Feast Day of the Guardian Angels

"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)

 
Memorial (1969 Calendar): October 2
Greater Double (1954 Calendar): October 2

Just a few days after the The Dedication of St. Michael the Archangel, we have the Feast of the Guardian Angels. Dom Gueranger writes:

Although the solemnity of September 29 celebrates the praises of all the nine glorious choirs, yet the piety of the faithful, in the latter ages, desired to have a special day consecrated to the Guardian Angels. Several churches having taken the initiative, and kept the feast under various rites and on different days, Paul V (1608) authorized its celebration ad libitum. Clement X (1670) established it by precept as a feast of double rite on October 2, the first free day after Michælmas, on which it thus remains in some way dependent. [Note: After his work was written, Pope Leo XIII raised the feast to the rank of Greater Double].

Each of us has a specific guardian angel to watch over us night and day (Ps 34:7, Mt 18:10, Ac 12:15), but what do we do concerning them? Do we ask for their guidance daily or ignore them? Everyday when we rise to go about our day and make a morning offering let us thank God for His mercy and pray that our guardian angel protects our body and soul in the day ahead. Please take advantage of this - for we are not alone in life! Our guardian angel is always with us! As stated in the Baltimore Catechism, "Our Guardian Angels pray for us, protect and guide us, and offer our prayers, good works and desires to God" (223).

And each of our parishes and countries has its own individual guardian angels as well. St. Frances de Sales writes of this:

"The great Peter Faber, the first priest, the first preacher, and the first proposer of divinity in the Holy Society of Jesus, and the companion of St. Ignatius, its founder, returning from Germany, where he had done great service to the glory of our Lord, and travelling through this diocese, the place of his birth, related, that having passed through many heretical places, he had received innumerable consolations from the guardian angels of the several parishes, and that on repeated occasions he had received the most sensible and convincing proofs of their protection. Sometimes they preserved him from the ambush of his enemies, at other times they rendered several souls more mild, and tractable to receive from him the doctrine of salvation: this he related with so much earnestness, that a gentlewoman then very young, who heard it from his own mouth, related it but four years ago, that is to say, about threescore years after he had told it, with an extraordinary feeling. I had the consolation last year to consecrate an altar on the spot where God was pleased this blessed man should be born, in a little village called Vilaret, amidst our most craggy mountains. Choose some particular saint or saints, whose lives may please you most, and whom you can best imitate, and in whose intercession you may have a particular confidence. The saint, whose name you bear, is already assigned you, from your baptism."

Above all, get to know your guardian angel. Request their aid even in computer and Internet trouble or traffic jams. Angels are spiritual creatures with remarkable intelligence yet no free will. As stated in the Baltimore Catechism Q 216: "Angels are pure spirits without a body, created to adore and enjoy God in heaven." They serve God completely and devotion to our guardian angels can only lead us closer to Jesus Christ. Early Christians were devoted to angels. Origen writing in 225 AD declared: "Every believer — although the humblest in the Church — is said to be attended by an angel, who the Savior declares always beholds the face of God the Father. Now, this angel has the purpose of being his guardian." 

And as a reminder, we do not become angels as some people seem to believe. Angels are completely different creatures; what we hope to become is a saint (no matter how old we are when we die), and then we will be in Heaven with the angels praising God: "Hoshana in the Highest, Lord God of Peace." People can't be angels just like they can't be dogs after they die - we are completely different creatures.

For more information, please see my post: What are Angels? A Summary & Exposition on Angels for Catholics

No evil shall befall you, nor shall affliction come near your tent, for to His Angels God has given command about you, that they guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone (Psalm 91: 10-12) 

From St. Bernard:

"And so, that nothing in heaven should be wanting in your concern for us, You send those blessed spirits to serve us, assigning them as our guardians and our teachers. 'He has given his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways.' These words should fill you with respect, inspire devotion and instill confidence: respect for the presence of angels, devotion because of their loving service, and confidence because of their protection. And so the angels are here; they are at your side, they are with you, present on your behalf. They are here to protect you and to serve you. But even if it is God who has given them this charge, we must nonetheless be grateful to them for the great love with which they obey and come to help us in our great need.

"So let us be devoted and grateful to such great protectors; let us return their love and honor them as much as we can and should. Yet all our love and honor must go to Him, for it is from Him that they receive all that makes them worthy of our love and respect. We should then, my brothers, show our affection for the angels, for one day they will be our co-heirs just as here below they are our guardians and trustees appointed and set over us by the Father. We are God's children although it does not seem so, because we are still but small children under guardians and trustees, and for the present little better than slaves.

"Even though we are children and have a long, a very long and dangerous way to go, with such protectors what have we to fear? They who keep us in all our ways cannot be overpowered or led astray, much less lead us astray. They are loyal, prudent, powerful. Why then are we afraid? We have only to follow them, stay close to them, and we shall dwell under the protection of God's heaven."

Votive Mass of the Angels:

Missa Cantata on a side altar at St. Josaphat's Church in Detroit Michigan, said by Fr. Hrytsyk

Daily Prayer to Your Guardian Angel:

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever be at my side to light and to guard, to rule and to guide. 

Collect:

O God, Who in Thine ineffable Providence hast deigned to send Thy holy Angels to keep watch over us: grant to us Thy suppliant people, that we may always be defended by their protection, and may rejoice in their fellowship for ever. Through our Lord.

Prayer Source: 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal