Guardian Angels

The word angel literally means "messenger," and throughout human history there have been manifestations of angels, human and divine, in Jewish tradition.  The concept was embraced fully by the pharisaic movement.  Although Jesus was critical of their hypocrisy, Jesus followed the theology of the Pharisees, including their devout belief in angels.  In this morning's gospel reading, Matthew 12: 12b-15, Jesus says that that the little children have their respective angels in heaven.  Decades later, Saint Luke in the book of Acts describes an incident in which the faithful Christians mistake Peter for his guardian angel.  Angels were later elaborated in the Shepherd of Hermas, a popular book that was almost included in the Christian Bible when our bishops determined the contents in 397 C.E., and nonetheless continued to be treated as Scripture by some congregations for quite a while.

With such solid biblical and extra-biblical footing, it is no surprise that the guardian angels were revered intercessors in England even during the Anglo-Saxon period.  In the eleventh century, Saint Alcuin, in particular, focused on them as intercessors.  A definitive statement was made by Honorius Augustodunensis (d. 1151) when he taught that each human soul, when infused into the body at birth, is entrusted to the particular care of a single angel, who protects body and soul and offers prayers to God.  Talk about back-up!

The angels of whom I have been truly aware were human, but there are certainly amazing instances of grace without human intervention.  I bet you have had something like that in your life as well.  Saint Paul, in the thirteen chapter of I Corinthians, says that in this life "all we see are puzzling reflections in a mirror," but will later have full knowledge.  In the mean time we merely glimpse the sacred from time to time in a great many ways and trust the teaching of the Church that one spiritual agency at work in our lives is our guardian angel.

Let us close with the traditional prayer:

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.