Ad Jesum per Mariam

Conference on Angels: Conf. #1: The Role Of Our Guardian Angels is More Than A Protector

Conference on Angels: Conf. #1: The Role Of Our Guardian Angels is More Than A Protector When we hear that expression, Guardian Angels, we imagine those angels who individually have been assigned to watch over us. And that’s a half truth. Rather, when the church celebrates the guardian angels, it celebrates that, but it also celebrates the way that angels are the guardians of the people of God in a broader sense. And so, for example, for hundreds and hundreds of years as the guardian angels are celebrated, the church leads with the image of the angel. The Lord Guards and Guides His People by Means of the Angels The angel watches over the Hebrews as they are led out of Egypt. And note how that’s not individual guardianship, but very real guardianship. And note also what it is. It is not merely protection. When we speak of the angels as guardianship, guardians and the way the Lord guards and guides his people by means of the angels, we recognize several things. Note, the prayer emphasizes guardian, not protector. How does the guardian guide us? Before it is protection, it is guidance. Before it is defending, it is instructing. That’s why at mass today we hear that very clear Dictum on the part of the Almighty as he speaks to the people. I will put my angel to watch over you. Be careful to listen to him. Note the thrust of that, the angels guard us not simply by keeping us safe from physical danger, but by helping us to find the right path and the right way. Hear the role of Guardian Angels in our lives and how they help us! Listen to this first of two conferences. Listen to: The Role Of Our Guardian Angels is More Than A Protector ----------------------------------- Image: Our Guardian Angels: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Platform: Generative AI Image by Queen of All Hearts What is Generative AI? Generative AI refers to a recent approach in artificial intelligence that involves the creation of AI-generated art. This innovative technique utilizes a potent AI computer to generate images based on textual prompts or instructions. The resulting output is an AI-generated image, representing one interpretation of a given concept, such as Our Guardian Angels in this particular instance. ----------------------------------- Conference #2 on Angels will be made available shortly.

Broadcast on:: 03 Oct 2024
Audio Format:: other

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners. Now and at the hour of our death, amen. Mary, Queen of all hearts. Saint Louis Marie de Bonford. All you holy guardian angels. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. When we hear that expression, guardian angels, there can be a tendency among us to be rather reductive in our thinking. And that we assume at that expression, guardian angels, what we're talking about primarily, are those angels who individually have been assigned to watch over us. And that's a half truth. Rather, when the church celebrates the guardian angels, it celebrates that, but it also celebrates the way that angels are the guardians of the people of God in a broad way. And so for example, for hundreds and hundreds of years as the guardian angels are celebrated, the church leads with the image of the angel that watches over the Hebrews as they are led out of Egypt. And note how that's not individual guardianship, but very real guardianship. And note also what it is, it is not merely protection. When we speak of the angels as guardians and the way the Lord guards and guides his people by means of the angels, we recognize a couple of things. Before it is protection, it is guidance. Before it is defending, it is instructing. That's why at Mass Today, we hear that very clear dictum on the part of the Almighty as he speaks to the people, "I will put my angel to watch over you. Be careful to listen to him." Note the thrust of that. The angels guard us not simply by keeping us safe from physical danger, but by helping us to find the right path and the right way. This is why that traditional prayer that many of us have been lisping since childhood, angel of God. Note, my guardian dear, not my protector, my guardian. And that's a different note to whom his love entrusts me here ever this day be at my side to light and to guard, to rule and to guide. Note how this issue of guardianship is broader than simply saying the angel keeps me safe. The angel defends me or protects me from danger. That's very much a part of it. But the way we are protected by the angels is in no small measure first to light. They illumine the way before us. They help us to see what is good, what is right, and what is holy. And why? Because if I do not have light for my eye, I stumble around in the darkness and I can't possibly find my way forward. And so to light and then to guard, to guard me as I walk along the lighted way. To rule. Now, note, that's an interesting expression. You know, that little prayer that we learn in childhood, note the bite to it. Light me, guard me, govern me. That's what rule means. Cover me. Order my living, order my days, order my path. Order me. It's an echo of that statement of the Lord to the Israelites. Follow what he teaches you. In a sense, let him rule you. Because he knows my ways and will instruct you in my ways so that you know how to act and how to live. To rule and then to guide. Because having had a well-ordered interior life, I still must move forward. And so note how marvelously complex this is. And as we look across the history of salvation, we see all of a sudden that we are not simply celebrating individual angels but a great work of the angels in general. The way that God assigns these ministering spirits to his individual peoples, but also to his people as a whole. And their roles are to light, to guard, to rule and to guide. How absolutely wonderful that is when we recognize it. And so it is then that we hear in the Psalms, he has put his angels in charge of you to watch you in all of your ways to bear you up on their wings lest you dash your foot against a stone. And it is this expression, this invocation of the angels that the fallen angel, Satan, used when he tempted Jesus. Isn't that interesting? That the fallen angel, the disordered angel, comes to the Lord and presents a disordered understanding of the role of angels in our lives. And that is part of the temptation to the Lord. Throw yourself down off this tower for he has promised his angels will bear you up lest you dash your foot on a stone. And note here, the issue is a presumptuous confidence saying, "God will always protect me regardless of what I do." And yet that goes against the very grain of what the Almighty himself has said. Again, we heard it in our first reading. Oh, that guy is not going to forgive your sins. Make sure you listen to him and obey him, follow his guidance that you will be safe. Note that there is a presumption to the guardianship, especially as we grow older and we mature. The more we consciously choose to place ourselves outside of that guidance, the more we consciously choose to ignore that heavenly prompting, the less certain we can be of that protection. And it's not because it's not there. It's because we distance ourselves from it. We stand outside of it. And so it is that the proud fallen angel leads with that temptation of rely on yourself, do it as you will, and of course, God will fly to your rescue. But that presumption is a dangerous thing. In fact, it's a self-destructive thing. And the angels don't come to keep us safe from that. The angels come to call us not to fall into it in the first place. This then is why we hear as the Lord admonishes his believers saying, be very careful how you treat these little ones, these simple ones, these innocent ones, and why? And note, it's not because he says, the angels that protect them will come after you. It is something even stronger than that. The angels that watch over them stand before the face of God and look upon it, day and night. This then, as the Lord speaks and instructs us, is a big part of what it means to talk about angelic guidance. The angels stand always in the light of the divine presence. And so if we say, to light and to guard, that light is the splendor of that inapproachable light, wearing God himself dwells. The angels gazing upon that face, gazing upon that light, find themselves illumined and filled with that light, so that they might bear some of it to us, so that in that light we may find our way. And so note the assumption here, this idea of heavenly light, being guided not simply by one who has heard about God, to be guided not simply by one who has read the Bible, but to be guided by one who has gazed upon the face of God. Who knows God? Note the intimacy there. And then the implication, I do not send just another ministering spirit to you. I send to watch over you, one who stands in the light of my presence and gazes upon the splendor of my face. That is the one I send to watch over you. And with that eye, with which he has gazed on me, he will look at you. It's a remarkably powerful promise. And all of a sudden we see here that there's a certain greatness about the way God cares for us by means of the angels. These pure spirits who stand always in his light, who gaze upon his face, and it is precisely because they gaze upon his face continually, that they can pay such careful attention to us. It is not that the angels turn away from the face of God to look at us. Living here in the physical world, that's how we have to live. If I am looking at you to turn around and look at somebody else, I have to look away. The angels are not like that. The angels stand always wondrously and amazingly before the light of the divine presence. They stand in that light, they live in that light, they move, they function, they come to us, and they guide us in that light. This is why, in no small measure, there has been such an amazing fascination with angels. But again, our modern world falls into several traps, not the least of which is that it sentimentalizes these things. A number of years ago, there was this really bad spiritual advice that was floating around, which was, "Oh, name your guardian angel. Don't do that." That is presumptuously silly. Who are we to name the ministering spirits of Almighty God? Who are we to name them, almost as if they're pets? Note how that diminishes the greatness of the gift. Note how that has within itself a certain subtle desire for control. Because if I name you, I know you, I define you. But we do not have the right to define the way God helps us. The way God looks to us. It is not "name your guardian angel." It is "listen to your guardian angel." Be led by your guardian angel. Note how important that is, and note how it, again, we have to be careful sometimes with these sentimentalizing tendencies that seem like nice ideas at the beginning. But our subtle ways by which we end up placing ourselves outside of that guidance that the Lord gives us. If the Lord has assigned me an angel, it's for the Lord to reveal that name to me, and maybe he will, and maybe he won't. And that's okay. And that's okay, because I don't need a name. What I need to know is that the Lord has assigned one to me. And when I turn and I trust and I listen for that, and I recognize this is the one the Lord has assigned to me. Whether I have a name or not, nobody leads me to do. I recognize I'm really listening to the Lord. I'm listening to his guidance. I am listening to his voice. I am learning his will. I am experiencing his protection that comes to me in this marvelously intimate and particular way. So it is then as we look out across the long history of salvation, we see a number of remarkable things. The very first instance of angelic guardianship happens as Adam and Eve are cast out of the Garden of Eden. And as the Lord expels them and yet settles them in the east toward the direction from which salvation will come. The Lord places one of the Caribbean with a fiery sword at the very entrance to the Garden, to guard it, to protect it, to defend it lest sinful man try to force his way back in. Note, this is not unimportant. We again often reduce the idea of angelic guardianship to the way God protects us. The angels also protect what is sacred, what is holy. They are the custodians, the guardians as well of the things of God. And so it is then that we see this instance of paradise will not be taken lightly. Paradise will not be given for granted and one of the great angels is entrusted with the role of making sure of that. It's a remarkable image. It's a remarkable image. And a sense is God protecting us from our arrogance, that the hand that reached out to the tree would try to force its way back and do it again. And so note, we see the angel places a limit. This is no longer your place. And why? Because man and woman must now move in the direction according to which God has sent them. In the very beginning, as Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden, they are expelled toward the east. That is actually remarkable because salvation comes from the east. The sun rises in the east. Light comes from the east. Fallen man is cast out but put in movement toward the coming of salvation. And the angel, that angel is placed at the entrance of the garden because man cannot move backwards. The only way, the only way that paradise is now a possibility for man is if man continues to move toward the east. The direction from which God will send his salvation. So the very first instance of angelic guardianship is guidance. This way is now close to you. You must continue moving forward according to the way that the Almighty has marked out for you. What a remarkably powerful moment that is. We see something similar moving forward with Abraham as he stands on top of Mount Moriah with his son Isaac bound and laid across the altar that he has made. And Abraham takes the knife, is about to slay his son, and it is the angel from heaven that calls and says no. And again note this movement, this angelic action where the word of God calls out to the holy man and says your movement must be different. Lay the knife aside, this is not the sacrifice. And here on the one hand we can say the angel is protecting Isaac. What the angel is also doing is the angel is saying there is another sacrifice, a sacrifice that God will provide, a lamb, a sheep that God will provide. And so as if by sign there is the ram caught by its horns in the bush, that is the sacrifice. Note again the angelic agency on the one hand it saves Isaac, and yet on the other hand it points out to Abraham and God's people that God indeed will provide the lamb. God indeed will provide the offering. Note how powerful that is. We see this again as we turn to the great events of the Exodus. There is the angel that goes through Egypt striking down the firstborn and yet passing over the houses of the Israelites where the blood of the Paschal Lamb has been placed upon the lintels. On the one hand the angel protects, on the other hand the angel does battle. On the one hand the angel preserves, on the other hand the angel brings low the enemies of the people of God. And it is after this happens the angel passes through. The Hebrews gather and they leave and what happens an angel goes before them. An angel goes before them to lead their way. And so the people leave and they don't simply follow Moses. The people leave and they don't simply pull out their GPS and their maps and plot out a route. They leave and they are guarded by the movement of an angel. And note the angel is not simply a protector. The angel is the one who lights and marks the way that must be followed. And as long as they follow the angel they will not be lost. As long as the angel leads they will know the way to go. And it is as they continue on the way marked out by the angel that they receive the angel's protection. We see all of this writ large these great events in the history of salvation with this angelic agency involved. And what these remind us of is that in our own lives our individual angels work the same way. They don't simply do battle against those things that threaten us. They don't simply stand next to us ready to defend us, they are given to us to lead us. Like that carrot in the very beginning at the Garden of Eden marking out for man that you can't go back the way you came. You can only go forward along the way that God has launched you. What we see in Egypt you can't go back to the flesh pots but you also will not find freedom on your own. You must follow the path marked out for you. What a remarkably beautiful way the Lord has then with his people. And it's in this context that we begin to see those more particular and dramatic instances of direct angelic intervention and guardianship with the people of God. Famously for example in the book of Daniel when the three young men are bound by Nebuchadnezzar and cast into the fiery furnace which is burning white hot. Sure to be destroyed and suddenly as everyone looks in there's a fourth guy there. Burning more brilliantly than the white hot fire with the appearance of a son of God we read. This angel who prevents the flames from burning the young men. This angel who frees them of their bonds and lifts their voices up to praise the Lord the Almighty. The angel who stands before the people faced with certain death and yet who brings them through safe to the other side. But again note the implication because these young men were suffering not because they were reckless not because they were foolish not because they gave themselves over to their vices but because they were striving to remain faithful. This is one of the benchmarks of angelic guidance that we see in scriptures. It's not that there is no protection for us but that protection is most pure, most sharp, most clear and most strong to the extent that we try to remain faithful. That we try to keep our feet on the path marked out by the Lord. And why is that? Because the Lord the King protects his highway. St. Louis de Montfort loved this idea. He spoke of it most perfectly and most beautifully when he speaks about our Lady. But the simple fact of the matter is this. If I want the King's protection I need to walk along the King's Road. The King's Road is the road that is protected by his army. The King's Road is the road that is safe, sure and direct, not some other road. If I take my feet off the road of the King I risk walking away from his protection. Not because the King doesn't desire to protect me but the protection is found someplace. That protection is most abundant, most available, most clear when my feet are on his road, the way walked out for me. Which is why the first task of the guardian angel is light. Show me the way. The last task of the angel is guide. And in between the lighting and the guiding is the guarding and the ruling. And again, if we just play with those verbs, to light and to guide. No, I illumine the way. I make the eye capable of seeing. So that with the way lit up and the eye capable of seeing, I can be led along the way. What happens in between the lighting and the being guided is the protecting, the guarding, the keeping me safe. Keeping me safe where? Along the way that has been marked out for me. Along the way of the pathways of the Lord, the pathways of justice. To rule me, to keep me in order along the way. But not on some other way. Note how marvelous that is. Note how marvelous that is. And this doesn't mean that one has to understand all of these things perfectly. The issue is the heart is striving. Striving to listen, striving to understand, striving to know because when it does that, it can count on the Lord being near. We come back to Satan again, the original fallen angel tempting Christ with the presumption of make God save you. Do something to make God demonstrate that he will protect you. Note the arrogance in that temptation. Note the desire to control the outcome in that temptation. Note the lack of surrender, the lack of obedience, the lack of submission, the lack of trust. That's the fallen angel's understanding of how we should move. But the Lord's understanding is trust. Trust the angel I have given you. Listen to the angel I have given you. Follow the way I have marked out for you. When we catch that, when we catch that and recognize that, we see that there's also a beautiful simplicity about all of this. And one of the great illustrations of this is found in the New Testament itself in the Acts of the Apostles, where Peter has been arrested. Peter has been striving to be faithful. Peter has been bold. Peter has not stopped proclaiming. He is seized. He is arrested. He is bound deep in prison. Note, no one protected him from getting arrested. No one protected him from having the extra chains locked around his feet. No one protected him from being locked away behind all of the doors of the prison in the deepest of all of the cells. On the one hand, we could say, "Well, where was the guardian angel when the soldiers came to lock this guy up?" And yet again, that is not what the protection of the ministering spirits is for. It is not merely to keep us safe from dangers and obstacles, it is to bring us through those things undamaged. Note the difference. And undamaged first and foremost, morally and spiritually. And so it is that Peter's faithfulness brings the burden of being whipped, being the burden of being arrested to him. And what happens as he sits in prison, suddenly the angel is near him. Suddenly the chains fall off his feet. Suddenly the doors pop open. It's not that he was protected from being arrested. It's not that he was protected from being persecuted. It is that within the arrest, within the persecution, there is someone, and there is something. And it is the angel who makes him move. It is the angel who leads him out of the jail. Note again, protection comes with guidance. Protection comes with the need to follow where the angel will lead. And so it is the angel that leads him out of the darkness of the jail to the freedom he finds on the street. And it is the angel that transcends him on his way. In much the same way, not all that much earlier on Easter Sunday, it is angels that are met at the tomb of the risen Lord. And what do the angels do? They send the women on their way. They don't show them the face of Jesus. They announce that Christ isn't here, that Christ is alive, that Christ will come and meet you. But first you must go somewhere and so go and communicate the news. Note again what we see. The angels very rarely simply show up as agents of protection. They do, and yet more frequently they show up as those who point the way forward. In the same way when the Lord rises into heaven and his ascension, and the disciples are all standing there looking up, watching him go. What did the angels say? Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking up? Didn't he give you a job to do? Go and do it. Go and do it. There's this marvelous, marvelous way that the angels point out the direction. Time and time again, that's their great function. The word literally the word angel means messenger. Not defender, messenger. What is a messenger? One who brings a word. One who brings a truth. One who brings something that must be heard. Which is why in no small measure at the very fullness of time, it is a messenger who arrives to a virgin named Mary announcing that salvation is coming to the world through her. How powerful that is. The angels reveal and that act of revealing is very much an act of guardianship. The angels announce and that act of announcing is very much an act of guardianship. The angels indicate and the angels protect and defend. And that too is very much what guardianship entails. And note how it functions collectively for the people as a whole, and how it functions in this marvelously individual way for us as a whole too. That having been said, it really is worthwhile paying close attention to artwork that depicts the guardian angels. Oftentimes it is very sentimental in the depiction, and yet within that sentimental depiction there are often some beautiful treasures there. And more often than not, when we see images, the holy cards with the guardian angels, the pictures of the guardian angels some of us have in our home, it is the angel and one or two children, right? But pay close attention. Pay close attention to what else is going on in those pictures. Because now we come back to how the church communicates across the centuries what it means to say that these little ones have protectors, okay? And this doesn't just mean little children. You know, when the Lord says become like the little children, unfortunately we often embrace that in a way that makes us childish and not childlike. You know, we become silly, we become reckless, we become irresponsible. The simple fact of the matter is there is always going to be with God's wayward people a certain element of innocently just not knowing what we're doing. And you know that that's part of what it is to be a human being. And so these images then of the children in their innocence of simply moving where they're moving have a great variety to them. So for example, the most common one is the children are on a bridge which is breaking. And there's a stream that's about to flood and crest and the children don't even realize where they are. And then there's the angel behind them, strong, firm, aware of what is happening because the angel's role is not simply to keep them safe from that moment of danger is to get them across so they can go where they're going. And just a marvelous, marvelous image. This idea that as we simply move forward there are these things that come up. And some of them aren't evil, it's just life gets broken sometimes. The world gets difficult out of nowhere sometimes in ways that we cannot anticipate, like the children in the picture, they're not even aware. And so we move forward and we don't realize that the pathway is flooding out just in front of us. He will put his angels to watch over you, to keep you safe, to protect you, to guide you through that. Then there are the depictions that as the children are walking sometimes you'll see a serpent near them. And the angel moving to push the serpent out of the way. And again it's that statement that evil sometimes comes into our lives without our looking for it. Not all of the evil that we experience as evil we bring upon ourselves, sometimes we blunder into it, sometimes it comes seeking us. We can't be aware of it in all the ways it comes after us. And so note, the spirit is there, the angel is there, it recognizes the threat and moves it away. The children walk by and they don't even know they've been saved. They don't need to, they just need to be saved. And again it's this other element of this hidden, very direct way of protecting us that we often fail to perceive or fail to recognize. These ways where without our knowing it somehow we are being kept safe as we stumble forward. And then there is my personal favorite scene of a guardian angel. It's found in a stained glass window in the town of Landsford in Pennsylvania where I grew up in the coal region. And this beautiful stained glass window, it's a life-size depiction of the angel and a child is absolutely marvelous. It's the angel and a little girl. And the little girl is doing what little girls in certain parts of the world have done since the beginning of time. She sees a butterfly and has caught her attention. And what does she do? She runs after the butterfly. She sees that beautiful creature, that colorful creature flying nearby, fluttering nearby and she so wants to hold and touch the butterfly. She runs after it with her hand outstretched. It's innocent, it's joyful and she's running toward the edge of a cliff. Not because she's bad, not because she's bad, but because her innocent, joyful enthusiasm just pulls her that way. And it's the angel. It's the angel that keeps her from falling over. Listen to the guidance of the angel. That's why the Lord says that. And note in all of these examples, they're not necessarily indicators of anybody being unfaithful. They're indicators of the fact that there is more to the world, more to life than we're aware of. And we so easily get lost in the details of living that we can miss some of the big things that are around us. And so the angel is there to guard you in all of your ways. Note how beautiful and how important and how powerful that is. This idea that the Lord puts these spirits to watch over us. Devotion to the guardian angels then is not merely a matter of saying certain prayers, it's a matter of a fundamental disposition of the heart. To recognize that the Lord has given me someone to guide me, to illumine me so that I can find my way. And that in finding my way that one will be with me, that I be kept safe on that way. Listen to your angel for I will lead you by the angel. And so it is then that we see at the very beginning the angel with the fiery sword saying to man, you can't go back there. You can only go forward and you need to go forward in the direction that God has marked out for you. And the angels are most abundant, most present, most clear, most active when we are moving in that direction. We see this time and again through Scripture the angel who redirects the people, who guides the people, who leads the people according to the path that the Lord has marked out. And why? So that all of my ways can, a little at a time, correspond to God's way. And that's the marvelous thing about this. And so what do we see? The angels protect his people, most especially when his people are trying and striving to be faithful. And so it is, Peter is not saved from being arrested, but Peter is brought through the experience by the angel. The Lord is pleased after he rises from the dead to allow his angels to communicate the truth of his resurrection before he shows his face to his church. That too is a remarkable thing. And so we see this beautiful correspondence that bookends the earthly life of Jesus. When the Lord is born on that night in Bethlehem. And coming forth from our lady, opening his eyes and looking up toward heaven, and he shows his face, incarnate wisdom, the very word of God made flesh, shows his face to the world for the very first time. One of the remarkable things about it is even as the world isn't there to notice it. Heaven is looking down. And looking down, the angels sing their joy. They sing the joy on behalf of all creation, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace to those upon whom his favor rests. Note how wonderful that is. The angels see the angels proclaim. The angels renounce so that all creation can hear, as that creation can give voice to what has just happened. And then, when the Lord rises from the dead, who is at the tomb? The angels. The angels, keeping vigil, the angels contemplating, the angels being present. So that when those few of the faithful find their way there, it is the words and the voice of the angel that can pierce the sadness of their hearts with the joyful news that Christ indeed is risen. The joy of his birth, the joy of his resurrection, and note entrusted to the angels to announce, to proclaim, to communicate to all of us. He will put his angels to watch over you. Note how broad that is. Note how deep. And note how wonderful. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.