My Guardian Angel must be exhausted looking after me.
Just recently I became aware that the Catholic Church may teach we all have a Guardian Angel. As a consequence, I enquired about this on Twitter and ThirstyGargoyle pointed me in the direction of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (336), which states:
From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession.202 “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.”203 Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.
ThirstyGargoyle informs me this catechism is derived from the Scripture: Matthew 18:10:
See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
A good discussion ensued and EdwardBGreen bought to mind the following Scriptures:
Hebrews 1:14 – Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
And
Pslam 91:11 – For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
ThirstyGargogyle noted in respect of this belief that:
It’s one that people forget, I think. It sounds superstitious, so it’s often swept under carpets.
And Gerrarrdus observed:
Protestants don’t like it much. But it’s based on real scripture.
I agree with Gerrarrdus; in general Protestants don’t like the idea of an Guardian Angel and it’s certainly not a concept I ever came across in Protestant circles.
But even good Catholics may struggle with this concept, as WorldofNic commented:
I feel slightly protestant about this. I’ll have to pray to come round to the idea
As with many aspects of converting to Catholicism from Protestantism, there are many new and rather alien concepts to grasp and it’s not always easy to weed out the ‘old ways’ of thinking, and replace with the new. We do so like to hold on to our congnitive security blankets.
But ironically, this issue of a personal Guardian Angel is not one I find troublesome; on the contrary, I find it rather soothing and intuitive.
There has been many times in my life in which I should have met with my end; or at least grave injury, and yet have walked away unscathed. I always had the feeling that someone / something was looking after me, even before I became a Christian. And so I suppose this enables me to easily accept the idea of a Guardian Angel. Since being a Christian, I have readily accepted the idea that God was looking after me, and so it is no great leap to discover that His mechanism to accomplish this would be through His angels.
Any thoughts?
Tags: Catholic, Christian Life, Christianity
November 21st, 2011 at 12:04 pm
My daughter’s guardian angel moved a falling bookcase right before my husband’s eyes. It was amazing. Even though it was empty, it was falling flat onto her when she tried to climb it. Instead, it landed on its side next to her.
I’m so grateful we have guardian angels!
November 21st, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Acts 12:15 also attests to this belief in the New Testament church, although this is not normative teaching.
November 21st, 2011 at 12:25 pm
I’ve certainly met Protestants who would fully and explicitly affirm this teaching. Invariably low church with charismatic leanings, so I’d guess charismatics in general affirm the teaching.
Most often, I’ve come across the idea of angels looking after people but in an unsystematic way; that is, they perform exactly this role but are in no sense assigned to an individual. Very widespread, that thinking.
November 21st, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Webmaster
“There has been many times in my life in which I should have met with my end; or at least grave injury, and yet have walked away unscathed. I always had the feeling that someone / something was looking after me..”
Sorry to inject a bit of rationality into this, but the people in similar situations that didn’t survive aren’t thinking about their guardian angels (well, not in this world anyway).
On a slight tangent: I was talking to a woman recently who was about to join an organisation whose members believed in the great interconnectedness of all things as evidenced by amazing coincidences. She had been thinking about an old friend she hadn’t seen for 20 years when the phone rang and it was him! I asked her to estimate how many times in the last year she had thought about people and they hadn’t phone her. She didn’t join. Was I unkind to disabuse her of her comforting belief?
November 21st, 2011 at 1:46 pm
A Catholic prayer to one’s Guardian Angel:
O my good Angel whom God hath appointed to be my Guardian, enlighten and protect, direct and govern me this day (night) and for evermore. Amen.
November 21st, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Lovely, thanks Richard.
November 21st, 2011 at 2:42 pm
A fair number of non-Catholics are well up to speed on angels and current activity, eg. those sent to segregate and gather the harvest (Matt 13:40-43) now that we’re quickly heading towards the close of this age/dispensation and help us to: “Arise, shine for your light has come…” (Isa 60.1)
I especially like the idea that this action will help the Bridal company get fully ready for our Bridegroom!
Also, only this weekend did I recall often feeling a hand on my shoulder when a child asleep – no-one was there. Mum said it may be my angel.
November 21st, 2011 at 6:16 pm
A research student wrote an interesting book called Seeing Angels detailing her studies on this matter. Worth a read.
November 21st, 2011 at 8:12 pm
A couple of thoughts:
It is well worth talking to your Guardian Angel on a regular basis: helps to maintain a sense of the Presence of God throughout the day – and in particular if you are having difficulties with someone else: ask your Guardian Angel to ‘have a word’ with the other person’s Guardian Angel. Amazingly (or perhaps not), it often works.
We always pray the old bedtime prayer with our kids:
Angel of God, my guardian dear,
To whom God’s love commits me here,
Ever this night be at my side,
To light, to guard, to rule, to guide.
(Can be said in the morning, too, substituting ‘day’ for ‘night’, but somehow our mornings are more frenetic!)
November 22nd, 2011 at 7:52 am
That’s lovely Ben and what an idea!
We’re going to teach our son that prayer.
Thanks again.
November 22nd, 2011 at 8:07 am
I was looking at an extract from ‘Seeing Angels’, following Tim’s recommendation. I was staggered to read that 69% of Americans believe in Angels, and 46% believe that they have a personal guardian angel. Wow!
My mother was mainstream CofE but had a very strong belief in guardian angels. Given the sense of security this belief bestows, I can understand why the idea persists, even though to me it makes absolutely no sense.
November 22nd, 2011 at 8:41 am
Simian – if you were a parent with knowledge of your impending death would you not wish to appoint a person to act in a guardian capacity over your child?
That is what God has done in His goodness and mercy; appointed one of His own to guide and care for us, His children.
November 22nd, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Richard – excellent point. And, dear Simian,
These aren’t just ideas. They’re a true reality – wouldn’t it be hard for you to convey the ‘idea’ of seeing to anyone whose always had sightless eyes?
We’re praying one of our adult children will follow the directions the Lord gave in answer to my wife’s prayer for help.
God’s so absolutely clever – upon waking, she knew to phone two people. The first’s family is in the same situation and gave advice, including to call the other party!! This confirmed she’d correctly assumed the impression was indeed of the Lord.
However, as our children are not yet believers and don’t know how utterly good and reliable God is, they’re still trying to work when its dried up and all funds stolen. Whyever not just do what the Lord said?
It’s rather exasperating because we’ve learned He really does work all things to OUR personal good simply because we love Him and live within His plans (Rom 8.28). Now we’re praying He breaks through personally to them – amen.
So, there’s no reason why heavenly Father wouldn’t employ a ‘messenger of His face’ from His throne-room (per Matt 18-10) to do that, is there? Surely, just because we’re no longer little children doesn’t mean our angels get relegated from His Presence..!
November 22nd, 2011 at 1:25 pm
But I don’t get why people have to anthropomorphise not only God, but also elements of His intervention on Earth, in the form of angels. Isn’t this all allegory, which helps people in the early stages of understanding Christianity to visusalise the immaterial?
I should make it clear that I am not a believer, and this clearly colours my views, but as I’ve said on other posts, I’m here to try to understand, and I hope I am still open minded, though some may disagree….
I think I still agree with most of the humanist aspects of the Christianity, and was once a committed Christian myself , (but I know more about doctrine now than I knew when I believed).
I came to the view that ‘guardian angels’ were included in that part of the mind (I was then a dualist) which linked us to God, rather than separate entities. They were in that part of our mind by which we communicated with God.
If I’ve overstepped the mark by this form of questioning I apologise and withdraw the question. I would like to increase my understanding of the metaphysical, but maybe without faith it is not possible so to do.
November 22nd, 2011 at 3:34 pm
Good Q and no offence taken by anyone (I hope) Simian, and I’d like to respond.
It’s terrific you’re open minded. I wasn’t so, a long time ago, but I thought I was because I, too, had gone deeply into metaphysical, even ‘spiritual’ new age, matters for a couple of decades.
So I’ve a fair notion of where you may be ‘coming from’. For me, my mind set into concrete and it took the good Lord Himself to ‘break into my brain-box’ and set me free – and of parasitic junk that had got in! What was condescendingly viewed as inferior (eg. Christianity and Biblical anthropomorphism) I was humbled to find is actually far superior to anything I knew and could do.
After being born-again from above I came to accept the Bible stance of ‘this is how it is’, and it says we’re made in His image. Nowadays many want to make God in our image and to mould it according to our soulish desires.
In my opinion, understanding doesn’t come by faith (which is a gift) but by revelation, which is one of the 7-fold aspects of Holy Spirit (per Isiah 11.2 – H.Spirit plus wisdom & revelation, counsel & might, knowledge & fear/awe). You no doubt know He empowered Jesus, who fully demonstrated all those aspects. Moreover, I think He uses them in communicating direct with us and wants us to be able to move in them too (in addition to the gifts) and to blossom with the fruit of Holy Spirit.
Evidence of angelic activity shows its separate from our mental functioning and, thus, indicates a distinctly independent nature of existence. I pray you may be blessed with hearing them join our earthly worship.
Hope this may be some sort of help.
November 22nd, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Thank you Richard. It’s very helpful to be taken seriously when I put my head above the papapet, and make a statement that is antithetical to the theme of the thread. I find it sad how some people just shoot down my comments out of hand, as if I might somehow be contagious, or even the devil incarnate!
Your emphasis on revelation as the key rather than faith is interesting. But can one expereince revelation without first embracing faith?
If I suppose for the sake of argument that there indeed is a God, then it is as if He has designed me in such a way that I am not able honestly to believe in Him. I tried for several years, and became very unhappy in the process.
I felt an amazing sense of freedom and release when I finally acknowledged that there was nothing there. It felt as if I could really start to live my life to the full. I imagine it’s similiarly uplifting to go the other way, but the longer I live, the further and more remote that possibility seems. And yet I remain fascinated by religion. I think I really still do not understand something about it.
But I’m not sure that gets us any further on the anthropomorphism?
November 22nd, 2011 at 4:19 pm
But I don’t get why people have to anthropomorphise not only God….
Simian, you seemed to have forgotten God became man, Jesus Christ.
November 22nd, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Ah… Of course. Thanks for that Caral!
And then there is the ‘fashioning us in his own image’ What does that mean? I’ve always assumed that it is again purely meant to be understood in terms of our minds being fashioned in a way that allows us to relate to Him. It’s inconceivable to me that there could be anything physical in this likeness, isn’t it?
November 22nd, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Yes, in my experience (which I’m soon to republish on a new blog). After the revelation I had to test and get to grips with it all. Then faith came through that growing relationship with the Lord.
Murderous Saul had no faith whatsoever in Jesus as Messiah but needed a blinding revelation, the outcome of which was an unshakable faith.
Isaiah heard the Lord say HE wanted the people to “reason together (with him even) though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow…if you are willing and obedient…” (Isa 1:18-19)
You candour is good and, I firmly believe, is what the Lord wants you to take as an offering for Him to bless, water and enable you to grow close to Him.
May I suggest asking Him to direct you to pertinent passages in scripture – even to ‘wrestle’ with Him over difficult issues. (A fellow prayer minister was shocked when I recommend that a man being ministered to should do that – she couldn’t grasp it’s Biblical, and manly, to do so. Jacob was blessed after having done that!! (Gen 32:24-28, now was that the Lord or an angel?!)
Then when Holy Spirit comes…well, wow! As Jesus said, “IF you abide in my word, you are my disciple, and you shall know the truth (which is Him) and the truth shall make you free!” (John 8:31-2)
Later, Paul explained ‘..when one turns to the Lord the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty’ (2Cor 3:16-7).
Reading Caral’s point reminded me of a recent ‘logical’ insight that may help:
God is spirit and works through his Holy Spirit, yet to deal fully with the material realm and humanity He needed a material component to His Being, namely Jesus. But this could only be accomplished without any tainting from sin, hence birth through a virgin by Holy Spirit. (I leave that to theologians to check/argue/disagree/miss the point etc!)
Over the past year I’ve witnessed the Lord healing hundreds and this has enabled a large number of unbelieving witnesses to repent of their sins and be saved, ie faith followed AFTER revelation of His loving character.
November 22nd, 2011 at 5:59 pm
Hi Simian,
To answer your post, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ll quote a little directly from the CCC regarding the image and likeness of God, and the dignity of man. It explains it far better than I ever could.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches :-
The divine image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of persons, in the likeness of the unity of the divine persons among themselves.
Endowed with “a spiritual and immortal” soul, the human person is “the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake.” From his conception, he is destined for eternal beatitude.
The human person participates in the light and power of the divine Spirit. By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection “in seeking and loving what is true and good.”
By virtue of his soul and his spiritual powers of intellect and will, man is endowed with freedom, an “outstanding manifestation of the divine image.”
By his reason, man recognizes the voice of God which urges him “to do what is good and avoid what is evil.” Everyone is obliged to follow this law, which makes itself heard in conscience and is fulfilled in the love of God and of neighbor. Living a moral life bears witness to the dignity of the person.
Note: Simian, I removed refs and Catechism numbers, for easily reading, but the whole of article 1 can read here. http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s1c1a1.htm
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:54 am
I’m not ignoring you Caral and Richard B. It’s just that there was much to reflect on in your respective comments, and an instant reply does not do them justice.
Richard,
I can identify with Saul but I can’t go along with your apparent premise that I’m looking for conversion, or that I find Bible passages persuasive in altering my views. I think I have to be honest and declare that the idea of asking ‘God’ to direct me is preposterous to me. If despite that I have a ‘Road to Damascus’ moment, then great, but I’m not looking for it. Perhaps my circumstances are different from those that related to you? But your posts still contain much to think about.
Caral,
Yes, I had already started to read this excellent document, following a reference to it in another post. I find it a really fascinating read, and I have in fact now read quite a significant portion of it, despite its length! I think it has certainly increased my understanding of Roman Catholicism significantly, and put to rest some misconceptuons – and I have to admit that it has made me see Catholics in a new light – to the extent that if I were a believer, I would find Catholicism a compelling option. I begin to understand why Stuart is converting!
Oh, and back to the extract you quoted – Does that mean that my previous comment is in fact correct? I think it does, but maybe I have misunderstood.
(The comment: I’ve always assumed that it is again purely meant to be understood in terms of our minds being fashioned in a way that allows us to relate to Him. )
November 23rd, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Hi Simian,
Thanks for your appreciation. Am sorry if I gave that impression for I wouldn’t be so presumptive. I was purely answering your question about faith from my own experience, plus valid examples.
(Co-incidentally, a video email recvd after my comments upon Jacob’s wrestling match gave a superb amplification upon what I’d written.)
My purpose is to tease you with morsels that may encourage you to taste and see that God is good. You have to do that yourself, no-one can do it for you. (I’m hinting at your eventually transcending any nominal pew-polishing so as to not miss the greatest excitement in life!)
You could perhaps tell me about a parent, child or partner and I’d believe they exist because of your relationship – but I wouldn’t know them like you do unless, that is, I were to visit and spend time in their company. Its the same with our maker.
As He’s the author of dozens of inspired books we can get His insights on them and He’ll point out those that help us personally. We can then see with our own eyes how extraordinarily powerful scripture is in application.
Nevertheless, I’m sure you’re little different to where I was…
November 23rd, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Hi Simian,
Great to hear you are reading the CCC. Although not exhaustive, it certainly is a great place to learn about the Christian faith. I did smile at your comment about it’s size, it is a little different to the old Penny Catechism that I’ve heard so much about. I still working my way through the Second Edition of the CCC myself.
With regard to your comment in your previous quote, I would err on the side of caution, by agreeing that the image and likeness of God is limited to the ‘mind’. I suppose from a purely scientific viewpoint, ‘mind’ can be synonymous to ‘self’. I would say that I am inclined to lean towards the terms ‘essence’ or ‘soul’. Yet this terms could be misunderstood, and one could easily denigrate the body and we move into dualism, or even to separate man a little more into a tripartite being, or body, soul and spirit. I would say that man is a psychosomatic unit, that bears the image of God, although that image is marred.
I’m going to quote from the CCC again, (sorry) but as you know, it cannot be explained more succinctly or more clearly…..
“The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that “then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.
In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person. But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image: “soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man.
The human body shares in the dignity of “the image of God”: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:
Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.
The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.
The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God – it is not “produced” by the parents – and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.
Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for instance prays that God may sanctify his people “wholly”, with “spirit and soul and body” kept sound and blameless at the Lord’s coming. The Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the soul. “Spirit” signifies that from creation man is ordered to a supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all it deserves to communion with God.
The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one’s being, where the person decides for or against God.”
Note: I again removed refs and numbers for easy of reading. But the whole article can be read here…
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p6.htm
November 23rd, 2011 at 10:12 pm
Thank you Caral. Or maybe I shouldn’t thank you, as I’ve just spent the past two hours delving ever deeper into the CCC and trying to form a view.
So many loose ends, and I’m slightly overwhelmed!
My travels took me to the nature of original sin, and the implications for mankind. Conceptually this idea just makes no sense to me, and the more I read, the more inconsistencies there seem to be. And just when I thought I was getting closer to the answer the CCC had the following to say: “Still, the transmission of original sin is a mystery that we cannot fully understand.”
Hmmm…. So I’m none the wiser!
I’ll stick with it though. I think it needs to be understood as a whole, rather than as soundbites. Actually I don’t think I’ve yet come across anything that I had not already become at leastpartially aware of at some stage, but it is most helpful to see it all laid out so coherently.
November 24th, 2011 at 8:56 am
Hi Simian,
The doctrine of Original Sin and the Fall and it’s implications, has certainly been a major issue of theological thought, especially for Reformed theology. I would say that perhaps even nowadays it is the powerhouse that drives the Young Earth Creationists to a solely literal interpretation of the Creation narratives, whilst ignoring the other senses of Allegorical, Moral and Anagogical in their exegesis of Genesis, although perhaps I should I say eisegesis.
I think what I would say about ‘sin’, is that it fairly obvious that it is something that affects all of us, the whole of mankind. Not one from birth to death has been perfect in their justice, holiness and charity (I will add not without God’s intervention and Grace anyway, our Lady, the Theotokos being the ultimate example of a created being, being perfect because of God’s grace and her fiat).
With regard to the mystery of transmission, well in regard to all the mysteries. Our Faith seeks understanding, and perhaps the reward of faith moves us closer to a deeper understanding and yet the divine mysteries are beyond our understanding and comprehension. Yet because of the gift of Faith, I would say that the Faithful reside peacefully with paradoxes without undue tension, as we know, Great is the Mystery of Faith.
November 24th, 2011 at 9:31 am
Crikey. A lot of meat to chew over in that comment Caral, and I’ve even learnt a new word (eisegesis)! Thanks! I have to go to work but I’ll come back to this later and have another look.
November 24th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
My what an interesting and nourishing thread! Thank you Caral for your splendid points, yet may I ‘tweak’ a little regarding faith and mystery?
Some would contend that these mysteries are not completely closed to us. Eg, Daniel 12.4 implies he foresaw the eventual opening of the sealed scroll in the days of the end-time generation (ie. not by Jesus alone, per Rev5) when great mysteries would be revealed. There would be a time when spiritual knowledge will increase – as today?
One sound teacher’s opinion: ‘Many loyal saints are now calling upon the Lord to show great and mighty things, desiring to appreciate fully the end-time mysteries of the Kingdom’.
Paul taught the Colossians that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ Himself – and that ‘they (us too!) may have the full riches of COMPLETE understanding’ – why? – ‘in order that (we) may know the mystery of God, namely Christ…’ (Col2.2-3).
Morover, not being too flippant, we have Lord’s phone number: JER 33.3 – “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and mighty things which you do not know”. That’s His counsel and clear instruction to call upon the Lord with the expectation of being heard.
From the gist of those God-breathed verses we can infer that, when we do call, we will be given the ability to receive precise, clear understanding from Him.
That present-day teacher suggests, “We may well (therefore) perceive prominent and awesome mysteries of His Kingdom that are presently unknown. Then the blueprint of Heaven for this long-awaited day will be unveiled”.
Yes please to that and amen.
November 24th, 2011 at 9:05 pm
Hi Richard
Thanks for your post, you make some interesting points, particular about revelation, in relation to eschatology. It may be a good idea for me to explain what I mean by the term mystery, as I think perhaps we may view the word from slightly different perspectives.
For example, divine mysteries to me, would include the Incarnation, and the Resurrection. And when we look at the mystery of the Trinity, we know that this is theologically an absolute mystery, although not totally incomprehensible to us, as knowledge of this supernatural mystery has been revealed in and through Christ, by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2) yet complete and full understanding is above and beyond our finite intellect and reasoning.
I did write a small blogpost relating to mysteries that may give a little more insight into my own understanding.
http://blog.echurchwebsites.org.uk/2011/07/29/wifeys-ponderings-2/