Guardian angel

“ The guardian Angels will lead those who have been committed to their charge to the judgment-seat of God, and then the just will fall before Him in lowly adoration. The evil enemy will then begin to accuse them, and bring forward everything that he can against them. But the guardian Angel will defend his client, he will produce all his good works, his penances, his virtues, and lay them in the scales of Divine justice. And if they are not too light, Christ will array him in the new robe, the garment of splendour, and crown him with the diadem of the eternal kingdom. ”

“ Some have imagined that every particular saint has a guardian angel; but why should we suppose this, when we are sure that every particular saint, when there is occasion, has a guard of angels? This is particularly applied here to the little ones, because they are most despised and most exposed. They have but little that they can call their own, but they can look by faith on the heavenly hosts, and call them theirs. While the great ones of the world have honourable men for their retinue and guards, the little ones of the church are attended with glorious angels ”

“ The Scriptures do not limit the attendance of the guardian angels to those only who are in a state of grace; therefore it is likely that even after sin the ministering angel remains. While we are good we hardly need the presence of a good spirit; it is when we have turned to evil that we need that precious guide. The belief that a guardian angel attends us ought to impress itself deeply on our minds; we are never alone, we are taken care of by the ministers of God Our Father, and we have nothing to fear. ”

“ And therefore as guardians are appointed for men who have to pass by an unsafe road, so an angel guardian is assigned to each man as long as he is a wayfarer. When, however, he arrives at the end of life he no longer has a guardian angel ”

“ But the guardian-angel which every good child has, did not forsake her, but always brought her into the right path again. Once, however, the guardian-angel behaved as if he were not there, and the child could not find her way out of the forest again. ”

“ The guardian angels have certain duties to perform, and we can put them down in this wise. First, the angel guardian defends us from all evil. He can put thoughts into our minds which will put us on our guard against sin. ”

“ His Guardian Angel, anxious to save him, tries to lead him, through the accomplishment of human duties, safely into that mystic Future, which he had already vainly tried to find through the power of his own intellect. The Angel chants to him:
'Peace be to men of good will. Blessed is the man who has still a heart ”

“ In saying that all men have a guardian angel, I except Christ, for He needed not an angel, whose Divinity was a sufficient guardian of His humanity. Nevertheless Christ had many angels, always at hand to minister to His wants. On this subject we must read Origen with caution, who pretends that guardian angels sometimes sin through negligence in their guardianship, and therefore are deprived for a time of the vision of God. ”

“ It is pleasant to feel that somebody’s penetrating eye is watching you from behind your shoulder, lovingly guarding you from making the most minute mistake, from the most minute incorrect step. It may seem to you too sentimental, but I do see in all this the materialization of the dream of the ancients about a Guardian Angel. ”

“ It is the Guardian Angel, a mysterious and poetic type, a seraphic creature, whom God has charged to watch over the Christian, to guard him against snares, and constantly to direct him to the ways of sanctity and virtue. We observe this argument without having sought it. In short, we register our ideas as they deduce themselves logically from each other, without any bias. And when we find ourselves led into agreement with a dogma of the Christian religion, we note that concord with pleasure. ”

“ Our idea of a guardian angel is so spiritual and so pure that it is difficult for us to understand the curious results this belief has occasionally produced among the primitive peoples. A weird tale is told of a Congo negro who killed his mother so as to gain an especially powerful guardian spirit. ”

“ The angel who presents the pious votary to Christ or the Virgin, who crowns St. Cecilia and St. Valerian after their conquest over human weakness; the angel who cleaves the air with flight precipitant’ to break the implements of torture, or to extend the palm to the dying martyr, victorious over pain; the angels who assist and carry in their arms the souls of the just; are, in these and all similar examples, representations of guardian angels. ”

“ In their second, two of them accompany every man, and for every new good deed man acquires a new guardian angel, who always watches over his steps. When a righteous man dies, three hosts of angels descend from the celestial battlements to meet him. ”

“ I keep my eyes always upon my guardian Angel, who stands ever at my side, assisting me in every work, teaching me in all circumstances what I have to say and do, and noting carefully everyone of my actions. ”

“ Even though the world has turned against us, and we are surrounded by trouble on all sides, we are sure that this angel will bring comfort to us. Children should be taught from their early childhood that a guardian angel attends them ”

“ PARTICULARLY THE ANGEL GUARDIAN.
The holy angels are to be honoured with a particular devotion, on account of the superior dignity of the angelic nature, as well as the peculiar love which they bear to us, and the benefits they confer on us. For though in essence they are spirits, the noblest of all creatures, denizens of the court of God, and always beholding the face of the Father who is in heaven, yet, as St. Bernard says, this does not deprive us of their affectionate ministry; for while they inhabit the heavens, they do not despise the earth. ”

“ What a glorious conquest when an angel can snatch a soul from eternal perdition by his prayers and exertions! If the devil is active to gain us, would it not be against reason that the good angel would stand back and remain inactive? The last hours of a man, his judgment, and entrance into heaven, are the moments of the great and final duties of the guardian spirits; and if the soul be detained in purgatory, then the duty of the angel will be to offer the prayers of friends, relatives and of the Church to almighty God for the good of that soul. ”

“ What wonder that we are often worsted? Our books of devotion give a single prayer to our guardian angel. Few think beyond this. The angel guardians of the country, of our city, of our church, our home, of our family, of those committed to our charge, are all fighting for us, earnestly if we seek their aid. St. Michael, the guardian angel of the Jewish nation, defeated Satan’s attempt to use the body of Moses for his wicked designs. So in our day the greater manifestation of diabolical agencies should lead us to ask God to send his angels to our aid. ”

“ By these words is manifested that over every believing man an angel is set as a guardian, who shields him against the devil's machination, and supports him in holy virtues, as the psalmist said of every righteous man, "God hath commanded his angels concerning thee, that they may preserve thee, and lift thee in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." ”

“ O angel of God, whom God hath appointed to be my guardian, enlighten and protect, direct and govern me.
Pope Pius VI., in order to kindle the fervour of the faithful to have frequent recourse to their holy angel guardian, granted: 1. An indulgence of 100 days every time the above 2. short prayer is said devoutly and with a contrite heart. A plenary indulgence to those who have been accustomed to say it morning and evening throughout the year, on the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, October 2 ”

“ Mutterings and murmurs, mingling with the rumours of glory, gave rise to fears of an indecisive battle, a precipitate retreat. Insolent voices gave out that a spirit of the lowest category, a guardian angel, the insignificant Arcade, had checked and routed the dazzling host of the three great archangels. ”

“ Therefore a Christian, if he wishes to guard his soul against mortal sin, must carefully avoid the proximate occasions of sin; for no sacrifice on our part can be too great, if it serves to save our souls.
Guardian Angels. In the Old Testament we came across repeated examples which confirm the Catholic doctrine about guardian angels. In the chapter we have just read we learn from our Lord’s own lips that children have guardian angels, who are their advocates before God. Although our guardian angels are invisible to our eyes, they themselves are ever gazing on the Face of God. ”

“ CHAPTER XI
recounts in what manner the angel, attired in the cast-off garments of a suicide, leaves the youthful maurice without a heavenly guardian
EASSURE yourself, Madame," replied the apparition, "your position is not as risky as you say. You are not confronted with two men, but with one man and an angel."
She examined the stranger with an eye which, piercing the gloom, was anxiously surveying a vague but by no means negligible indication, and asked:
"Monsieur, is it quite certain that you are an angel?" ”

“ It is now time for you to know that the man in the grey surtout is my servant, whom I every day sent with my alms till this house was ready to receive you. You may, if you please, consider me as your guardian angel, since your good angel did not acquit himself uprightly in return for your gratitude. ”

“ As guardian angels spread their wings
O’er mortals that they love,
Around the Doomed her arms are thrown,
His form protected by her own,
With him will she the worst await,
And save his life, or share his fate! ”

“ But at the birthday festivals of English children, how few are even aware of the historical sequence, plain as it is, from the rites of the classic natal genius and the mediæval natal saint! Among us, the doctrine of guardian angels is to be found in commentaries, and may be sometimes mentioned in the pulpit; but the once distant conception of a present guardian spirit, acting on each individual man and interfering with circumstances on his behalf, has all but lost its old reality. ”

“ I wonder what becomes of lost opportunities. Perhaps our guardian angel gathers them up as we drop them, and will give them back to us in the beautiful sometime when we have grown wiser, and learned how to use them rightly. ”

“ But they will ever prove faithful friends to the servants of God. How can the angels help loving and aiding those whom they know are dear to God? Our guardian angels often ward off accidents that would cut us off unprepared; after interceding for us to prevent God from calling us out of life, they try to make us bring forth worthy fruits of penance. O holy angels, I entreat you to extend your special [pg 430] care to me during the rest of my life, that I may live in God's friendship and die in His love. ”

“ Many of the faithful seraphic guardians of mortals are permitted to go through the ascendant career with their human wards, and many of these guardian angels, after becoming Father fused, join their subjects in taking the finaliter oath of eternity and forever accept the destiny of their mortal associates. Angels who pass through the ascending experience of mortal beings may share the destiny of human nature; they may equally and eternally be mustered into this Corps of the Finality. ”

“ That there are guardian angels has been taught from immemorial time, and in some dim form is a belief of all except the lowest races of mankind.
It is a beautiful belief, full of consolation, of assurance, and comfort to the struggling and striving. How hard may press the iron hand of fate, how sharp the flinty stones beneath our bleeding feet, we think of those blessed messengers by our side, and feel that our burdens are for the purpose of giving us strength, else they would turn us aside to more pleasant paths. ”

“ Though He is Master of all hearts, He bears with our long resistance to His lights and our many rebellions against His inspirations; and even if He be forced to withdraw from those who will not walk in His way, He does not cease to renew His inspirations and invitations. Our guardian Angels, too, exactly imitate His conduct in this; for they guide, rule, and help as far as they can, those whom God has committed to their charge, and when they see them remaining obstinate, they do not therefore abandon them, nor experience either grief or vexation, nor lose their blessedness in any degree. ”

“ On this question of guardian angels, Bishop Horsley observes: “That the holy angels are often employed by God in his government of this sublunary world, is indeed to be clearly proved by holy writ. That they have power over the matter of the universe, analogous to the powers over it which men possess, greater in extent, but still limited, is a thing which might reasonably be supposed, if it were not declared. ”

“ The idea of guardian angels and tutelary deities arose naturally and inevitably. Many who have been astonishingly delivered from spiritual peril have been able to find no other explanation of their escape. ”

“ Shall we impute them to the agency of spiritual beings called guardian Angels, or more properly to the “Divinity that stirs within us, and points out an hereafter?” However it may be, it is our business to make the best of such hints, which I am confident every man has experienced, perhaps more frequently than he is aware of. ”

“ If the soul of Judith Pride, long divorced from its once beautifully moulded dust, ever lived in dim consciousness through any of those who inherited her blood, it was then and there that she breathed through the lips of Myrtle Hazard. The young girl almost trembled with the ecstasy of this new mode of being, soliciting every sense with light, with perfume, with melody,—all that could make her feel the wonderful complex music of a fresh life when all its chords first vibrate together in harmony. ”