By Stefania Caterina and Tomislav Vlašić

Dearest brothers and sisters, as I said the last time, today we will speak about the angels, from another point of view though, that is, by looking at the relationship between them and us. We will speak about the guardian angels; in fact, all angels are guardian angels, even though not all of them are beside us, because all of them are meant for us so that we are all one before God. As you know, the human being is made of spirit, soul and body. The pure spirits serve our spirits as they touch us with the light they receive from God; they touch us with the power that protects us; they prepare the impulses of the Holy Spirit within us which affect our body and our soul. In the whole universe we may find the pure Spirit in God and in the pure angels faithful to God; we come across men who are beings with spirit, soul and body. So, it is very important for us to think about our relationship with the angels. Today we will look at it from a historical, biblical point of view: Abraham’s meeting with St. Michael the Archangel. Let us listen:

We will read a passage from the book “The Universe and its Inhabitants” on page 121:

 

 

The promise of God

 

Abraham used to pray to the Lord of Heaven and Earth contemplating the stars in clear nights; he prayed with filial confidence, conscious of the greatness of whom had created such marvels. It was in one of those nights as Abraham was praying that God intervened in a truly extraordinary way. He appeared to Abraham with a great sign in the sky: a mighty angel approached him surrounded by hosts of many other angels. It was the Archangel Michael who had been sent by God to announce him a grand plan of the Lord; he told him to stay ready and to pray even more intensively to understand and put into practice what he would be told. The following days Abraham saw the Archangel Michael again who prepared him for the meeting with God by telling him about the promise of the Saviour and the need to help mankind to know and worship the true God. Abraham believed in the words of the angel and waited faithfully.

 

The inner voice that had guided him for so long suddenly became stronger than ever and told him to belong to the God of Heaven and Earth, the only God, that Abraham had had the grace to know. [1] He wanted to accomplish the promise of salvation made to the progenitors of humankind through Abraham. From Abraham’s descendants a people would be born from whom the Saviour would come. Abraham understood what God asked from him. He put himself at the disposal of his Lord with great faith and deep humility.

 

In every age God sent his angels to prepare the great events of human history and to support those who had been chosen for a special mission. Why? Because it is the angel’s task to prepare in spirit what will happen in reality. It is in your spirit that God manifests His wishes and thoughts through the continuous impulses of His Spirit. The impulses are uninterrupted powerful vibrations through which you are enabled to understand the work of God and to participate in it. The impulses transmit spiritual and physical life to you. The more your spirit is open for the divine action, the more you will receive strong and clear impulses. Nevertheless, you are limited creatures and not always able to understand what God communicates to you. You often need help and then God puts angels beside you, highly intelligent pure spirits. They help you understand and put into practice what God conveys to you on an interior level; they suggest what is best to do or not to do.

 

Angels must not take your place nor violate your freedom. They may surround you with their love and power, protect you from the enemy and communicate to you what God allows them to tell you in order to help you understand and walk with God. No angel acts on his own initiative, nor in any way he wishes. An angel is sent in a particular time and for a precise task in order to support those whom God has chosen so as to pave the way in front of them. In every age powerful, generous, obedient angels were at the side of great men, prophets, mystics and saints. Often they were not accepted nor loved, even less listened to. In rejecting those men, humanity rejected also the angels beside them disdaining thus a double gift of God.

Abraham, who had been chosen by God to be the forefather of the chosen people, was given a great mission. Therefore, God put a great angel at his side: the powerful Archangel Michael who would forever protect the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham.

 

Here we need to wake up and recognize that we all have guardian angels and that they correspond to our originality and mission. It is an extraordinary thing that God’s help goes beyond what we can see and experience and beyond human logic. He gives instruments and graces that touch our most intimate place; they prepare the impulses of the Holy Spirit, help us understand those impulses and guide us towards God.

We have heard that Saint Michael was sent to Abraham. We know that God sends St. Michael along with the other six Archangels down to hell to give announcements; St. Michael announced the birth of Jesus Christ to the high universe. St. Michael, that is, the seven great Archangels and the other angels at their command, travel from God’s throne as far as the doors of Hell. At the end of time, as you know, in the name of the people of God he will lock Hell forever. This means that these pure spirits faithful to God accompany each one of us; they have accompanied the people of God in every historical period. What we are saying is that now the seven great Archangels, St. Michael in particular, are ahead of us to gather the people of God in the universe and lead them to Jesus Christ who will manifest Himself in His Glory.

It is very important to understand how we must behave, which is in the way Abraham behaved. He sought God, meditated on God during the night looking at the stars. There St. Michael appeared to him. What did he say to him? St. Michael spoke about the promise of the Saviour and about the need to help humanity to know and adore the true God. Abraham believed in what he was told by the angel and waited with faith. At this point it is very important to understand that the guardian angels are not put beside us to solve the economic crisis, to provide for our needs or to help when we lose something, so to speak. Surely God helps us in every situation but angels are placed beside us so that we may contemplate God and that we may receive from God those impulses and announcements that protect the existential space of our lives. Angels prevent Satan from entering into this space so that we may take the impulses with faith and put them into practice.

The passage tells us that angels do not replace us. That would be magic. Angels help us so that we can carry out our responsibilities freely before God so that we may be promoted. In all the experiences we have made in all this time the St. Archangels were always present and working with us. They show us the way and help us, but they leave us more and more alone so that without seeing them nor hearing their voice our sprit might be free to perceive the impulses coming incessantly from the angels. Here we shall add an important point as nowadays certain movements introduce angels as they wish: angels, the true angels of God, are always submitted to the laws of the pure Spirit of God, and we can meet and know them only by seeking God. We cannot exploit them nor use them in our own way.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks of the little ones, the children, and says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.“[2] The angels see the face of God and reflect it on us, on every one, equally on the little one as on the great. I think that if we want to be humble Christians, we should say that we are all little – God is great and his instruments are great; yet, at the same time we can see the presence of God, the presence of angels in every person that is little, unwanted, the last. If we despise that man, even if he was a sinner, we sadden the angels because the angels of that man look at the face of God and reflect it; but they also send the reflection of our behaviour to God. We are given the angels so that we might contemplate God and also contemplate God in our neighbour.

Today we shall thank God for the marvels He has created, for His help that goes beyond our limits, our logic and our problems such as terrorism and the crises that no man can solve. Nevertheless, God draws every faithful to Himself with the help of the angels and leads every one towards the fulfilment of the blessed hope and the realization of our full life.

 

I bless you; the light that the holy guardian angels reflect on us and on all of you might enlighten your life, open a space deep inside you where you may listen to the Holy Spirit. Through listening to and welcoming the Holy Spirit your problems will be solved and those of all the children of God who desire to live with the Father one day. I bless you so that you might welcome the graces that are given to you through the angels and Archangels in this time of tensions, crises and confusion; the light of the guardian angels might protect and guide you. In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[1] Gn 12:1-3

[2] Mt 18:1-10