According to St Anselm, when God created us in our mother's womb and gave us our soul He also appointed us with a guardian angel and since then they have been constantly at our side. But how much do we actually know about them? How do we make the most of this wonderful gift of our guardian angel to us? And how can we increase our devotion to them?
During this year's feast of The Holy Guardian Angels, on the 2nd of October, I remember apologizing profusely to my guardian angel for the times that I have not been docile to his promptings. In some circumstances, God grants us special graces and communicates to us what we need to do through the inspiration of our guardian angel. Therefore, using the same logic that explains that to be saved we must cooperate with God's grace, we need to be attentive and actively respond to our guardian angel’s promptings to be guided by him. Our Lord has granted us this angelic companion out of His omniscience, His plan for us, and His goodness - then why shouldn’t we accept and respond to them?
About our Heavenly Companion
God has commissioned our guardian angel and entrusted us to them to be our heavenly companion as we wander in a foreign land to guide, protect, and lead us to God’s promise of Eternal Life. Our guardian angels are always concerned about us. They rejoiced when we were born and we become dearer to them when we were baptized. Day and night, they watch over us.
Our guardian angels’ can perform the following services for us:
Preserve us from many unknown dangers to soul and body.
Defend us against the temptations of the evil spirits.
Inspire us with holy thoughts and prompt us to deeds of virtue in the divine service.
Warn us of spiritual dangers and admonish us when we have sinned.
Unite with us in prayer and offer our prayers to God.
Defend us at the hour of death against the last attacks of our spiritual foes.
Console the souls languishing in purgatory and conduct them to Heaven when their faults have been fully expiated.
It will only be in the afterlife that we will know the extensive amount of service that our guardian angel has done for us.
Making the most of Our Guardian Angel
We should strive to constantly interact with our guardian angel. We can do this in numerous ways; like asking our guardian angel for help on everything including finding anything that we have lost. We can send our guardian angel to visit someone we know that might need consoling. Our guardian angel can assist us in our choice of vocation and if we call upon him, he will help us to find the life companion God has for us.
St. Pio, in his book, Send Me Your Guardian Angel, begs us not to “…forget this invisible companion, always present, always present, always ready to listen to us even more ready to console us.” And reminds us to “Always keep him present to your mind’s eye. Often remember the presence of this angel; thank him, pray to him, always keep him good company. Open up yourself to him and confide your suffering to him. Have a constant fear of offending the purity of his gaze. Know this and keep it well imprinted on your mind. He is so delicate, so sensitive. Turn to him in times of supreme anxiety and you will experience his beneficial help.”
During this year's feast of The Holy Guardian Angels, on the 2nd of October, I remember apologizing profusely to my guardian angel for the times that I have not been docile to his promptings. In some circumstances, God grants us special graces and communicates to us what we need to do through the inspiration of our guardian angel. Therefore, using the same logic that explains that to be saved we must cooperate with God's grace, we need to be attentive and actively respond to our guardian angel’s promptings in order to be guided by him. Our Lord has granted us this angelic companion out of His omniscience, His plan for us, and His goodness - then why shouldn’t we accept and respond to them?
We sometimes might not understand at the very moment why and what these inspirations entail. Just like Our Lady during the Annunciation, when Angel Gabriel appeared to her, we must answer to the promptings of our guardian angels with faith as she did, growing in trust. Eventually, the more we respond to the promptings, the more graces and inspirations will be given to us. As Our Lady is the queen of all the angels, let us ask Her to intercede for us that we may be docile to the inspirations of our guardian angels and be able to make the most out of this wonderful gift of our guardian angels.
Devotion to Our Guardian Angel
We can see in the lives of great saints like St. Pio that as they grow in sanctity, there seemed to be a growing devotion to their guardian angel. We should try to show devotion to our guardian angels daily as a form of gratitude to them. This will consequently help us to grow in sanctity. These are some devotional suggestions for you to try:
Upon awakening in the morning, greet this devoted prince of heaven who kept faithful watch at your side while you slept, thank him and ask him to accompany and protect you throughout the day.
While dressing, show reverence for his presence by your modesty.
At the commencement of prayer, beg him to enlighten, counsel, and protect you, so that at the close of the day he may, with joy, offer your labours to God.
When leaving the house, and particularly going on a journey, offer him a friendly invitation to accompany you.
When the clock strikes, utter an ejaculation such as, “My dear Guardian Angel, assist me at the hour of my death.” or “Oh blessed, I love you and I wish to love you more and more.”
At night, thank him for his protection and for many services he has rendered so willingly.
Choose one day of the week to honor him in a particular way by offering special prayers, assisting at Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion in his honor, etc. Tuesdays, which are dedicated to the holy Angels, may be fittingly chosen for this purpose.
Adopt the laudable practice of venerating the Guardian Angels of others: When we meet persons of our acquaintance, at the same time that we greet them, also lovingly salute their Guardian Angel. This can be done by an interior act, without attracting notice.
Prayers to Our Guardian Angel
Angel of God
Angel of God, my Guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day (or night) be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
Prayer to Our Guardian Angel
O Holy Guardian Angel, my dear friend, and solicitous guide on the dangerous way of life, to thee be heartfelt thanks for the numberless benefits which have been granted me through thy love and goodness and for the powerful help by which thou hast preserved me from so many dangers and temptations. I beg of thee, let me further experience thy love and thy care. Avert from me all dangers, increase in me horror for sin and love for all that is good. Be a counselor and consoler to me in all the affairs of my life, and when my life draws to a close, conduct my soul through the valley of death into the kingdom of eternal peace, so that in eternity we may together praise God and rejoice in His glory. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
O Angel of God, make me worthy of thy tender love, thy celestial companionship, and thy never-failing protection!
Novena Prayer
O Holy Angel, whom God, by the effect of His goodness and His tender regard for my welfare, has charged with the care of my conduct, and who assists me in all my wants and comforts me in all my afflictions, who supports me when I am discouraged and continually obtains for me new favours, I return thee profound thanks, and I earnestly beseech thee, O most amiable protector, to continue thy charitable care and defense of me against the malignant attacks of all my enemies. Keep me away from all occasions of sin. Obtain for me the grace of listening attentively to thy holy inspirations and of faithfully putting them into practice. In particular, I implore thee to obtain for me the favor which I ask for by this novena. (Here mention your petition.)Protect me in all the temptations and trials of this life, but more especially at the hour of my death, and do not leave me until thou hast conducted me into the presence of my Creator in the mansions of everlasting happiness. Amen.
Fraternal Pact with your Guardian Angel
My beloved Angel, faithful companion of my whole existence, filled with shame for not having offered to you a worthy tribute of love and gratitude, I would like today and forever, to make up for my forgetfulness and negligence, promising you a more constant attention and a more assiduous proof of my sincere and profound affection. Let us make, if you with – and certainly you will wish this – a fraternal pact, so that I may begin to live truly and more constantly in the holy presence of my God and yours. Help me to be recollected and to live interiorly before the Face of God as you do. Assist me in my prayers, communions, thanksgiving, when I say the Rosary and in all hours of the day in which I am occupied in many things for the service of my family and when I am working. Then, above all, take my place before God: adore Him, love Him, make reparation and console Him on my behalf, and tell this to my God! And at night, when I rest, keep watch on my behalf and do what I should do: adore, love, make reparation and console! I, for my part, will share with you my communions on reparation for the glory of the Most Holy Trinity, for the Heart of Jesus and that of Mary. I also share my sufferings with you because you are not able to either receive communion or to suffer. Offer that to our blessed Lord, to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit and to Mary, my mother. Make of me an angel, a soul wholly recollected and devoted… and prepare me for a holy death of Love. Assist me in that hour and lead me to God to praise Him with you for the whole of the blessed eternity. Amen