“Ask yourself this question today: How is my relationship with my guardian angel? Do I listen to him? Do I say good morning to him in the morning? Do I ask him: Watch over me when I sleep?’ Do I speak with him? Do I ask his advice? He is by my side. We can answer this question today, each of us: how is our relationship with this angel that the Lord has sent to watch over me and accompany me on my journey, and who always sees the face of the Father who is in heaven.” — Pope Francis, Homily, October 2, 2015
Today, on the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, Pope Francis made them the focus of his homily during daily Mass at the Santa Marta Residence, urging the faithful toward renewed awareness of and dependence upon the heavenly beings.
Saying God has given everybody a Guardian Angel, and that our angels accompany us and offer us protection and advice, we should in turn consult with them, seek out their help, and listen to them with humility and respect.
“If anyone believes that they can walk on their own, they would be greatly mistaken,” said the pontiff, adding that such people would fall “into that terrible trap of arrogance: Believing we are great, and fully self-sufficient.”
Recalling that Jesus taught his apostles to be as little children in their faith, as an antidote to ambition, the pope said, “The disciples argued about who was the greatest among them, there was an internal dispute … eh, careerism, eh? I want to be greater than you. . .The first bishops did not set a good example in this, but it is reality. Jesus teaches them the true attitude to have, that ‘of a child’: docility, the need for advice, the need for help, because the child is the very symbol of the need for help, of docility to keep going. . .This is the path. Not the one of who is greater.”
“According to the tradition of the Church, we all have an angel with us, who protects us, helps us hear things. How often have we heard: ‘I should do this, I should not do this, that’s not right, be careful …’: so often! It is the voice of our traveling companion. Be sure that he will guide us to the end of our lives with advice, and so listen to his voice, don’t rebel against it. . .because rebellion, the desire to be independent, is something that we all have; this is arrogance, the same arrogance of our father Adam in paradise: the very same. Do not rebel: follow his advice”.
“No one journeys alone and no one should think that they are alone,” the pope assured, adding that “this companion,” this Guardian Angel, is always present:
“And when we do not want to listen to his advice, to listen to his voice, it’s like saying, ‘Go away!’ It is dangerous to chase away our travelling companion, because no man no woman can advise themselves. I can give advice to others, but not to myself. The Holy Spirit advises me, the angel advises me. This is why we need him. This is not an imaginative doctrine on the angels: no, it is reality. It is what Jesus said, God said: ‘I send an angel before you to guard you, to accompany you on your journey, so you will not go wrong’”.
And today we celebrate...