Take A Fresh Look At Your Guardian Angel

Why isn’t there much – if any – imagery of guardian angels with adults?

I wondered that for years; and, I confess, it irritated me a bit. “C’mon,” I’d think to myself. “My guardian angel didn’t leave me when I got my driver’s license.”

A few years ago, Mexico’s Dos Corazones Films released “The Greatest Miracle,” an animated feature that included interaction between adults and their guardian angels. I especially enjoyed the movie for those scenes, although there is plenty about it to like.

Regrettably, it took me longer than it should have to connect a few dots and come to understand why my thinking has been misguided for decades. Pope Francis actually has helped me to see it all from what I believe to be the right perspective.

You know how he’s done that? Simply by refusing to let a papal motorcade continue when the opportunity presents itself to hug a baby or interact with other little ones. That witness – and I believe it truly is a witness, as I’ll explain in a minute – prompted me to revisit my desire for Catholic Church imagery of guardian angels with adults.

The exercise led me to the Gospel of Matthew – to a reading we used in Mass on Aug. 13 of this year: Matthew 18: 1-5, 10, 12-24. The first half of the reading includes this:

“The disciples approached Jesus and said, ‘Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?’ He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, ‘Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

‘See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.’”

Guardian-angel images featuring children make perfect sense to me now – and even more so since Bishop Thompson added another perspective to them during a homily he gave to our diocesan seminarians at a Mass that featured the Gospel reading above.

He noted that, in Jesus’ time, the world was so adult-male dominated that women and children enjoyed virtually no standing. Although this Gospel reading undoubtedly suggests to many that Jesus was calling on us to adopt the joyful innocence of children, Bishop Thompson noted that His statement very likely made many of Christ’s contemporaries uncomfortable because of its focus on the need for self-sacrifice and humility.

Make no mistake; we all have guardian angels. Mine is looking over my shoulder as I type this.

He reminds me in the moment of the last line of the Guardian Angel Prayer we learned as children: “Ever this day be at my side … to light, to guard, to rule and to guide.”

It’s clear to me that the angelic light shines on our way to becoming like the children Jesus describes in Matthew. The rule involves shedding selfishness and ego in favor of selflessness and humility. The guiding involves gentle nudges – and sometimes harsh shoves – to keep us on the way to becoming those children.

During every papal motorcade, our wonderful Holy Father receives every child that he can in Jesus’ name. He shows all of us how we can receive Christ into our lives daily.

We must become child-like, and we must see and celebrate the child-like qualities in everyone we come in contact with because “their angels in Heaven always look upon the face” of our heavenly Father.

I’ll have more to say about angels in my next column. Until then, join me; pray to your guardian angel. Think about and practice becoming more child-like at every opportunity. And stay faithful my friends.