Italic Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Non-Italic Text is taken from The Liturgical Year by Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
(Translated from the French by Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B.)
Time After Pentecost, Book V, Fourth Edition, Volume 14. from
ST. BONAVENTURE PUBLICATIONS
Illustrations taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
The Holy Guardian Angels.
Feast Day 2 October.
Greater-Double.
White Vestments.
A Guardian Angel fighting for a Soul.
Date: 19th-Century.
Author: Alexey Vasilievich Tyranov (1801 - 1859).
(Wikimedia Commons)
But God, magnificent as He is towards the whole human race, honours in a special manner the Princes of His people, those who are most favoured by His grace, or who rule the Earth in His name; the Saints testify that a super-eminent perfection, or a higher mission in Church or State, ensures to the individual the assistance of a superior Spirit, without the Angel, that was first deputed, being necessarily removed from his charge.
Moreover, with regard to the work of Salvation, The Guardian Angel has no fear of being left alone at his Post; at his request, and at God's Command, the troops of his Blessed Companions, who fill Heaven and Earth, are ever ready to lend him their aid.
18th-Century rendition of a Guardian Angel.
This File: 28 March 2007.
(Wikimedia Commons)
These noble Spirits, acting under the Eye of God, Whose love they desire to second, by all possible means, have secret alliances between them, which sometimes induce between their clients, even on Earth, unions, the Mystery whereof will be revealed in the Light of Eternity.
'How profound a Mystery,' says Origen, 'is the apportioning of Souls to the Angels destined for their Guardians ! It is a Divine Secret, part of the Universal economy centred in the Man-God. Nor is it without Ineffable Order that the ministries of Earth, the many departments of nature, are allotted to the Heavenly Virtues; fountains and rivers, winds and forests, plants, living creatures of land and sea, whose various functions harmonise together, by the Angels directing them all, to a common end.' [Origen. in Josue, Hom. xxiii.]
Polski: Anioł Stróż.
Artist: Domenichino (1581 – 1641).
Deutsch: Eigentlich: Domenico Zampieri.
Français: Domenico Zampieri, dit « le dominiquin »
(Wikimedia Commons)
Again, on these words of Jeremias: "How long shall the land mourn ?" [Jerem. xii. 4.] Origen, supported by the authority of his translator, Saint Jerome, continues: [Origen. in Jerem. Hom. x. juxta Hieron. viii.] 'It is through each one of us that the Earth rejoices or mourns; and not only the Earth, but water, fire, air, all the elements; by which name we must here understand not insensible matter, but the Angels who are set over all things on Earth. There is an Angel of the land, who, with his companions, mourns over our crimes. There is an Angel of the waters, to whom are applied the words of the Psalm: The waters saw Thee, and they were afraid, and the depths were troubled; great was the noise of the waters; the clouds sent out a sound, for Thy arrows pass.' [Ps. lxxvi. 17, 18.]
How grand is nature viewed in this light ! It is thus the ancients, more truthful as well as more poetical, than our generation, always considered the Universe. Their error lay in adoring these mysterious powers, to the detriment of the only God, under Whom they stoop, that bear up the world. [Job.ix. 13.]
"The Guardian Angel Home",
a Catholic Home for Orphans,
in Kumamoto, Japan.
Private Louis Miller, Sister Saint Paul and the Children,
dressed in their best clothes.
Date: 25 October 1945.
Author: Department of Defense. Department of the Navy. U.S. Marine Corps.
(Wikimedia Commons)
'Air and Earth and Ocean, everything is full of Angels,' says Saint Ambrose. [Ambr. in Psalm. cxviii, Sermon i. 9, 11, 12.] 'Eliseus, besieged by a whole army, felt no fear; for he beheld invisible cohorts assisting him. May the Prophet open thine eyes also; may the enemy, be he legion, not terrify thee; thou thinkest thyself hemmed in, and thou art free; there are more with us than with them.' [iv. Kings vi. 16.]
But let us return to our own specially-deputed Angel, and meditate on this other testimony: 'The noble guardian of each one of us sleeps not, nor can he be deceived. Close thy door, and make the darkness of the night; but, remember, thou art never alone; he has no need of daylight in order to see thy actions.' And who is it that speaks thus ? Not a Father of the Church, but a pagan, the slave-philosopher, Epictetus. [Ap. Arrian. Diss. 1. 14.]
PART FOUR FOLLOWS
