Giving the Angels Their Due

We seem to read and talk a lot about what our guardian angels do for us. Maybe what we should be focusing on is what we should do for them.

St. Bernard tells it to us straight: "Reverence for his presence, devotion for his benevolence, confidence in his care. Always remember that you are in the presence of your Guardian Angel."

Yikes. (Any other red faces out there to join mine?)

Sure, it's easy to forget our angel. He's invisible and, well, we're not. We're stimulated by things we can see, hear, touch and taste. And even when we can see someone near and dear to us, how often do we still ignore them, are rude to them, or upset them one way or the other? Lots.

Being the infinitely patient otherworldly beings that they are, our angels no doubt cut us a lot of slack. But that doesn't mean we should ever quit trying to honor and love them to the best of our ability.

In deference to our 21st century byte-sized attention spans, here are some bulleted suggestions for giving our angels their due respect:

• Pray to them. A thought, a thank you, the Guardian Angel Prayer you probably learned as a child . . .these are all good. In fact, Pope John XXIII was in the habit of saying the Guardian Angel Prayer five times a day!

• Be respectful and modest in your words and deeds. As St. Bernard liked to remind his followers: "Never do in the presence of your angel what you would not do in my presence."

• Remember them on their designated feast days. The Feast of the Guardian Angels is October 2 and the Feast of the Archangels is September 29. Think what a kick it would be for the angels if you attended a Mass on those days in their honor.  

• Honor the angels of people you meet. This one takes a little getting used to, but think about it a minute. You say hello to someone you pass on the street, right? And doesn't that person have an angel accompanying them? Yesss . . . So send that angel a mental hello. The key word here is mental.

• Learn more about them. Read good Catholic books on the angels. Beware of anything that looks too New Agey. (You may end up attracting the attention of another type of spirit "friend.") A great place to start is the Bible's very own Book of Tobit, which tells the story of how St. Raphael the Archangel disguised himself as a human in order to lend help to Tobit and his family.

The guardian angels are our most loyal and loving lifetime companions. It's high time we start giving them their due.

St. Isidore's Angel

Today is the feast of St. Isidore the Farmer (1070-1130). St. Isidore was a poor Spanish farmhand who worked his whole life for a wealthy and kind landowner on an estate outside of Madrid. Isidore was known for his charity toward those even poorer than himself, as well as for his deep religious habits such as rising early to attend church before starting his work. Legend has it that at times Isidore's guardian angel would help plow the fields while Isidore was at Mass, so as to not let the farmhand fall behind on his obligation or overburden the other workers.

Now before you start thinking, uh huh, it's about time my angel starts doing something for me, like the dishes, keep in mind that Isidore's angel covered him so he could GO TO MASS, not catch the latest Celebrity Apprentice, or whatever the equivalent was back then (Lords and Serfs: Feudal Wars ?).

The main reason Isidore was graced with spectacular supernatural help is that he was already really, really holy--Mother Teresa holy. Still, that doesn't mean every extremely virtuous person is going to experience an extraordinary angelic intervention. That decision ultimately rests with God, and, you guessed it, we'll never know the reasons why or why not.

Frustrating, isn't it? Especially if there's a whole sinkful of pots and pans waiting.

Our Lady of Fatima

All of this angelic activity talked about so far was a prelude, of course, to the visits Our Lady would make the following year to the children, in which she would convey her requests of penance, prayer and devotion to her Immaculate Heart.

Most Catholics are familiar with the story of Our Lady of Fatima, or at least have heard of it. Here’s a quick refresher course on what happened:

On May 13, 1917, three children were tending a flock of sheep near the town of Fatima, Portugal. The children were Lucia dos Santos (age 10) and her cousins Francisco (age 9) and Jacinta Marto (age 7). The children had finished praying a rosary and were starting to play when they saw a brilliant light. Thinking it was lightning, they began to head toward home. Suddenly they saw another flash, this one illuminating the whole area, and that’s when they saw, standing over a small holmoak tree, “a lady brighter than the sun” with a white rosary hanging from her hands.

The beautiful lady asked the children to pray for peace and to make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. She also requested that they return to this same spot on the 13th of each month for five consecutive months.

During these subsequent appearances, the Blessed Mother requested frequent recitation of the Rosary, increased devotion to her Immaculate Heart, daily acts of reparation and sacrifice, and prayers for the conversion of Russia. At the October 13th appearance, she revealed herself as “Our Lady of the Rosary.”

During Our Lady’s last appearance on October 13, 1917, over 70,000 people who had gathered at the now infamous apparition site witnessed a spectacular solar event, commonly called the “The Miracle of the Sun.” Witnesses described the sun as “spinning,” “dancing,” “trembling,” zig-zagging and even careening toward them at times. Reportedly, the phenomenon did not hurt anyone’s eyes, and the wet clothes and ground from previous rain showers quickly and inexplicably dried up in a matter of minutes. The Catholic Church officially recognized this occurrence as a miracle on October 13, 1930.

The final component of the Fatima story is “The Secret,” a message from Our Lady to the children that actually consisted of three parts. The first two were revealed in 1941 in a document written by Lucia, and consisted of (1) a terrifying vision of hell and (2) a prediction that while World War I would soon end, another, more devastating war would occur if mankind did not stop offending God and if Russia did not convert. The third secret remains more controversial in that while the Vatican officially made it public in the year 2000 and declared that it pointed to the assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II, some believe that it is not the “real” secret or at least not the full secret and that the Vatican is hiding the true message, which they believe describes apostasy, satanic infiltration of the Church, and the end of the world.

As today is the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, it would benefit all of us to reflect on the happenings at Fatima, their historical impact, and their relevance to us today. To that end, here are some helpful resources:

Fatima: A Grace for Mankind

The World Apostolate of Fatima (The Blue Army)

And be sure to check out this trailer for the 2009 movie, The 13th Day, a critically acclaimed film distributed by Ignatius Press that the National Catholic Register calls "the best film ever made about Fatima--the most beautiful and effective, as well as one of the most historically accurate."

Happy Mother's Day

On that special day when we welcome our child into the world and "officially" become a mother, something else very special transpires in the delivery room (aside from hubby's pale green skin slowly returning to a normal color).

Our child receives his or her very own guardian angel.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas and other early Church Fathers, up until the time of birth an unborn child is protected by its mother's guardian angel. When the baby finally becomes physically detached from mom (yes!), he or she is assigned their own angel who will accompany them throughout their life.

I can just imagine the conversation as the exchange takes place: "He's all yours now. Watch out, he's a kicker."