Guardian Angels

As a young bloke I remember my grandmother gave me a holy picture depicting a white robed person with large wings who appeared to be protecting two small children as they crossed a rickety looking bridge. On the reverse side was a small prayer to ‘My Angel Guardian’.

While there is nothing to substantiate my claim, I have often thought that while God has given us a free will, our Guardian Angel might well be our conscience. We have often heard the saying, ‘let your conscience be your guide’. Certainly, in decisions in which we are confronted affecting integrity and morality, maybe that prick we feel to our conscience might well be a prompting from our Guardian Angel. 

The belief that angels can be guides and protectors for us is evident throughout the Bible In both the Old and New Testaments. In Psalm 91 we read, “He will put you in his angels’ charge to guard you wherever you go”.

In 1997, Pope John Paul ll mentioned that we can be supported by our guardian angels, to be authentic witnesses to the Lord’s paschal mystery. It has been said Pope John XXX III attributed the idea of the Second Vatican Council to an inspiration from his guardian angel.  In his 2014 homily for the Feast of Holy Guardian Angels, Pope Francis said, “No one journeys alone, and no one should think they are alone”. He also told us that according to Church tradition we have an angel with us who guards us.

Today the word ‘Angel’ is generally only used in a supporting role. ‘Shaymin’ is the guardian angel in the Pokemon series. ‘Teen Angel’ was Frenchy’s guardian angel in the film ‘Grease’. We have charities such as ‘Angel Flight Australia’ whose role is to support rural and remote communities and ‘Drought Angels’ support Aussie farmers and their communities.  

While during our lifetime we all might have led our individual guardian angel through some rough patches, it seems it is their job to stick by us and to guard and guide us. Perhaps we can all look back on times in our lives when we have been protected during certain situations which might well have been as a result of some ‘divine inspiration’. While there is no scriptural foundation to the suggestion, some people think that the finding of a feather on their pathway can be their angel making them aware of their presence.

So, is it possible that the guardian angel God has allocated us might be known to us? Perhaps we will find that out when that angel takes our soul up to meet our maker after our death.  Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thought if God were to give us the nod and we might be allocated a guardian angel role for one of our own future family members.

May we never drive faster than our guardian angel can fly!

I’m Peter mack and that’s how I feel.

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