Guardian Angels

Angel of God,
my guardian dear,
to whom God's love commits me here,
ever this day,
be at my side
to light and guard,
to rule and guide.

I love this prayer. My my boys learned it when they were very young in Catholic grammar school and taught to me. It is so simple and succinct: light, guard, rule, guide. Perfect.

The word angel comes from the Hebrew mal-ak, translated to Greek, angelos, meaning messenger. St Thomas Aquinas pointed out that we can only define angels by what they do, not what they are. Traditional thought about angels is that they are agents or messengers of divine will. I think they are intuition, personified.

If you think about it, I am sure you can relate to times in your life when angels had a hand in the direction you took, or in calming your fear, or giving you hope.

I had a friend in high school, Leslie. We were only friends our senior year because we both moved to PA that year and only for that year. Leslie came from Kansas, where she had found the love of her life, John. She was bound and determined to return to KS after we graduated to marry John and live in the peaceful KS country on a farm. They would have 2 boys, she would say, and they'd wear overalls without shirts underneath and blissfully carry out the farm chores. This was Leslie's dream and she recounted it to me many times during that senior year.

When we graduated, Leslie's family left PA and mine stayed. However, in August that year  I decided to go to college, in Kansas, for completely ridiculous [spontaneous teen aged] reasons. I travelled to Emporia, KS, arriving a week early to take the ACT, so as to be officially admitted. The first semester of my freshman year was rather tough, being so far from home. But I was an Army kid and had moved alot, so I did not have trouble making new friends. By the spring I had met some great kids and I went on to complete my college in KS. I remain in KS today, 37 years later, living with my husband of 28 years, Paul, and two sons in the country on a farm.  Leslie's dream, my message. No plan on my part, but I know that I am here in KS for a reason, for many reasons, some of which have been revealed and others that are still to come.

I have met many angels. You have to be awake to your intuition to find them. Some come to you through other people or creatures. Often you realize them after you have lived through their messages, like my Leslie experience. But angels will also guide you proactively, intuitively, if you are aware of yourself. Angels are agents of truth, guides of the spiritual journey.They often speak from within, rather than from without, appealing to our inner wisdom and illuminating the great body of truth that each of us already holds, in part from having descended through so many generations. But angels also connect us to the divine eternal spirit within which we live, and move, and have our being.

As my meandering Spirit began to resolve, another angel led me to my dear friend and mentor, Sister Therese, a Benedictine Sister who nurtured my deep heart, my mystical being, with writings of Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, St John of the Cross, and the desert fathers, among others. She taught me and prayed with me in a way that enlivened and refreshed my Spirit in the beauty and rich wonder of these writers of the interior life. She guided me to a program of spiritual direction and I savored every year of it until I graduated with my certificate. I remain reverently indebted to Sr Therese and to the Benedictine sisters of Mt St Scholastica, in Atchison Kansas, who continue to guide and love me with generous hospitality. Sr Therese spends a great deal of her time serving the city parish where we met, Guardian Angels Church.

Today, may your angels speak to you from within and from without. Listen! God's voice is eternally whispering to you on their wings: lighting your path, guarding your well-being, helping you to discern the truth, and in these ways, guiding you closer to your life in Christ, your most authentic and loving you!

Peace and the Angels be with you! Peggy
Artwork: http://www.angel-art-and-gifts.com/
Poem: Author Unknown