The guidance of angels

Good News ReflectionFriday of the 26th Week in Ordinary TimeOctober 2, 2009
Today's Memorial: The Guardian AngelsPray for protection from angels:http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/guardianangels.htm
For a printer-ready copy of "Our Guardian Angels", an alternative reflection for today (very useful for RCIA!), published by Catholic Digital Resources, please visit http://catholicdr.com/calendar/October/angels.htm
Today's Readings:Exodus 23:20-23 (or Baruch 1:15-22)Ps 91:1-6, 10-11 (or Ps 79:1b-5, 8-9)Matt 18:1-5, 10http://www.usccb.org/nab/100209.shtmlUSCCB Podcast of the Readings:http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_10_02.mp3
The guidance of angels
Angels are ready to help us with every sort of need.
After returning home from a Jubilee pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the year 2000, I suffered a bit of intestinal problems – the traveler's typical demise. It occurred to me that my angels could help. In the midst of a stomach pain, I said, "Guardian angels, pray for me to be healed of this! Bring in the angels who specialize in healing. Get Jesus to give me his healing touch." That was the LAST time I felt those pains. Praise God who is so good to us that he gives us angels to assist us in ALL things!
Then my son David (age 20 at that time), called. He said he'd been in a car accident that did nothing more than blow out his tire and damage the rim and throw his steering out of alignment. He said that he believes angels had helped him avoid a serious collision with another car, because something besides his own hands gripped the steering wheel.However, the role of angels goes way beyond this kind of helpfulness. Angels teach us how to live holy lives. As Psalm 91 declares, God has put his angels in charge of you, to guard you in all your ways.
Exodus 23:20-23 points out that "guarding us in all our ways" includes giving us messages (guidance) from God, and we had better not rebel against it. The word "angel" means "messenger from God." When we're tempted to sin, our angels guard us from evil by warning us with "No! Don't do that!" When we have decisions to make, our angels try to tell us what God wants us to do. When we need to speak up for the kingdom but we're not sure what to say, our angels whisper the right words to us.
To hear the guidance that our angels give us, we have to ask the Holy Spirit to teach us how. We might never hear them speak in audible voices nor see them appear in physical form, like many saints have, but our human spirits can become attuned to their holy spirits.
We develop good listening skills through purity of heart. The better we are at listening to God, the more natural it becomes to be guided by angels. Then, if we ask for their help and it's within God's will, they always rush to the task. Always!
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