Thought for the Day – 2 October – The Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels
The Father learned from his parents to have recourse to his Guardian Angel. Then later on, as a seminarian, he read in a book by one of the Fathers of the Church that, in addition to a Guardian Angel, priests have a ministerial Archangel as well; and so, from the day of his ordination to the priesthood, he turned to this Archangel with great simplicity and confidence. In fact, he said he felt certain that even if the author he had read turned out to have been mistaken, our Lord would have given him a ministerial Archangel anyway, just because of the faith with which he always invoked him.
In any case, after the feast of the Guardian Angels in 1928, the founder of Opus Dei had a still more intense devotion to them. He was always telling his children, “familiarity with, and devotion to, the holy Guardian Angels is at the heart of our work. It is a concrete manifestation of the supernatural mission of Opus Dei.”
Convinced that God has placed an Angel beside each and every human being to help that person along the road of life, he had recourse to his own Guardian Angel for all his material and spiritual needs. He would often say, quite frankly, “For years I’ve experienced the constant and immediate assistance of my Guardian Angel, even in the smallest material particulars.” In the years between 1928 and 1940, his alarm-clock sometimes didn’t work and he didn’t have the money to repair it, so he turned in trust to his Guardian Angel and asked him to wake him up in the morning at the right time. His Angel never once failed him. And that’s why our Father affectionately called him “mi relojerico” [“my dear watchmaker”].
Whenever he greeted our Lord in the Tabernacle, he always thanked the Angels who were present there, for the unceasing adoration that they give to God. On more than one occasion I heard him say, “When I go into one of our chapels, one that has a Tabernacle, I tell Jesus that I love him, and invoke the Blessed Trinity. Then I thank the Angels who guard the Tabernacle and adore Christ in the Eucharist.”
Through heroic and persevering correspondence with God’s grace, he acquired the habit of always greeting the Guardian Angels of the people he met. One day in 1972 or 1973, the retired archbishop of Valencia, the Most Reverend Marcelino Olaechea, came to visit him, accompanied by his secretary. They were very good friends, so that Father greeted him and then asked him playfully, “Marcelino, let’s see if you can guess – whom did I greet first?” The archbishop replied, “You greeted me first.” “No,” the Father said, “I greeted the VIP first.” Archbishop Olaechea, understandably perplexed, replied, “But of the two of us, my secretary and me, I am the ‘VIP’.” Then our founder explained, “No, the VIP is your Guardian Angel.”
During some days of rest that we spent in a rented house in a village in Lombardy, Italy – I can’t remember whether it was Caglio or Civenna – we would play bocce ball every so often, to get a little exercise. Since we didn’t know the rules of the game too well, at times we would make up our own. I remember that during one of these games, the Father threw the ball unusually well and made an exceptional score. But he said immediately, “That doesn’t count – I was helped by my Guardian Angel. I won’t do that any more…” I tell this little story because I consider it indicative of the constant friendly rapport he had with his Guardian Angel and also of his humility; as he later told me directly, he was ashamed of having asked his Guardian Angel for help in such an unimportant matter.
Extract from Cesare Cavalleri, Immersed in God – Blessed Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, as seen by his successor, Bishop Alvaro del Portillo, Princeton NJ: Scepter Publishers, 1996.
Let us learn such devotion, love and friendship with our angels too.
St Josemaria and our Holy Guardian Angels, pray for us!
The name of the archangel Michael means, in Hebrew, who is like unto God? and he is also known as “the prince of the heavenly host.” He is usually pictured as a strong warrior, dressed in armour and wearing sandals. His name appears in Scripture four times, twice in the Book of Daniel and once each in the Epistle of St Jude and the Book of Revelation. From Revelation we learn of the battle in heaven, with St. Michael and his angels combating Lucifer and the other fallen angels (or devils). We invoke St Michael to help us in our fight against Satan; to rescue souls from Satan, especially at the hour of death; to be the champion of the Jews in the Old Testament and now Christians; and to bring souls to judgment.
St Gabriel’s name means “God is my strength”. Biblically he appears three times as a messenger. He had been sent to Daniel to explain a vision concerning the Messiah. He appeared to Zachary when he was offering incense in the Temple, to foretell the birth of his son, St John the Baptist. St Gabriel is most known as the angel chosen by God to be the messenger of the Annunciation, to announce to mankind the mystery of the Incarnation.
Our knowledge of the Archangel Raphael comes to us from the book of Tobit. His mission as wonderful healer and fellow traveller with the youthful Tobias has caused him to be invoked for journeys and at critical moments in life. Tradition also holds that Raphael is the angel that stirred the waters at the healing sheep pool in Bethesda. His name means “God has healed”.
AnaStpaul 
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