Our Heavenly Friends to Listen with Reverence and Attention - the Holy Guardian Angels

Do you have friends?

Of course you do. And you may boast about how many friends you have on your Facebook.

No, I am not talking about that kind of friends.

So do you have friends, ones you actually spend time in person, like hanging out together, regardless of Facebook?

Sure you do – unless you prefer to live in your own bubble.

That’s great to have friends. And we all need them.

But, what about heavenly friends?

Sure, some of you have been befriended with Saints. As Catholics, these Saint friends are very important, as we, as the Catholic Church, are, indeed, the Communion of Saints (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 960). And these Saints not only intercede for us but encourage and inspire us to become saints.

What about heavenly figures who are originally from heaven, not from earth.  Saints are from the earth. But we can also become friends with those who are from heaven – besides Christ, who is from heaven (e.g. John 5:37; 6:38; 8:23).

What I mean by heavenly friends are originally from heaven, like Christ before incarnation. Namely, I am referring to angels, heavenly hosts.

In thinking of our friendship with angels, we remember our friendship with Christ, who has called us friends (John 15:15), because angels ascend from and descend on Christ as heaven opens (John 1:51) and all of them are with him in his glory (Matthew 25:31). So, as we are with Christ, we are also with his angels. As we are friends of Christ (John 15:15), as well as, being brothers and sisters of his (e.g. Hebrews 2:11), we are to be friends with his angels.

According to Jesus, heavenly Father have commissioned angels in heaven as guardian angels for us so that we will not end up as lost sheep or as trapped in Satan’s trap (Matthew 18:10-14). The Father not only has sent His only begotten Son, the Christ (John 3:16-17; 5:37; 1 John 4:14), incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus (John 1:1, 14) through Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35). He has also commissioned angels as our guardians.

So, reflecting on Matthew 18:10, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 336, says:

From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.

And it is good, of course, to get to know our heavenly guardian, our holy guardian angels, in addition to knowing Jesus, the Christ, who is the center of their world (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 331).

The Gospel Reading for the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Matthew 18:1-5, 10), on September 2, suggests that guardian angels have something to do with the virtue of humility. According to the reading, it all began with his disciples’ question to Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven”(Matthew 18:1). And Jesus responded with a metaphorical discourse, rather than simply telling who that greatest one would be. Rather, Jesus taught the disciples that having child-like humility is a necessary condition to enter the Kingdom (Matthew 18:3). Then, he said, whoever humbles oneself like a child is the greatest in the Kingdom (Matthew 18:4). Furthermore, Jesus went to speak of the importance of taking a special care for those who tend to be belittled in society, holding a child and saying, “Whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me”(Matthew 18:5).

Basically, Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that child-like humility is not only what is necessary to allow them to enter the Kingdom but one who is considered as the greatest in the Kingdom has. And he also wanted them to know such humility enables them to care for those whom the world may see as least and may not value their existence, represented by children, in his name, and it means to receive him in them. In juxtaposing Matthew 18:1-5 to Matthew 25:31-46, child-like humility is absolutely necessary to receive the privilege in the Kingdom as it is what is required to receive Jesus in us. And, this Kingdom-bound child-like humility was what characterizes St. Therese of Lisieux, whose memorial feast is September 1, the day before the Memorial feast of the Holy Guardian Angels (September 2).  So, on her memorial feast, we read from Matthew 18:1-4.

So, what does the virtue of child-like humility and giving a care to those who are considered as least, like children, has anything to do with guardian angels?

The Gospel Reading for the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (Matthew 18:1-5, 10), skips over Jesus’ discourse on removing possible sources of spiritual pathologies, what may tempt and cause us to sin (Matthew 18:6-9). And it goes right into what the virtue of child-like humility and the necessity of care for those who are belittled in society, like children, as a sign of the humility is about – connecting it to the way the Father in heaven cares us.

Jesus said:

See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father (Matthew 18:10).

With the above statement, Jesus reminds us that the Father in heaven care little ones, like children, as He provide them with their guardian angels, watching them over in heaven.  So, Jesus wants us to be humble ourselves, like these little ones, children, whom the Father cares to assign guardian angels, so that we can enter the Kingdom as “VIP”. As we are “VIP” in the Kingdom for being humble like children, we care enough for the children, striving to be like the Father, who cares for them to provide guardian angels.

And in the eyes of the Father, we are little children (1 John 3:1). So, we all have guardian angels.

The First Reading (Exodus 23:20-23) also reminds that the Israelites were guided and guarded by a holy angel, commissioned by God, through their challenging journey to the promised land during Exodus, beyond Mt. Sinai.  This reading also calls us to listen to his message attentively with utmost respect, because a guardian angel is given God’s authority. Thus, we do need our guardian angels to complete our respective apostolic mission.

Yes, we give reverence to our heavenly friends, our guardian angels, as we do so to our brother, as well as, friend, Jesus the Christ. So, it means we are humble like children to our holy guardian angels and care for little ones among us, as the Father in heaven cares them by giving them guardian angels.

Perhaps, our guardian angels may work for us, as archangel Raphael did for Tobiah, his father, Tobit, and his wife, Sara, as written in the Book of Tobit (from Chapter 5 on), as we befriend with them.

Raphael guarded and guided Tobiah on his journey. An angel of God guarded and guided Moses and the rest of the Israelites on Exodus. And holy guardian angels have been guarding and guiding us since the beginning of our lives all the way our journey to the Kingdom, ensuring that we accomplish our apostolic missions for Christ. What great friends we have from heaven, as God's providence!