . not what is best for my soul. My dear angel has worked overtime in the last 40 years, and saved my life a few times in the process.
When I was a freshman at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, I was driving over Monarch Pass home to Denver for spring break. Three other people were on board. As I came to a two-laned hairpin curve, I slowed down, and with one hand held the wheel while the other hand ejected the cassette tape (no cracks about age here!) to change the music. At that instant, the passenger in the front seat grabbed the wheel (we were about to go off a very steep cliff) and I slammed on the brakes. The combination sent my car rolling.
As you can see in the pic, it was either go off the cliff or slam into the mountain. Only by the grace of God, there was a place to pull off the side of the road to sightsee where my car landed. I ended up with a broken nose, but thank the Lord everyone else was ok. I can imagine my Guardian Angel petitioning very quickly to move a mountain . . .
Todays Gospel (Matthew 18:1-5, 10) creates awareness of how much God loves us. So much so he assigns each an angel:
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."
The following quote profoundly affected my oldest daughter and me when we read the following message from Jesus in Volume Nine:
"Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day (or night), be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen."
Sometimes I forget my Guardian Angel is around. I'm taking the longer periods of "quiet" as an indicator I am making some good choices lately. Believe me, there are times I believe all of heaven fires a million warning shots only to have me ignore my conscience and make choices based on what makes me feel better . . . not what is best for my soul. My dear angel has worked overtime in the last 40 years, and saved my life a few times in the process.
When I was a freshman at Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, I was driving over Monarch Pass home to Denver for spring break. Three other people were on board. As I came to a two-laned hairpin curve, I slowed down, and with one hand held the wheel while the other hand ejected the cassette tape (no cracks about age here!) to change the music. At that instant, the passenger in the front seat grabbed the wheel (we were about to go off a very steep cliff) and I slammed on the brakes. The combination sent my car rolling.
May not be the exact spot I rolled, but you get the idea!
As you can see in the pic, it was either go off the cliff or slam into the mountain. Only by the grace of God, there was a place to pull off the side of the road to sightsee where my car landed. I ended up with a broken nose, but thank the Lord everyone else was ok. I can imagine my Guardian Angel petitioning very quickly to move a mountain . . .
Todays Gospel (Matthew 18:1-5, 10) creates awareness of how much God loves us. So much so he assigns each an angel:
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."
The following quote profoundly affected my oldest daughter and me when we read the following message from Jesus in Volume Nine:
"The angels surround you, My dear ones. They minister to you in so many ways that I could not clearly explain this to you. I am going to give you some idea of these heavenly friends, however, so that you will understand the strength on your side. When you attend Mass you are praying and worshipping with thousands of angels. Your guardian angel goes with you, of course, and is so grateful for the opportunity to rest in the heavenly companionship of his fellow angels. These beings of light pay rapt attention and take such joy in praising Me. Truly, each church is filled with angels. When you enter a church and find it empty, that means that you can see no other human. But there are angels present and they welcome you as they welcome your angel guardian. This loyal servant of Mine, your special guardian, prays for you without interruption. When you are safely on the path to heaven, this angel then begins to petition heaven for greater and greater spiritual gifts. Your angel can communicate with the saints in heaven and often seeks out their intercession for you. When you are working with your angel and with the saints, you will find yourself making sublime spiritual progress because the gifts being secured are of the deepest and sometimes most indiscernible variety. You are often making progress that you do not feel, little soul, but your angel is watching it closely. When something threatens your spiritual progress, your angel attempts to warn you. He does this in many ways. You often hear whisperings, what many call your conscience. This is your angel attempting to persuade you that whatever you are considering will be bad for your cause. Your angel can anticipate danger so you should always ask him to be alert and assist you."
Lay apostles, after I read the above quote years ago, every time I brought someone to Mass who really didn't believe or want to be there, I knew I was giving their Guardian Angel time for heavenly companionship. Can you imagine the scene if we were allowed a glimpse? The next time you are dragging your teenager, a friend, or a lost relative to Mass, think about his/her angel's thankfulness for the effort. Ignore the annoyance and know his/her angel is petitioning heaven for the soul they are assigned.
Thank you, Lord, for my dear Guardian Angel. I am working on listening to the warnings instead of debating them!
God bless,
Bonnie
Thank you, Lord, for my dear Guardian Angel. I am working on listening to the warnings instead of debating them!
God bless,
Bonnie
No comments:
Post a Comment