FEAST OF THE GUARDIAN ANGELS; 2nd OCTOBER

 FEAST OF THE GUARDIAN ANGELS; 2nd OCTOBER



The Gradual, Psalm 90. 11-12, for this Feast Day, provides as follows:
"God hath given His Angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou shalt dash thy foot against a stone.
Alleluia, alleluia. Psalm 102.21. Bless the Lord, all ye His hosts: ye ministers of Him who do His will. Alleluia."
St Thomas Aquinas teaches us that each of us has a Guardian Angel who stays by our side, protecting us and leading us to heaven. They are members of the Holy Host. In Matthew 18. 1-10, the Gospel of this Feast Day, Our Lord tells us:
“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven and he that shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.”
“See that you despise not one of these little ones; for I say to you, that the Angels in heaven always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
Anthony Esolen* set Milton’s epic poem, “Paradise Lost”, into context in his description of the Angels, strong and beautiful in their submission to God:
“Milton’s cherubs, Ithuriel and Zephon, … obey their commander, Gabriel, and so are granted the privilege of discovering Satan, squat like a toad at the ear of the sleeping Eve. It is clear that obedience, far from being a check upon their authority, is in fact, the ground of both. Obedience is the virtue that allows the obedient to share in the authority of the commander. So Milton shows us the 'stripling' angels, Ithuriel and Zephon, encountering Satan in Eden as he attempts to insinuate evil dreams into the mind of the sleeping Eve. They accost him, defy him, and take him prisoner, all while Satan sniffs contemptuously at them and their apparently being too low in the angel hierarchy to recognise him at once.
Satan, playing the card of pride, belittles them for not recognizing him right away. They must be low in the ranks of angels. Ithuriel does not defend his rank. He replies that Satan, disobedient, no longer shines with his former glory. A man grows taller when he bows to one more honourable than he. Pride and envy shrivel. Satan knows it, despite himself;
‘so spake the cherub, and his grave rebuke,
severe in youthful beauty,
added grace,
invincible.
Abashed, the devil
stood
And felt how awful goodness was, and saw
Virtue, in her shape how lovely,
Saw, and pined
His loss.’”
*Milton, Paradise Lost, Anthony Esolen, Book 4. The John Milton Reading Room. (As Professor Esolen notes, Milton was a protestant poet who saw the Catholic Church as the “whore of Babylon”. However, Milton's poem nevertheless reflected Catholic teaching on authority and obedience).
Image: Guercino, "Guardian Angel", 1641.
"Guardian Angel", by Pietro da Cortona, 1656.

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