GUARDIAN ANGELS' LESSON

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I revised last week's post into a homily for the feast of the Guardian Angels on October 2. You'll find that it repeats last weeks post at first,at first, but you may find it worthwhile to read it through to the end.

For most of us, I suppose, the notion of "guardian angels" evokes images of winged figures watching lovingly over little children, like heavenly babysitters. I remember praying every day when I was a child:
  “Angel of God, my guardian dear
   To whom God’s love commits me here.
   Ever this day be at my side to light and guard,
   To rule and guide. Amen.”

At some point I outgrew my devotion to my guardian angel, who went the way of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I’d like to take a moment on this feast, however, to reflect on the meaning, or better, the relevance of Guardian Angels.

Let's begin with the idea of the "Good News" that Jesus came to announce. Most of us suppose that the Good News announced was that in the end we believers will escape this vale of tears and all go up to heaven. But the New Testament scholar N.T. Wright says that if we think that the Good News is about going to heaven then we’re grabbing the stick by the wrong end. It's really the other way around: the Good News is not about our going up to heaven – rather, it’s about heaven coming to earth. The good news is that "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

One of the central beliefs of Judaism at the time of Christ was, in fact, that heaven touches earth. For the Jews, heaven touches earth in two ways First, in the temple, where God comes down to be present among his people. And second, God is present in the Law, the Torah. This explains why we hear so often in the psalms this love of God’s Law. Remember, too, that the Hebrew God is a God of History, who gets involved in worldly events, to deliver his people through the Red Sea, for example, or guide them through the wilderness. These divine interventions are other ways that heaven touches earth.

The idea that heaven touches earth prepared the way for the incarnation when God would come down in person, and heaven would touch earth, and nothing would ever be the same, and it’s against this backdrop that we should understand the Judeo-Christian belief in angels.

Keeping this idea in mind, I invite you to look at these scripture passages with me:

- You remember how the Lord sends the angel Raphael to guide and guard the young Tobiah on his journey.
- During the entrance procession this evening we chanted“The angel of the Lord is encamped around those who fear him.”
- Then we heard in the first reading this evening, how God appoints an angel to guide the Israelites in the wilderness. "See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared." (Exodus 23:20).
- Following the reading, in the Responsorial Psalm we sang: "He has commanded his angels... to keep you in all your ways"
- And we heard in this evening’s gospel the famous passage that seems to be the basis for connecting the guardian angels with children: Jesus says: “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" (Mt 18:10).

As we look at these passages, we see that angels are sent to guard not children, but adults. This feast, then, has to do directly with US.

Ask yourself this question: Would it be so surprising if the same Lord who gave you the help of a guardian angel should ask you to pass that favor on to a brother or sister who is of the same high worth as you and who needs some help?

You remember Cain’s evasive response when the Lord ask him where his brother, Abel, might be: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Well, the Lord answers that question with a resounding “Yes, you are!” “Yes, you are your brother’s comforter.” “Yes, you are your sister’s helper.” “Yes, you are your brother’s encourager -- just as your guardian angel is for you.”

Our guardian angels remind us that just as the Lord sends each of them to us to be ministers of the Good News, to make heaven touch earth, so he sends each of us. And our Guardian Angels can us teach us by their example how to make heaven touch earth, how to be good news for one another: By imitating their loving concern for us, by imitating their spirit of humble service, by encouraging, comforting and protecting us. 

Imagine a world in which everyone worked as tirelessly as the Guardian Angels to make the Good News take flesh among us. Then indeed we could rejoice to see the day when the Good News comes to its glorious completion: heaven finally touching earth forever and ever. Amen.