Growing up, I had little awareness of the guardian angels. I first heard a talk on the reality of guardian angels in college.Soon after hearing this talk, I hit the road with the Princeton Ski Team to go to a regional competition in West Virginia in the middle of a snow storm. As my friend's car slid around on the narrow, winding roads through the mountains in the middle of the night, I uttered my first plea to my guardian angel. Within seconds a large orange snowplow/salt truck pulled out right in front of us and we were forced to slow down to a crawl, being unable to pass, driving on a freshly plowed and salted road. The image flashed into my head of a renaissance angel behind the wheel of an oversized snow plow. After that, I knew I would be speaking with my guardian angel more often.
The Catechism assures us of the existence of guardian angels, "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." What a wonderful blessing! An angel of our very own! Yesterday's meditation in In Conversation with God states, "We have to treat our guardian angel as we would a good friend. He is always on the watch, constantly prepared to give us aid, if only we would ask him." So ask him, we must.
Since having children (especially boys!), my devotion to our guardian angels has increased. We begin each morning asking our guardian angel to watch over us. And I make many more pleas throughout the day. They can help us avoid temptations and to focus during prayer. And they can help us in very physical things, like (today) finding a parking place when I had to run into the pharmacy with a sick child.
If we are in the car and the kids are getting fussy I ask for the help of their angels and a big cement truck or a school bus usually come rolling by just in time to remind me of God's presence and that he is watching over us in the little trails of ordinary life. For some people, it is a flower or a butterfly that can remind them of God's hand in the details of ordinary life. For me, it's a truck with my guardian angel at the wheel.
14 comments:
Great post.
I wish there were guardian cows.
Sorry, I meant, "I wish cows had guardian angels." Like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
Tex, great post. As you indicated here, anyone who doubts the existence of guardian angels should get to know a little boy. I have no idea how any boy would make it to adulthood without them.
I also find that, as a mom with three small kids, I'm much more keenly aware of our need for small details to fall into place to help a day go smoothly. Like you said here, Tex, things as simple (but important!) as finding a parking space in a pinch or efficiency and cooperation in getting kids out the door. Guardian Angels are such a great help here.
Has anyone else discerned a name for their guardian angel? My husband taught me this, he and his siblings did this growing up, and so I chose a special name for mine. I find that this increases my intimacy with her and makes it even easier and more natural to call upon her. Bella and Bean have named theirs, and I love praying to theirs by name as well.
I love my guardian angel.
Your story reminded me of a day when I was dropping my daughter with my sister-in-law and hurrying off to an OB appt in the midst of a snowstorm. I'd got stuck on the hill going up to their house, my brother-in-law had to hike down and help me out, and was worried about getting to the doctor on time. As I climbed into the car and put on my seat belt, I whispered a prayer to my guardian angel. Saying that prayer took just enough time that a big plow came swooping past, clearing the road in front of me for my descent down the hill.
JM,
How did your kids name their angels? Dash is in a phase where the "name" of something can be only what it literally is. So the stuffed dog is named "doggy" etc. Hence angel is, well, angel.
Great post. Thanks Tex!
I've been thinking a lot about Guardian Angels especially with a house full of boys. Our latest G.A. experience came on Christmas night. Family was visiting and the house was busy with food and people. I was nursing the baby in a darkened bedroom when I heard a bang and saw a flash of light in the hallway. Most of us ran to the hallway to see our 2-year old boy standing next to the plugged-in carbon monoxide detector with a blackened spoon in his hand. He was scared, stunned and on the verge of tears. The CO detector was plugged in but slightly loose so that our son was able to see the prongs of the plug. He had touched the exposed prongs with his spoon. The Angel intervention has to do with the fact that said son had chosen the only spoon in the house that happened to have a plastic handle. This incident has given me much food for thought and more reason to throw myself on the mercy of God and the aid of his angels. Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you for this post, Texas Mommy! When I was a little girl we always had a guardian angel hanging above our doorpost, a nice reminder that our guardian angel is with us always. I have one for C's room but not for Maria's yet - they don't seem as popular here in the US anymore.
It's too bad that we (as Catholics) don't speak more about guardian angels. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is? Rarely do I hear a priest mention our guardian angels, and I wonder if priests are worried about sounding too mystical or even superstitious...Thoughts?
Thank you for this post, Texas Mommy! When I was a little girl we always had a guardian angel hanging above our doorpost, a nice reminder that our guardian angel is with us always. I have one for C's room but not for Maria's yet - they don't seem as popular here in the US anymore.
It's too bad that we (as Catholics) don't speak more about guardian angels. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is? Rarely do I hear a priest mention our guardian angels, and I wonder if priests are worried about sounding too mystical or even superstitious...Thoughts?
Tex, as for naming guardian angels... Bella has already dressed up as/role played as every living object, including angels, and she loves giving names, which usually come out of discussions we have as she acts them out. Bean on the other hand is a realist like Dash... we suggested a name for his guardian angel, choosing an important name in his life, and he said sounds good, so we're going with that and as soon as he's old enough to understand, we'll let him choose for real.
I suppose it's rarely spoken about anymore because the devotion to angels kind of became hijacked by other groups who just liked the idea of the mystical, warm fuzzy images they portrayed. For instance at Christmas, in secular stores you won't really find images of the holy family, but angels on everything. It seems that image is ok for the rest of society.
Sophie, your comment is interesting, it is interesting how angels are almost a non-religious image of sweetness sometimes. I always get confused by the idea of saying that dead people have become angels, too.
Guardian angels help alot with Mass behavior. Funnily, I have always been quite devoted to my children's guardian angels, I am only just now getting to know mine.
Thanks for sharing, mad cow.
We buy our milk and ice cream from a micro-dairy called Halo Farm, the truck has a gold Angel Cow on top of it!
God bless the guardian angels!
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