Our Holy Guardian Angels

This month of the Holy Angels brings to mind the well-known prayer: "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; from the stain of sin keep me free and at my deathbed my advocate be.  Amen".

This well-known prayer to our Guardian Angel focuses on four verbs to describe the activity of our Guardian Angels, and each teaches us something about the role of our Guardian Angels in our lives.

To Light.  St. Thomas reminds us that, in terms of intellect, humans are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Every Angel, even the least of them, is categorically superior in intelligence. This means that our Guardian Angels are far superior to us and have a role in enlightening our minds with both temporal and eternal truths. Since our minds are weak and can easily fail, our Guardian Angels help us to hold onto the truth more firmly, and so we ask our Guardian Angels to enlighten us (S.T.  I, q. 113, a. 1).

To Guard.  True to their name, Guardian Angels also protect us from the assaults of the enemies of God. St. Thomas gives this as reason to believe that even Adam, in the state of innocence, would have had an Angel Guardian (S.T.  I, q. 113, a. 4). In the same place, he states that even when we fall (as Adam did) into temptation, our Guardian Angels keep us from being harmed as much as the tempters want.

To Rule.  Since our Guardian Angels are not simply teachers of truth, but ministers of divine government, they never forget that their purpose in teaching is to lead us back to God. In this manner, we ask them not only to enlighten us with teaching, but also to rule and direct us toward the good. For, as St. Thomas tells us, even though we know the natural law, we sometimes struggle to apply it well, needing our Angels to assist us.

To Guide.  While a ruler might give direction from afar, a guide assists along the way by pointing out pitfalls in the path. While our Guardian Angels don't and can't make our decisions for us, they can give us nudges here and there to keep our feet on the narrow path.

These activities of our Guardian Angels belong to the execution of Divine Providence, much like any parent's guardianship of children. We should daily seek out the assistance of our powerful heavenly friends in our daily life as they are more eager to assist us than we can ever comprehend. With their heavenly power at our disposal we are truly given a more powerful aid in our daily trials than we can truly comprehend. Let us always strive to think upon it and readily make use of it!