"Angel of God,
my guardian dear"
By Elizabih Solsburg
“Angels
watching over me, every move I make,
Angels watching over me!
Angels watching over me, every step I take,
Angels watching over me!”
Amy Grant’s song, Angels, celebrates our ancient belief
in guardian angels, messengers of God who are assigned to every human
soul. When you were little, did your parents teach you the prayer, “Angel
of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here. Ever
this night be at my side – to light, to guard, to rule and guide?”
It’s frequently one of the earliest prayers a Catholic child ever
learns.
This belief in guardian angels is not unique to Catholics, though: Babylonians, Assyrians, Hebrews and Greeks believed in them. In the Bible, angels appear from Genesis to the letters of St. Paul. Angels guarded Eden after Adam and Eve fell, they were messengers to Abraham and Sarah, and God sent an angel to Mary to ask her if she would agree to be the mother of Jesus.
Although the Church has never definitively stated that each soul has
a guardian angel, meaning that it is not an article of faith, it is “the
mind of the Church,” a belief set forth in theologians from St.
Jerome to Thomas Aquinas. And in the Church, they are some of the heaviest
of the heavy hitters. So, when you’re feeling alone, ask your guardian
angel for a little help – that’s why they’re there.
The Feast of the Guardian Angels is celebrated on October 2.
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