OUR GUARDIAN ANGELS

SAN MIGUEL ARCANGEL

 How I regret not having honored these inseparable friends of ours in this valley of tears.  On October 2, the Holy Mother Church celebrated the feast of the Guardian Angels, for reasons that they know, I cannot upload a very interesting article about them, but I do not want to miss the opportunity to put at your disposal a few lines about them to whom they love so much. owes my poor soul troubled by the world limits very conducive to make us lose faith, excuse my delay and let this reading be a balm for your heart as it was, is and will be for my heart.

 We are going to establish Catholic doctrine on guardian angels in a staggered series of conclusions.

 

 Conclusion 1. "Some angels are destined by God for the guardianship and custody of men. (Completely true according to faith.)

 410. The Church has not expressly defined this doctrine, but it is deduced with complete safety and certainty from the data that Sacred Scripture provides us.  It is, therefore, a completely certain conclusion according to faith.  Here are the tests:

  a) THE SACRED SCRIPTURE.  We have cited some texts above, to which we are going to add some more:

 

 "Behold, I will send my angel to go before you and keep you" (Ex 23:20).

 "I will entrust his angels to you to guard you in all your ways, and they will carry you in their hands so that you do not stumble over the stones" (Ps 90, 11-12).

 "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, because in truth I tell you that his angels constantly see the face of my heavenly Father in heaven" (Mt 18:10).

 ¿Are they not all administrator spirits, sent to serve those who are to inherit health? "  (Hebr 1,14).

 

 b) THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE CHURCH.  We have already said that she has not expressly defined it, but she teaches it officially with her ordinary magisterium through her liturgy.  As is known, on October 2 the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels is celebrated throughout the Church.

 

 e) THEOLOGICAL REASON effortlessly discovers the high convenience of angelic custody over men.  Here are some very clear and simple arguments:

 1.0 Since God instituted order in the world so that lower beings are ruled by higher ones (e.g., man rules and dominates animals), it is very reasonable and convenient for men to be helped by the higher ones. angels 1.

 2. It is very reasonable and natural that the angels, who are already in the blessed country, help men on their way to it, since they will be their eternal companions before God.

 3. If demons tempt men -as we will see in the next article-, it is very reasonable that good angels guard them and help to overcome these evil suggestions.

 4. The angels served Christ (Mt 4, Il) and comforted him in his agony in Gethsemane (Le 22:43).  It seems natural that they do the same with all their redeemed.

 Conclusion 2.8 Each and every man, baptized or not, has a corresponding guardian angel.  (Most probable and common doctrine.)

 

 411. Some ancients believed that only men predestined to glory had guardian angels, and others that only the righteous; but the most probable and nowadays common sentence among theologians is the one collected in the conclusion.  Here is the reasoning of Doctor Angelico 2:

 Man finds himself in the present life as on a path along which he has to march towards his homeland.  In this way many dangers threaten him, both internal and external, according to that of the psalm: On the path where I am going they have hidden a trap for me (Ps 141,4).  And that is why, just as those who go through unsafe paths are given guard, so too «Just as the reprobate and the faithful, and even the antichrist, are not deprived of the inner help of natural reason, so neither are they deprived of the external assistance granted by God to all human nature through angelic custody.  And although this help.  In fact, it does not serve them to obtain eternal life through their good works, however, it serves them to separate themselves from certain evils with which they could harm themselves and others; because even the demons themselves are repressed by the good angels so that they do not do all the damage that they want.  and likewise the antichrist will not be allowed to do as much damage as he will pretend ') (ad 3).

 It should be added that each guarded man corresponds to a different guardian angel, so that no angel is in charge of guarding two or more men.  Although, on the contrary, it is possible and very probable that the same man has two or more guardian angels, namely, one as a private person and another or others because of the very special position he holds in the Church (e.g., Supreme Pontiff ) or in civil society (e.g., head of state) 3.

 As for whether or not when custody over a certain man ends (because he has reached heaven or hell) or not, God returns to commission the same angel to guard another man, nothing certain can be affirmed.  Saint Thomas seems to think that each angel guards a single man, without him ever again being in charge of the custody of any other 4; and that seems to be the most likely if we consider what we have said before about our own angel co-ruling with us in heaven.  This also seems to follow from the immense number of existing angels, incomparably greater than that of men, as we saw above.

 

 Conclusion 3. & The guardianship of the guardian angels begins for each man at the moment of his birth and will continue until he reaches his final destination.  (Most probable and common doctrine.)

 

 412. Some theologians taught that the guardian angel begins its function from the moment of baptism, but St. Thomas and most theologians hold the doctrine of the conclusion.  The Angelic Doctor reasons her by saying that the benefits conferred on man as soon as they are Christians begin from the moment of baptism, such as being able to receive the Eucharist and other similar things; but those that God grants him in attention to his rational nature are conferred on him from the moment in which he receives nature at birth.  Now, the benefit of the guardian angel belongs to this second class, as we have already said, and therefore, from the moment of his birth, man has assigned his guardian angel to each man, as he walks through this world, he is given an angel to guard him.  But, when he has reached the end of this path, he will no longer have a guardian angel, but will have an angel in heaven who reigns with him or in hell a demon who tortures him. depute a guardian angel whom God knows to be condemned (e.g., the antichrist),

 

 The guardianship and company of the guardian angel continues until the guarded soul reaches its eternal destination, that is, to heaven or hell.  In purgatory it still continues - according to the most probable opinion - certainly not to protect or guard the soul - it no longer needs it - but to comfort and encourage it.  The mission of the guardian angel in purgatory would be to enlighten her about the great mysteries of God, the joys of paradise, the love that Jesus and Mary have for her, etc., and announce her forthcoming liberation 8. In heaven As we have already said, custody will properly cease, but our angel will remain eternally related to us as a correinante angel.

 Conclusion 4.  Guardian angels do not experience any sadness for physical or moral ills that may affect their custodians, not even for their ultimate eternal damnation.  (Completely true.)

 413. Apart from the fact that pain or sadness is incompatible with the perfect happiness enjoyed by the blessed angels 9, Saint Thomas reasons it as follows 10: “Angels do not suffer for the sins or for the penalties of men.

 As Saint Augustine says, sadness and pain are nothing but what happens against one's will.  But nothing happens in the world against the will of the angels or of the other blessed ones, because their will is entirely in accordance with the order of divine justice; and nothing is done in the world but that which is done or permitted by divine justice.  That is why, speaking at all, nothing happens in the world against the will of the blessed ... It is true, without a doubt, that angels do not want the sins or the pains of men by looking at this at all and in the abstract;  but they want, nevertheless, that the order of divine justice be preserved in this, according to which some suffer punishments and sin is tolerated.

 When solving the difficulties, Doctor Angelico adds the following details:

 

 l.  a Thus in the penance of men as in their sin there always remains a reason for the joy of angels, namely: the fulfillment of divine plans (ad 3).

 2. a The angels are called to trial for the sins of men, not as criminals -because they have no guilt for the sins of their custodians-, but as witnesses, to convince men of their own guilt and neglect (ad 4).  Guardian angels do not suffer from the physical ills that affect their custodians (illnesses, pain, persecution, etc.), because they know that all things contribute to the good of those who love God ”(Rom 8:28).  Not even for sins, which God allows to obtain greater goods (through repentance and subsequent penance).  Neither do they suffer, finally, for the eternal damnation of their protégés, nor will the blessed suffer when they see any of their relatives or friends in hell.11 The reason is because they are not to blame for the condemnation of those souls - they did everything what they could to avoid it, with their inspirations and good advice, separating them from the occasions of sin, defending them from a thousand dangers, etc., and only to the rebellion and protection of sinners is their eternal perdition owed.  And once confirmed in evil and given their definitive obstinacy in sin, the angels want the order of divine justice to be kept, which inexorably punishes them - although less than they deserve, according to Doctor Angelico 12_ and, for the same reason, they feel no pain or sadness for their eternal damnation.

 

  Conclusion 5.  Each of the nations, provinces, towns, churches, religious orders, etc., has its corresponding guardian angel.  (Common doctrine among theologians.)

 414. It is a universally accepted doctrine that there are certain collective guardian angels, that is, that they exercise their custody over a determined more or less large collectivity. 13. This belief is based on certain expressions of Sacred Scripture, eg, those relating to the angels of Persia, Greece and Israel (cf, Dan 10, 13-21).  The Church itself seems to allude to this belief in the Compline liturgy, where there is a special prayer asking for the protection "of the holy angels who dwell in this place."

 The archangel Saint Michael is believed to be the guardian angel of the Catholic Church, due to his particular excellence and power.

 Conclusion 6. & The guardian angels pour out innumerable spiritual and bodily benefits on their custodians.  (True and common doctrine.)

 415. Here are some of those countless benefits:

 a) They constantly free and defend us from a multitude of evils and dangers, both for the soul and the body.

 

 b) They contain the demons so that they do not do us all the damage that they would like, but only what God allows them for our greater good.

 

 e) They frequently excite in our souls holy thoughts and healthy advice.

 

 d) They offer God our prayers and implore divine help upon us.

 

 e) They illuminate our understanding, not by infusing it with new species, but by proposing the truths more easily through the imagination and internal senses; in which they can act directly, as we have already seen.

 

 f) They assist us in a very particular way at the time of death, which is when we need them most.

 

 g) They console us in purgatory and will accompany us eternally in heaven as running angels, all this should excite our gratitude and move our hearts to offer them a true cult of dulia, as the Church does in her liturgy.

 Commenting on the words of Psalm 90 "He commanded his angels to guard you in all your ways," writes the most pious Saint Bernard 14:

 How much reverence these words must instill in you, how much devotion they must inspire you, how much confidence they must give you!  Reverence, for your presence; devotion, for his benevolence; trust, for safekeeping.

 He always walks with all circumspection, as one who has angels in mind in all his ways.  Anywhere, in any place, even in the most hidden, have reverence for your guardian angel.  Nor How dare you do in his presence what you would not do with me in front of you?  ¿Do you doubt that he is present because you do not see him?  … If you consult faith, it proves that you do not lack the presence of the angel ... They are present for your good; They are not only with you, but they are for your defense.  They are present to protect you, they are present for your benefit.  What will you return to the Lord for all the goods that he has done to you, since only honor and glory should refer to Him?  Why to Him alone?  Because He is the one who sent it, and every precious gift is none other than His.