Parents Are Not the Only Protectors of Their Children

So much of the culture is dangerous and debased. Parents and their kids need supernatural help to help get through their lives in a safe and virtuous manner. This is where guardians angels come in.

Just 300 years after Christ, Saint Basil stated, “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.”

About 1,400 years later, Saint John Vianney declared, “Our guardian angels are our most faithful friends, because they are with us day and night, always and everywhere. We ought often to invoke them.”

When Do We Get Our Own Guardian Angel?

There has always been debate on whether our guardian angels are assigned to each of us at conception, birth, or baptism.

Saint Anselm asserted that every soul is committed to an angel at the moment when it is united with a body in conception. The late Father John Hardon explained that God creates an immortal soul the moment the human ovum is fertilized. And immediately at this conception, the baby receives a guardian spirit that was already waiting in the mother’s womb.

On the other hand, Saint Thomas Aquinas insisted we receive guardian angels at birth, and until birth the unborn child is under the protection of the mother’s guardian angel (Summa Theologiae: Question 113, Article 5).

Regardless of where one stands on this argument, what Catholicism agrees on is that  all men and women and all boys and girls have a singular, personal guardian angel. God specially appoints us each an angel as our unique companion through life.

Angels Serve Many Roles

Angels were created to serve, praise, and worship God. As they serve God, they also assist each of God’s children during our journey on Earth. Our guardian angels give us protection, guidance, and inspiration so to better ensure that we will reach Heaven.

Guardians angels do so much for us. They protect us from both spiritual and physical harm and ward off demons that want to negatively affect us. Psalm 91:11-12 declares, “For he commands his angels with regard to you, to guard you wherever you go. With their hands they shall support you.”

Although many are inclined to assume our guardian angel’s only role is to protect us, they also move us to the good. They promote our spiritual improvement and help develop our intimacy with God. They also strengthen us so we will have the fortitude to fight off temptations. 

Since God gave each of us our guardian angel, the angel will only operate according to His will. Our angel cannot lead us astray since it possesses the beatific vision. Our trust in our angel is an extension of our trust in God, and in His will for us. 

Angels in the Catechism and Scripture

The Catholic Church states the following about the existence of guardian angels:

“The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls ‘angels’ is a truth of faith. …As purely spiritual creatures, angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures. …The whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels. …From infancy to death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. …Already here on earth, the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #328-336)

Scripture recounts many incidents regarding angels. They have been present since creation, saving people, communicating announcements, and calling people to special roles (Catechism of the Catholic Church #332).

We also recall various Gospel accounts of angels. Joseph’s angel guided him in how to protect his family (Matthew 2:13-15). Mary’s angel informed her that she has found favor with God and will bear a son named Jesus (Luke 1:26-38). An angel told his wife Elizabeth would give birth to John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25).

The Acts of the Apostles details a lesser known but just as dramatic evidence regarding an angel. Herod was holding Saint Peter in a prison. Double chains secured Peter’s body, two soldiers slept beside him, and two guards waited outside the prison doors.

“Suddenly the angel of the Lord stood by him and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and awakened him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ The chains fell from his wrists. The angel said to him, ‘Put on your belt and your sandals.’ He did so. Then he said to him, ‘Put on your cloak and follow me.’ So he followed him out, not realizing that what was happening through the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision.They passed the first guard, then the second, and came to the iron gate leading out to the city, which opened for them by itself. They emerged and made their way down an alley, and suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter recovered his senses and said, ‘Now I know for certain that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people had been expecting.’” (Acts of the Apostles 12:1-11)

Love, Pray, and Listen to Your Guardian Angel

All of these instances are proof for faithful people that we are to pay attention to our angelic protectors. We should take advantage of what God provides us. Nowadays, most people neglect to turn to their guardian angel, let alone turn to God. Instead they rely on everything from palm readers to self-help books to medication for helping them get through tough times.  

Parents should attempt to cultivate their children’s belief in guardian angels. One lesson that may be difficult to get across is that our guardian angels are very real yet cannot be perceived by our senses. Ancient artwork and modern media may give angels a “sex” but this is just to make it easier for us to think about them. God did not design angels to be male or female. In actuality, we could never see what sex they are because they have no visible or physical form. 

Parents can teach their children ways to show our love for our angel. Since our guardian angel loves us, we should return this love. By doing so, we are not just displaying the virtue of gratitude, but we are glorying God, who created the angels. A child can foster a relationship with his or her guardian angel by praying for the angel to intercede and having daily conversations.

Daily communication with one’s guardian angel is a traditional Catholic practice. For about 1,000 years, Catholics have been praying The Guardian Angel Prayer. This is a simple prayer children as young as five can memorize and make a part of a daily prayer routine. 

But praying to our guardian angel does not have to be a rote prayer. It can be a conversation. One can thank his or her angel for God gifting it as well as to ask it to pray for one’s spiritual growth and physical protection.  Saint John Bosco 200 years ago instructed us about how and why to pray to your angel:

“When tempted, invoke your angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped. Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him; he trembles and flees at the sight of your guardian angel.”

Every October 2nd Is a Special Day

Finally, it would be good for a family to annually attend Mass on October 2 – the feast day for our angels. For over 400 years every October, Catholics have celebrated the Memorial of the Guardian Angels. This feast day is a particular time we can honor the angels who protect and assist us much each day. 

In one of his last addressees before he died in 1958, Pope Pius XII focused on the specialness of the feast day and of our guardian angels. He said:

“Everyone, no matter how humble he may be, has angels to attend him. So glorious, so pure, so wonderful they are, and yet they are given to be your fellow-wayfarers, charged to watch carefully over you lest you fall away from Christ, their Lord. Not only do they wish to defend you against dangers lurking along the way; they are also active at your side with a word of encouragement to your souls as you strive to ascend higher and higher to closeness to God through Christ.”