Friends in Christ, at each Holy Mass, we offer Jesus Christ and ourselves with him, to Our Father in heaven. Mass is the supreme act of worship on earth, offered to God. We offer Mass with Jesus – his life, death, and resurrection – but we also offer with the angels who are present at each Mass.
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We begin Mass in the Confiteor, invoking the angels. We offer praise in the Gloria, words given to us by angels. We sing Holy, Holy, Holy with the angels, and in Eucharistic Prayer I, we see that it is a great Angel, who brings the Sacrifice of Our Savior to God in heaven.
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St. John Chrysostom says that “When Mass is being celebrated, the Sanctuary is filled with countless Angels who adore the Divine Victim immolated on the altar.” But let us see, that among all the angels worshiping God with us, also present are our own Guardian Angels. In fact, today, October 2nd, is the feast of the Guardian Angels!
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Belief in angels is an important teaching of the Catholic Faith. In Ludwig Ott’s famous book on the Faith, it says in paragraph 26: ‘In the beginning of time, God created angels out of nothing,’ De Fide. Now that expression, ‘De Fide,’ means of the faith, it is a dogmatic, unchangeable teaching that God created angels out of nothing.
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In the next paragraph, 27, it says: ‘The nature of the angels is spiritual, De Fide.’ So this is also a Dogma; that unlike human beings, which are composed of body and soul, the nature of the angels is purely spiritual. As St. Paul says, ‘We do not wage war against flesh and blood, but against – the demons, the bad angels, which are pure spirit.
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Part of the importance of understanding angels, is to help us understand ourselves. Man is composed of body and soul, and although the soul leaves the body at death, the soul is not a human being; we do not become finally, spiritual substances like angels, rather, we await the resurrection of our bodies.
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The bible mentions angels 273 times. But we would point even moreso to our Jewish ancestors. The Jews had a strong devotion to angels and Jesus would often refer to angels. Now we said that October 2nd is the Feast of the Guardian Angels. Referring to this, Ludwig Ott, in his book says, in paragraph 30: ‘Every one of the faithful has his own special Guardian Angel from baptism. Sententia certa’ – theologically certain. And so this is part of the general belief of the Church.
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St. Gemma saw her guardian angel almost all the time. Her Guardian Angel would kneel down next to her, and pray with her. She once fell ill on the floor but her angel picked her up and put her in bed; and this angel told her that everyone should fight against temptation, so that they will one day see the beauty of Paradise.
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So, we are guarded and assisted by our own special angel, and this is supported in the Sacred Scriptures. In the Holy Gospels Our Lord will say, ‘Do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” Jesus says, ‘their angels.’ And in this, he certainly refers to the Guardian Angels of those children. Also, in Acts of the Apostles chapter 12, when those in the house did not believe it was actually Peter knocking on the door, they merely said: ‘It must be his angel.’ The early Christians presumed a Guardian Angel for each person.
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Many believe that our angel has unique characteristics suited just to us, or, one might say that our angel has a personality matched to ours. Padre Pio saw and spoke to his angels with familiarity. Once his angel seemed to delay in coming to his assistance. ‘Why did you delay in coming!, he yelled at the angel. ‘I decided to punish my angel,’ he said; so I did not look him in the face. But the poor angel came to me almost crying, he grabbed me so I looked at him, and saw he was sad. The angel said: ‘I am always close to you. I watch over you always; my affection for you will not end even when you die.’
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In my last parish, I was one day speaking of angels with the children in the school, and a young child off-handedly said: ‘Father, at Mass the other day there was an angel standing next to Fr. Jerry.’ Later, at breakfast, I said to Fr. Jerry, ‘A child said he saw an angel standing next to you at Mass.’ Smiling, he said: ‘Does that surprise you?!
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We should pray to our angel each day, many times, because God thought to create a special helper for us.
Finally, we conclude by going to the Blessed Virgin. Mary is called the ‘Queen of Angels;’ may this Queen send forth the holy angels to guide and protect us, that safe from the Enemy, we will be ever-faithful to Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Thomas Aquinas]
