Bulletins

October 2, 2022

The Church teaches that every human being has a guardian angel given to them at birth. St. Basil the Great said, “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd, leading him to life.” Some have thought that priests have a second angel, but this is not taught by the Church.

Communities of human beings also have guardian angels, so indirectly the angels of our communities are also our guardian angels. St. Michael, for example, is the angel of Israel (Dan. 12:1), and recognized by the Church as the guardian of the Church. At Fátima the angel who appeared to the children in 1916 identified himself as the guardian of their country, “the angel of Portugal.” Thus, it is also piously believed that the United States has a Guardian Angel. We can therefore honor these guardians of our communities on this feast day, as well as our personal guardian angel.

The nature of the angels as spirits makes them invisible to our human eyes. However, as we learn in Genesis 18 and in book of Tobit, with God’s permission they sometimes make themselves seen under a human form. Thus, some saints, such as Padre Pio and Gemma Galgani, had the privilege of seeing their guardian angels and speaking to them. This is not something we should seek to do, however, as the fallen angels can also sometimes make themselves appear– –whether to tempt holy souls, or to frighten or appeal to their curiosity in order to subject them (2Cor. 11,14).

You can and should, however, pray to your guardian angel, just as you implore any saint in heaven to intercede for you, not as an act of worship but of proper honor due to the ministers of God sent to serve our salvation (Heb. 1,14). Let’s pray then...

Rev. Christopher J. Pollard

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