Homily for Oct. 2nd,
2013: Holy Guardian Angels.
Today’s
memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels reminds us of an important truth of our
Christian and Catholic faith. The world in which we live, which we entered at
birth and which we shall leave at death, is surrounded by another world which,
though we cannot see it, is every bit as real as the world which we see, touch,
hear, and feel. This other world is spiritual. It is the world God, the angels,
the saints, and our beloved dead. Though invisible, this spiritual world is not
only as real as the visible world all around us. It is in truth more real than that world. For the world
we see is passing away. The unseen, spiritual world is not passing away. It is eternal. Moreover, this spiritual world
is our true homeland. St. Paul
tells us this when he writes in his letter to the Philippians that, because of
baptism, “we have our citizenship in heaven” (3:20).
The Catechism
says: “The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal [that is, not bodily]
beings that Sacred Scripture calls ‘angels’ is a truth of faith” (No. 328). And
the Catechism goes on to quote St. Augustine,
who says that “angel” is the name of their office:
it tells us what they do. Their nature
is spirit; in other words, they are not bodily but spiritual beings. “With
their whole beings,” Augustine writes, “the angels are servants and messengers of God.” (No 329) They appear often in
Scripture. The angel Gabriel told Mary, for instance, that she was to be the
mother of God’s son. The Catechism quotes the 4th century Greek
Father, St. Basil, who writes: “Beside each believer stands an angel as
protector and shepherd leading him to life” (No. 336).
Whenever,
then, we are in danger; whenever we are strongly tempted, it is a joy to know
that we can pray with confidence: “Holy guardian angel, protect me and keep me
safe! Amen.”
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