Blessed Catholic Saints and Angels


~~Witnesses of Faith pray for us ! ~~

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Blessed Feast of Guardian Angels ~~ October 2 ~~



Heavenly Father, Your infinite love for us has chosen a blessed angel in heaven and appointed him our guide during this earthly pilgrimage.
Accept our thanks for so great a blessing.
Grant that we may experience the assistance of our holy protector in all our necessities.
And you, holy, loving angel and guide, watch over us with all the tenderness of your angelic heart.
Keep us always on the way that leads to heaven, and cease not to pray for us until we have attained our final destiny, eternal salvation.
Then we shall love you for all eternity.
We shall praise and glorify you unceasingly for all the good you have done for us while here on earth.
Especially be a faithful and watchful protector of our children.
Take our place, and supply what may be wanting to us through human frailty, short-sightedness, or sinful neglect.
Lighten, O you perfect servants of God, our heavy task.
Guide our children, that they may become like unto Jesus, may imitate Him faithfully, and persevere till they attain eternal life. Amen

Truly our God Almighty Father is awesome , that He made and assigned each one of us an angel to protect and guide us. Angels are servants and messengers from God. “Angel” in Greek means messenger.
In unseen ways the angels help us on our earthly pilgrimage by assisting us in work and study, helping us in temptation and protecting us from physical danger.
Angels are a dogma of the Catholic Faith. Every Sunday Mass when we recite the Nicene Creed (dating from the year 325), we restate our belief of the creation and existence of angels, implicit in the phrase "We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen (or other translations of all things visible and invisible)..."
The Credo of the People of God (Pope Paul VI, 20 June 1968) further explains the phrase: "We believe in one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Creator of what is visible--such as this world where we live out our lives--and of the invisible--such as the pure spirits which are also called angels." 
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church we read that " existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls "angels" is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition" (328). 


The role of angels most pertinent to our spiritual lives is our guardian angel. Every person is given a guardian angel because as Eusebius puts it: "Fearing lest sinful mankind should be without government and without guidance, like herds of cattle, God gave them protectors and superintendents, the holy angels in the form of captains and shepherds" (Dem. Ev., 4, 6).
We are never without our protector, and the more we request their help, the more he can help us.
A guardian angel's roles are threefold: 1) angel of peace, 2) angel of penitence (or penance) and 3) angel of prayer.

As an angel of peace, they protect against danger, both bodily and spiritual threats. They also can give peace and comfort to the soul when undergoing tribulations, like Jesus during his agony in the Garden.

As an angel of penance or penitence, our angel has the office of chastising and correcting us when we stray from God's path. The angel also helps us in restoring our soul to health after we sin, helping us obtaining remission of our sins.

As an angel of prayer, the guardian angel presents our prayers to God, both liturgical and private prayers. "The angel, indeed, of each one, even of the little ones in the Church, always seeing the face of the Father who is in heaven and beholding the divinity of our Creator, prays with us and cooperates with us, as far as is possible, in what we seek"

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