October 2, Feast of the Holy Guardian
Angels
~
Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year
It is of faith, on the testimony of the Scriptures and
of unanimous tradition, that God commits to His angels the guardianship of men,
who are called to contemplate Him together with these blessed spirits in their
common fatherland. Catholic theology teaches that this protection is extended
to every member of the human race, without any distinction of just and sinners,
infidels and baptized. To ward off dangers; to uphold man in his struggle
against the demons; to awaken in him holy thoughts; to prevent him from
sinning, and even, at times, to chastise him; to pray for him, and present his
prayers to God: such is the office of the Guardian Angel.
So special is his mission, that one angel does not
undertake the guardianship of several persons simultaneously; so diligent is
his care, that he follows his ward from the first day to the last of his mortal
existence, receiving the soul as it quits this life, and bearing it from the
feet of the sovereign Judge to the place it has merited in heaven, or to its
temporary sojourn in the place of expiation and purification. It is from the
lowest of the nine choirs, the nearest to ourselves, that the Guardian Angels
are, for the most part, selected.
God reserves to the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones
the honour of forming His own immediate court. The Dominations, from the steps
of His throne, preside over the government of the universe; the Virtues watch
over the course of nature’s laws, the preservation of species, and the
movements of the heavens; the Powers hold the spirits of wickedness in
subjection. The human race in its entirety, as also its great social bodies,
the nations and the churches, are confided to the Principalities; while the
Archangels, who preside over smaller communities, seem also to have the office
of transmitting to the Angels the commands of God, together with the love and
light which come down even to us from the first and highest hierarchy. O the
depths of the wisdom of God! Thus, then, the admirable distribution of offices
among the choirs of heavenly spirits terminates in the function committed to
the lowest rank, the guardianship of man, for whom the universe subsists. The apostle, St. Paul, in like manner, says:
‘Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, who shall
receive the inheritance of salvation?” (2 Hebrews 1:14)
God, magnificent as He is towards the whole human race,
honours in a special manner the princes of His people, those who are most
favoured by His grace, or who rule the earth in His name; the saints testify,
that a supereminent perfection, or a higher mission in Church or State, ensures
to the individual the assistance of a superior spirit, without the angel that
was first deputed being necessarily removed from his charge. Moreover, with
regard to the work of salvation, the Guardian Angel has no fear of being left
alone at his post; at his request, and at God’s command, the troops of his
blessed companions, who fill heaven and earth, are ever ready to lend him their
aid. These noble spirits, acting under the eye of God whose love they desire to
second by all possible means, have secret alliances between them, which
sometimes induce between their clients, even on earth, unions the mystery
whereof will be revealed in the light of eternity. ‘How profound a mystery,’
says Origen, ‘is the apportioning of souls to the angels destined for their
guardians! It is a divine secret, part of the universal economy centred in the Man-God.
Nor is it without ineffable order that the ministries of earth, the many
departments of nature, are allotted to the heavenly Virtues; fountains and
rivers, winds and forests, plants, living creatures of land and sea, whose
various functions harmonize together by the angels directing them all to a
common end.’
Again, on these words of Jeremias: How long shall the
land mourn? Origen, supported by the authority of his translator St. Jerome,
continues: ‘It is through each one of us that the earth rejoices or mourns; and
not only the earth, but water, fire, air, all the elements; by which name we
must here understand not insensible matter, but the angels who are set over all
things on earth. There is an angel of the land, who, with his companions,
mourns over our crimes. There is an angel of the waters to whom are applied the
words of the psalm: The waters saw Thee, and they were afraid, and the depths
were troubled; great was the noise of the waters; the clouds sent out a sound,
for Thy arrows pass.’ How grand is nature viewed in this light! It is thus the
ancients, more truthful as well as more poetical than our generation, always
considered the universe. Their error lay in adoring these mysterious powers, to
the detriment of the only God, under whom they stoop that bear up the world.
‘Air and earth and ocean, everything is full of angels,’ says St. Ambrose.
‘Eliseus, besieged by a whole army, felt no fear; for he beheld invisible
cohorts assisting him.’ But let us
return to our own specially-deputed 'angel, and meditate on this other
testimony: ‘The noble guardian of each one of us sleeps not, nor can he be
deceived. Close thy door, and make the darkness of night; but remember, thou
art never alone; he has no need of daylight in order to see thy actions.’ And
who is it that speaks thus? Not a father of the Church, but a pagan, the slave
philosopher Epictetus.
In the midst of the excited multitude, as well as in
the desert, not a human being that has not beside him an angel, the representative
of universal Providence over wicked and good alike. O blessed spirits! You and
we have the same fatherland, the same thought, the same love; why should the
confused noises of a frivolous crowd disturb the heavenly life we may lead even
now with you? Does the tumult of public places hinder you from holding your
choirs there, or prevent the Most High from hearing your harmonies? We also,
beholding by faith the face of our heavenly Father, which you ever delightedly
contemplate, we wish to sing in every place the praises of our Lord and to
unite at all times our adorations with yours. Thus, when our manners have
become altogether angelic, the present life will be full of peace, and we shall
be well prepared for eternity.
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