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Q:How do you know if guardian angels really exist ? Please explain the nature of a guardian angel.
(Janice)
Dear Janice:
When we speak of our guardian angel, we are referring to an angel assigned to each of us by God, who protects us from spiritual and physical harm, and who assists us in doing God's will. The existence of angels - that is, spiritual beings without bodies, possessing intellect and free will, and acting as servants of God - has been taught by the Church down through the centuries, notably at the Fourth General Lateran Council (1215), which spoke of God creating out of nothing 'both orders of creatures...the angelic...and finally the human.'
More recently, the late Pope John Paul II, reflecting on the abundance of evidence from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, issued his Catechesis on the Angels (1986), in which he declared that the "Church confesses her faith in the guardian angels, venerating them in the liturgy with an appropriate feast and recommending recourse to their protection by frequent prayer, as in the invocation 'Angel of God'." The feast referred to by the Holy Father is that of the Guardian Angels on October 2.
The word angel comes from the Greek word 'angelos', meaning messenger, and there are many examples from the Bible of angels acting as messengers. You are no doubt familiar with the angel Gabriel, who in the Old Testament explained Daniel's vision to him, and who in the New Testament brought messages to Mary, the Mother of God, and to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Then there is the 'angel of the Lord' (followed by a great throng of the heavenly host) who appears to the shepherds at night informing them of the birth of Jesus; and later, the angel who instructs Joseph to flee to Egypt with Jesus and Mary to escape Herod. In this last example, we see the angel, not just as a messenger, but acting in the role of a protector or guardian.
There are a number of such examples in the Old Testament of angels guarding or delivering people from danger. Lot, for example, was spared the destruction of Sodom by two angels who led him out of the city (Genesis 19), and it was the angel of God 'who marched at the front of the army of Israel' (Exodus 14:19) and who escorted Moses and his flock safely across the Red Sea. The angel of the Lord, says the Psalmist, protects the faithful, and 'keeps them safe' (Ps 34:7). No disaster can overcome you as a person of faith because God 'will put you in his angels' charge to guard you wherever you go' (Ps 91:11).
Some of the most striking examples of angels as guardians come from the New Testament, such as Peter being miraculously freed from Herod's prison by 'an angel of the Lord' (Acts 12:7), and even Jesus himself was attended by an angel 'coming from heaven to give him strength' during his agony in the garden (Luke: 22:44). In fact, one of the most direct references to guardian angels comes from Jesus himself when he exhorts his disciples to welcome little children: 'See that you never despise any of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven.' (Matthew 18:10)
Throughout the centuries a number of great Church scholars, such as St. Jerome, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Basil, made references to guardian angels in their writing. There is a well- known painting (Guido Reni: circa 1635) of the great scriptural scholar St. Jerome translating the Bible into Latin under the guidance of his angel. It was St. Jerome himself who wrote: 'How great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from his birth an angel commissioned to guard it.' St. Basil, famed for his eloquence, scholarship and charity, wrote: 'Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life,' words quoted today in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in its section on angels in the life of the Church (334-336).
In recent years there has been a revival of interest in the idea of angels, which has resulted in the market being flooded with related books, videos and ornaments. One prominent American news magazine even featured angels on its front cover. It would be nice if such a phenomenon represented a genuine awakening of religious interest, a desire for greater closeness to God, for that indeed is the prime function of the angels: namely, to lead us all to be with God in the glory of Heaven. To the extent that the present day interest in angels contributes to our salvation, then it can be something greatly beneficial. Sadly, though, the angels of today's popular culture are more often portrayed as some kind of magical companions, unconnected to God.
In a short answer such as this we have managed to touch only briefly on the nature of angels. For more information on this topic, it would be a worthwhile exercise to examine the section in your Catechism of the Catholic Church titled 'Heaven and Earth' (325-354).
All that is left for us now is to remember to say frequently the prayer 'Angel of God', alluded to by the Holy Father in his catechesis, and to teach it to our 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.
God bless,
Father Norbert