GUARDIAN ANGELS

 

Today's Feast of the Guardian Angels fits in well with many of the things I've been meditating on overthe past few weeks. Let's start with the universal longing, that ache inside of each of us that keeps crying out for completion. St. Augustine describes it as a God-shaped vacuum that can only be filled by God and not by any created things such as pleasure, possessions, power and so on. So a culture like ours, where the idea of the supernatural is totally excluded from the thinking of so many people, we're still left with the longing, with no possible way of satisfying it. 

Every culture includes some system of belief that transcends the material world and offers some shape or significance to our daily lives. The ancient Hebrews stand out among the ancient civilizations by their highly articulated way of experiencing the human thirst for "more." 

The Jews believed in a Creator God who stays involved with the affairs of humans, and particularly of his Chosen People. They believed, in other words, that heaven touches earth. This happens in various ways. First, when God intervenes in history (think of the crossing of the Red Sea), and then in two permanent ways: in the Jerusalem temple and in the Law, the Torah. And so God constantly kept close to his people. (The masculine pronoun for God is theirs, not mine). God has another way of "touching earth," as we see in these verses from the Book of Exodus:

See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and obey him. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority is within him. If you obey him and carry out all I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. (Ex. 23:20-22) 

For the Hebrews, the question was never "Does God exist?" That would have sounded silly. They asked instead those questions we see in the Psalms and elsewhere: "Where is God when we need Him?" "Why is God so far from us?" "Why has He abandoned me?" "Is God here right now?"

Then in the fulness of time God revealed Himself through His Word, Jesus Christ. Jesus came to show us who God truly is: God is pure Love. His Father's love has no admixture of anger, vengeance, retaliation or any such human traits. Thus was bad news for folks who want a God who resembles us humans in that way, a God who punishes bad people and only loves people who deserve Divine Love. The Judeo-Christian God, this self-revealing God has shown himself through Christ to be a God of mercy and compassion, of infinite love and forgiveness. This is where today's feast of the Guardian Angels comes in. 

The word angel, as we know, is the Greek word for a messenger. That's the angel's primary function. So our "guardian" angel brings us this unmistakable message from God: "I love you, just as you are, with your faults and sins and struggles. I love you and am protecting you at every moment." 

I think I told you about this incident once before. I was walking down William Street, where cars were parked bumper to bumper on both sides of this one-way street. A few yards ahead a woman was on the sidewalk standing at her car. As she let go of her two year-old's hand to unlock the car door she gave him a the stern warning, "Stand right here by mommy and don't move." As soon as she turned to open the door, the little one ran around the back of the car, and in an instant had turned and darted between the parked cars and out into the busy street. I was too far away to do anything except shout as I saw the little boy a few feet in front of a fast moving car. I hadn't noticed this fellow walking up the sidewalk toward me, but he had obviously read the child's mind and so was after him in a flash. As the little guy stepped in front of the car there was a desperate screech of brakes as suddenly a hand reached of and yanked the child's arm, snatching him to safety. There followed one of those freeze-frames where time stopped for a moment as everyone --- the mom, the rescuer, the shaken driver and me --  let the experience sink in. Then time resumed and we all looked at one another. Since words would never succeed in expressing our thoughts and feelings, there were just a few mumbled remarks, and the mom's tearful thank yous to the quick-witted pedestrian. 

A person of faith would have no trouble at all seeing that the child's guardian angel was involved in this. Or, maybe that pedestrian's guardian angel had poked him and whispered, "Watch that little kid! He's about to run out into the street!" 

So, today we celebrate the Lord's tender, loving care for each of us as individuals as known and loved and cared for by God.

from PSALM 145

The LORD is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in mercy.

The LORD is good to all,

compassionate toward all your works.

All your works give you thanks, LORD

and your faithful bless you.