October 2 - Homily for Today

The term “guardian angel” refers to the belief that each person has an angel who is available to shepherd their soul through life, and help bring them to God.

Belief in the reality of angels, their mission as messengers of God, and man’s interaction with them, goes back to the earliest times. Three days ago we celebrated the feast of Sts Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, three of the seven Archangels who had and have major roles in the history of salvation; today we focus on personal or guardian angels who have long been accepted by the church. In the gospel passage Jesus himself tells us that children have angels in heaven who always see his Father’s face.

The feast of the Guardian Angels gained popularity in the Church in the middle ages, and was given a high rank by Pope Leo XIII in 1883.

It is entirely fitting for each and every Catholic to acknowledge, pray to and depend upon the inspirational help of his or her hand-picked, personally assigned, spiritual assistant – his guardian angel – we would be foolish not to!

One such prayer for us is or should be familiar to us all: it should be one of the earliest remembrances in life that a child has:

Angel of God, my Guardian dear,
to whom His love commits me here,
ever this day be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.

The Lord has put angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.