October 2nd is the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. How often do you think about yours? I confess that I do not think of or thank my own guardian angel regularly enough – and God knows he has seen me through my fair share of danger – physically and spiritually – throughout the years. These four readings and prayers taken from today’s Mass propers from the 1962 Missal brought my own very vividly to mind.
Prayer
O God, Who in Thine ineffable providence dost vouchsafe to send Thine angels to watch over us, grant to Thy suppliants to be continually defended by their protection and to share their companionship in eternity. Through our Lord.
Lesson (Exodus 23:20-23)
Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned, for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and My name is in him. But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to Thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee: and My angel shall go before thee.
Gradual (Psalm 90:11, 12)
God hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Secret
Receive the gifts, O Lord, which we bring in veneration of Thy holy angels, and mercifully grant that we be delivered by their perpetual guard from the perils of this life and at last attain unto life everlasting. Through our Lord.
Additional Resources on the Angels
- The Book of Tobit about the Angel Raphael.
- The Book of Daniel about St. Michael.
- Matthew’s Gospel 18:10.
- The Catechism on the Angels.
- Pope Benedict XVI’s 2011 Angelus address on the Guardian Angels:
“The Lord is ever close and active in humanity’s hisotry and accompanies us with the unique presence of his Angels, whom today the Church venerates as “Guardian Angels”, that is, ministers of the divine care for every human being. From the beginning until the hour of death, human life is surrounded by their constant protection. And the Angels encircle the august Queen of Victories, the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary, who, on the first Sunday of October, at this very moment, receives the fervent supplication from the Shrine of Pompeii and from the whole world that evil may be defeated and God’s goodness revealed in its fullness.”
