Friends,
today we celebrate the feast of our Guardian Angels. Why does God send
these spiritual messengers to help us? Well, Aquinas says that each of
us, due to our fallen nature,
has been assigned a heavenly guide. Is all of this just speculation and
conjecture?
One
of my favorite stories about angels is this one: two relatively
inexperienced pilots found themselves lost on a foggy day. Though they
tried desperately to make contact with an airport, they were incapable
of doing so. One of them then prayed for protection.
In
time, a voice crackled onto the radio. The speaker identified himself
as a controller from a small airport. Through very precise instructions,
he guided the two pilots through the fog to a landing strip at that
airport.
Once
they had arrived, to their astonishment they discovered that the
airport was closed and that there was no one on duty. A bizarre
coincidence? A happy accident? Or perhaps a sign that we are being
protected by powers at a higher pitch of ontological perfection? As you
know, stories such as this come out of the woodwork once people are
given the opportunity to share them.
Memorial of the Guardian Angels
Lectionary: 456/650
Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
Job spoke out and said:
Perish the day on which I was born,
the night when they said, "The child is a boy!"
Why did I not perish at birth,
come forth from the womb and expire?
Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth,
like babes that have never seen the light?
Wherefore did the knees receive me?
or why did I suck at the breasts?
For then I should have lain down and been tranquil;
had I slept, I should then have been at rest
With kings and counselors of the earth
who built where now there are ruins
Or with princes who had gold
and filled their houses with silver.
There the wicked cease from troubling,
there the weary are at rest.
Why is light given to the toilers,
and life to the bitter in spirit?
They wait for death and it comes not;
they search for it rather than for hidden treasures,
Rejoice in it exultingly,
and are glad when they reach the grave:
Those whose path is hidden from them,
and whom God has hemmed in!
The disciples approached Jesus and said,
"Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,
"Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.
"See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."
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