ANGEL OF GOD. THE CARING ASSISTANCE OF PROVIDENCE

‘Angel of God, my guardian’

In reciting this prayer, who does not feel like a child again, recalling the moment when he or she was a child? Yet the ‘Angel of God’ prayer is not a child's game, ready to be dismissed as soon as adolescence has passed.

The prayer immediately specifies to whom we are addressing ourselves: it is an angel, that is, a purely spiritual being, devoid of a material body and, therefore, immortal, endowed with keen intelligence and a firm will. The guardian angel is therefore not to be confused with the soul of a dead person, as is sometimes mistakenly believed.

It is a good angel, an Angel of God, his most faithful servant, to whom God has entrusted a mission of great responsibility: the protection of our soul, to be led to salvation. On his faithfulness, we can rest assured: he is not subject to change and ageing, and his acts of will are free from second thoughts. What trust God must place in our guardian angel, if he has entrusted him with his most precious creation: an immortal soul, to be led to salvation!

“Every believer has an angel at his side as protector and shepherd, to lead him to life,” wrote St. Basil the Great. It is moving to become aware of this, because it shows us the extent to which divine Providence cares for each one of us, entrusting us to the singular custody of an angelic creature. Almost as if our good Angel, like an elder brother, waited from eternity for our appearance in the world, to exercise his mission of guide and protector.

St. Francis de Sales wrote about the guardian angels: “From the first instant of our birth, they have been taking care of us; since divine goodness has so loved us from eternity, he has ordained that each of us should have a good angel to guard us in our earthly pilgrimage. With what love they fulfil this task, what sweetness they exercise with little children!”

This dear angel, assigned to my custody, is always my companion and, at the same time, always stands before God and ceaselessly contemplates his Face: “Their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 18:10). Our guardian angel, in a sense, acts as an intermediary between God and us: he dwells with God, yet without departing from us or losing sight of us.

‘Enlighten, guard, rule and govern me’.

After the initial invocation, the prayer introduces a series of supplications addressed to our guardian angel: “Enlighten, guard, rule and govern me”.

Here are the main tasks that our good Angel performs for us.

First of all, he instructs our intelligence (‘enlightens’) by inspiring us with good thoughts. It is wise to invoke the guardian angel before beginning prayer, but also when embarking on other activities, or when important decisions have to be made in situations where we are in need of help.

Our Angel, then, protects us from dangers of soul and body (‘guard’). This is his speciality: to avert possible dangers from us (within the limits of divine permission), or to warn us in risky situations. Hence the praiseworthy habit of invoking the guardian angel before setting out on a journey or driving a car, handling tools or facing dangerous routes.

Those who know they have this angelic presence beside them can never feel completely alone. In a splendid letter of spiritual direction, St. Pio of Pietrelcina recommended: “Have great devotion to this beneficent angel. How consoling is the thought that a spirit is near us, who from the cradle to the grave never leaves us for an instant, not even when we dare to sin. And this heavenly spirit guides us, protects us like a friend, a brother. Never say that you are alone in the struggle with your enemies; never say that you have no intimate friend to whom you can open up and confide. It would be a grave wrong to do this to this heavenly messenger” (Epistolary III, pp. 82-83).

The work of the guardian angel does not end there. In concrete circumstances, he inspires us with directions to follow and, when necessary, knows how to correct us. In so doing, he certainly does not neutralise our free will, which is by no means in question. His action is rather that of a trustworthy counsellor, capable of discreetly suggesting the best way, according to God's will.

Our dear Angel then presents our prayers to God and does not tire of interceding for us. The last supplication, ‘govern me’, is to be understood in this sense. Don Bosco, in particular, recalls the assistance that the guardian Angel reserves for his protégé when the moment of death arrives: “Just as the care that our Angel has for us in life tends towards nothing other than procuring us a precious death, so the closer he sees that hour approaching, the more he redoubles his vigilance to achieve it. He endeavours to prepare his beloved soul in time for that great step” (The Divine Guardian Angel, VIII).

Angelic guardianship accompanies us throughout our lives, especially at the most decisive moments. Amongst these, I believe that the guardian Angels reserve special care for the First Communion of their favourite child: a blessed day, which marks the spiritual biography of a child, nourishing his tender soul precisely with the Bread of Angels, as the Eucharist is called. What an honour and task for the angel of that child! Certainly, he will redouble his efforts so that that child, having become an adult, will remain faithful to the professed faith.

‘I was entrusted to you by heavenly mercy’.

The conclusion of the prayer gently presses our angel to remind him that his task towards us was entrusted to him by heavenly mercy. Note the exquisite delicacy of not naming God directly, alluding to Him with the attribute that most manifests His love: Mercy.

In light of these considerations, it is not surprising that great saints have been fervent devotees of their guardian angel, some even privileged to have a familiar relationship with him. St. Gemma Galgani, for example, entertained a special confidence with her Angel, even being able to see him and converse with him often, but also receiving his energetic reproaches for her small hidden faults, or for badly made confessions.

Of St. Francis de Sales, a witness relates that when he was about to preach, he used to turn his gaze on his audience, to greet the guardian angels of his listeners, begging them to prepare the hearts of their protégés to receive the word of preaching. And he added that he had achieved considerable success by resorting to this practice.

St. Pio of Pietrelcina, in the letter already mentioned, added wise advice, echoing his personal experience: “For charity's sake, do not forget this invisible companion, always present, always ready to listen to us, more ready still to console us. O delightful intimacy, O blissful company that is this, if we knew how to understand it! Keep him always before your mind's eye, remember often the presence of this angel, thank him, pray to him, keep him always good company. Open yourself and confide your sorrows to him; be continually afraid of offending the purity of his gaze. Know it and fix it well in your mind. He is so delicate, so sensitive. Turn to him in hours of supreme anguish and you will experience his beneficial effects” (Epistolary III, p. 83).

In the light of all this, it is truly worth taking up the prayer of the Angel of God and doing so with the simplicity of a child combined with the strengthened faith of maturity.

Don Marco Panero, SDB