From: rich <richarra@gmail.com>

October 2nd - The Guardian Angels

ANGELS (=CE=B1=CE=B3=CE=B3=CE=B5=CE=BB=CF=82, messenger) are pure spirits, = persons but bodiless,
created by God with more acute intelligence and greater power than
have human beings. Their office is to praise God, to be His messengers
and to watch over man. That particular angels are appointed and
commanded by God to guard each particular person that is born into the
world is the general teaching of theo=C2=ADlogians, but the belief has not
been defined by the Church and so is not of faith.

These guardian angels lead the individual towards Heaven by defending
him from evil, helping him in prayer, suggesting virtuous deeds, but
acting upon the senses and imagination, not directly on the will, so
that our co-operation is required. The psalmist assures us, =E2=80=9CHe hat=
h
given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways=E2=80=9D.

And in another place, =E2=80=9CThe angel of the Lord shall encamp round abo=
ut
them that fear Him, and shall deliver them=E2=80=9D.

The patriarch Jacob prayed his good angel to bless his two grandsons,
Ephraim and Manasses, =E2=80=9CThe angel that delivereth me from all evils, bless these boys=E2=80=9D.

Judith said, =E2=80=9CHis angel hath been my keeper, both going hence, and abiding there, and returning from thence hither=E2=80=9D.
Christ deters us from scandalizing any of His little ones, because
their angels always behold the face of God, and they will demand
punishment of God against any by whose malice those who are their
wards suffer harm. So certain and general was the belief of a guardian
angel being assigned to every one by God, that when St. Peter was
miraculously delivered out of prison the disciples could not at first
believe it, and said, It is his angel
Dedication of the church of St. Michael the Archangel in Via Salaria
on September 29, and in the oldest extant Roman sacramentary, called
Leonine, the prayers for the feast make indirect reference to them as individual guardians. A votive Mass, Missa ad suffragia angelorum
postulanda, has been in use at least from the time of Alcuin--he died
in 804--who refers to the subject twice in his letters. Whether the
practice of celebrating such a Mass originated in England is not
clear, but we find Alcuin's text in the Leofric Missal of the early
tenth century. This votive Mass of the Angels was commonly allotted to
the second day of the week (Monday), as for example in the Westminster
Missal, written about the year 1375.
In Spain it became customary to honour the Guardian Angels not only of
persons, but of cities and provinces. An office of this sort was
composed for Valencia in 1411. Outside of Spain, Francis of Estaing,
Bishop of Rodez, obtained from Pope Leo X a bull in 1518 which
approved a special office for an annual commemoration of the Guardian
Angels on March 1. In England also there seems to have been much
devotion to them. Herbert Losing Bishop of Norwich, who died in 1119,
speaks eloquently on the subject; and the well-known invocation
beginning Angele Dei qui custos es mei is apparently traceable to the verse-writer Reginald of Canterbury, at about the same period. Pope
Paul V authorized a special Mass and Office and at the request of
Ferdinand II of Austria granted the feast to the whole empire. Pope
Clement X extended it to the Western church at large as of obligation
in 1670 and fixed it for the present date, being the first free day
after the feast of St. Michael.
An excellent article by Fr J. Duhr in the Dictionnaire de
spirirualite, vol. (1933), cc. 580-625, treats exhaustively devotion
to the Guardian Angels and its history. On the general question of the veneration of angels see also DTC., vol. i, cc. x 1222-1248 and on the liturgical aspect Kellner, Heortology (1908), pp. 328-332. On the representation of angels in antiquity and art consult DAC., vol. i,
cc. 2080-2161, and K=C3=BCnstle, Ikonographie, vol. i, pp. 239-264.


Saint Quote:
All the wealth in the world cannot be compared with the happiness of
living together happily united.
-- Blessed Margaret d'Youville

Bible Quote:
Then suddenly the angel of the Lord stood there, and the cell was
filled with light. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him. 'Get u=
p!'
he said 'Hurry!' =E2=80=93 and the chains fell from his han=
ds. (Acts 12:7 )


<><><><>
A prayer to one's Guardian Angel by St. Gertrude:

O most Holy Angel of God, appointed by Him to be my
guardian, I give thee thanks for all the benefits which thou
hast ever bestowed on me in body and in soul. I praise and
glorify thee that thou didst condescend to assist me with such
patient fidelity, and to defend me against all the assault of my
enemies. Blessed be the hour in which thou wast assigned me
for my guardian, my defender, and my patron. In
acknowledgment and return of all thy loving ministries to me
from my youth up, I offer thee the infinitely precious and
noble Heart of Jesus, and firmly purpose to obey thee
henceforth, and most faithfully to serve my God. Amen.

--- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2
* Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4)