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| Guardian Angel |
Guardian Angels
Feast Day October 2
From a sermon by Saint Bernard, abbot
That they might guard you in all your ways
He has given his
angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. Let them thank the Lord
for his mercy; his wonderful works are for the children of men. Let them give thanks and say among the
nations, the Lord has done great things for them. O Lord, what is man that you have made
yourself known to him, or why do you incline your heart to him? And you do incline your heart to him; you
show him your care and your concern.
Finally, you send your only Son and the grace of your Spirit, and
promise him a vision of your countenance.
And so, that nothing in heaven should be wanting in your concern for us,
you send those blessed spirits to serve us, assigning them as our guardians and
our teachers.
He has given his
angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways. These words should
fill you with respect, inspire devotion and instill confidence; respect for the
presence of angels, devotion because of their loving service, and confidence
because of their protection. And so the
angels are here; they are at your side, they are with you, present on your
behalf. They are here to protect you and
to serve you. But even if it is God who
has given them this charge, we must nonetheless be grateful to them for the
great love with which they obey and come to help us in our great need.
So let us be devoted and grateful to such great protectors;
let us return their love and honor them as much as we can and should. Yet all our love and honor must go to Him,
for it is from Him that they receive all that makes them worthy of our love and
respect.
We should then, my brothers, show our affection for the
angels, for one day they will be our coheirs just as here below they are our
guardians and trustees appointed and set over us by the Father. We are God’s children although it does not
seem so, because we are still but small children under guardians and trustees, and
for the present little better than slaves.
Even though we are children and have a long, a very long and
dangerous way to go, with such protectors what have we to fear? They who keep us in all our ways cannot be
overpowered or led astray, much less lead us astray. They are loyal, prudent, powerful. Why then are we afraid? We have only to know to follow them, stay
close to them, and we shall dwell under the protection of God’s heaven.
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| St. Bernard of Clairvaux Abbot, 1090-1153 |
Taken from the Liturgy of the Hours
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