Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels

Today's Mass Readings

Back when I was young, one of the biggest movies around was Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extraterrestrial. This movie became one of the biggest movies of all time. One of the reasons the movie became so big is because it purported to answer a question that has always been on humanity’s mind and did so with a particularly attractive character (E.T. himself). The question is: “Are we alone?” Like with this movie, today we often speculate about life, especially intelligent life, on other planets. Many other books and movies have speculated on this topic.

However, we Christians already know the answer, though the answer doesn’t involve life on other planets. Rather it involves life that is pure spirit, like God who is pure spirit, and unlike us who are matter and spirit. These are the angels. We met three of them earlier this week on the Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Today we celebrate another group of these beings, the guardian angels.

When God created the angels, each of them was created for a specific task. The specific task of the guardian angels was, for each of them, to guide and protect one particular human being, who would be created at a later date during the course of human history. Think of it, your guardian angel, who has been with you from the moment of your conception, was created specifically to be your guardian angel. I read somewhere that our guardian angels love us so much that they actually look like us. When I heard that I immediately apologized to my angel.

Knowing this we should open our hearts to our angels, allowing them to give us the love and help they want to give us. We should each strive to be friends with our angels, knowing they will be our friends and helpers for all eternity.

Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB