Apr 8 Wed
Can I talk to my guardian angel?
Like many people, as a child, I prayed the traditional prayer to our guardian angels: “Angel of God, my guardian dear to whom God’s love entrusts me here, ever this day (or night) be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.”
I still ask my guardian angel at night when I go to bed and, in the morning, when I get up, to watch over and protect me.
We can converse with and be assured of our guardian angel’s protective and guiding presence.
Moreover, we should dispel the romantic and “cute” notion that guardian angels are only relevant for vulnerable children.
Adults are in as much need of their guardian angels – maybe even more so, for their temptations and affairs are often of a more serious nature.
Our guardian angels are therefore present to strengthen, to encourage, and to guide us in living out our respective vocations, whether single, married, religious, or priestly.
The question has been asked: After death, do our guardian angels cease to be with us once we enter into Heaven?
According to Catholic tradition, our guardian angels even remain with us in Heaven and we give praise and glory to the most holy Trinity together – to our heavenly Father who is the ultimate source of life, to the risen Jesus, the Father’s incarnate Son, who is our loving Savior and Lord, and to the Holy Spirit who cleanses us of sin and makes us holy.
At the conclusion of the Preface at Mass, the following is said: “And so, with the Angels and all of the Saints, we declare your (the Father’s) glory, as with one voice we acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.”
Thus, when we participate in Mass, all of us on earth join the heavenly angelic liturgy.
The Mass, then, fulfills Isaiah’s heavenly vision:
“I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’”
At Mass, the earth is filled with the glory of God.
Our churches are “jam-packed” with angels, and so, in unison with our guardian angels, we join the seraphim in singing this thrice-holy proclamation of the Trinity’s holiness.
At the end of funeral Masses, just before going to the cemetery, the priest prays: “To you, O Lord, we commend the soul [name], your servant, in the sight of your saints and in the presence of your angels.
May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.”
Our guardian angel will be among the saints and angels who will lead us (we hope) into the new and everlasting heavenly Jerusalem – rejoicing, knowing that he has accomplished the task God had given him to do – to guard and guide us into happiness.
With excerpts from Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap.