Q When I was a child, my mother prayed the Guardian Angel prayer with me. Do we really have guardian angels?
A I think we do, and the Catholic Church does too because we annually celebrate the Memorial of The Holy Guardian Angels on Oct. 2. In the Gospel of that day, Jesus speaks about the little children when he says, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly father” (Mt 18:10). That certainly appears to me that Jesus was speaking about guardian angels, and Jesus cannot speak an untruth.
Guardian angels have been part of our thinking from the beginning. Origen, the great Scripture commentator of the 2nd century, writes, “For each of us in the church of God, no matter how small, there is a good angel of the Lord who stands daily before the face of God to rule and move and govern, to correct our actions and intercede for us in our sufferings.”
Christian tradition does not limit guardian angels to just those in the church as Origen stated but that all humans have a guardian angel. St. Jerome writes, “What a great dignity of souls that each person has, from birth, an angel assigned as a guardian!”
So, the question might arise: “Should we name our guardian angel?” The practice of assigning names to our guardian angel is discouraged. The “Directory of Popular Piety and the Liturgy” states, “The practice of assigning names to the holy angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of (Sts.) Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in holy Scripture.”
So, why does the church discourage this? Simplycatholic.com published an article by Msgr. Charles E. Pope entitled “Should We Name Our Guardian Angel?” Here are his thoughts:
“First, there is the understanding of what a name is. For most of us in the modern, Western world, a name is simply a sound we go by. But in the ancient, biblical world, and even in many places today, a name has a far deeper meaning. A name describes something of the essence of the person. This helps explain the ancient practice of the Jews to name the child on the eighth day. The delay gave the parents some time to observe something of the essence of the child, and then, noting it, they would name the child. Indeed, most biblical names are deeply meaningful and descriptive.
“But it is presumptive to think that we can know enough of the essence of a particular angel in order to be able to assign a name. Hence, assigning a name seems inappropriate.
“The second reason is that assigning a name indicates some superiority over the one named. Thus, in the case of children, parents, who are superior over their children, rightly name them. However, in the case of angels, they are superior to us. And, even though we often speak of them as serving us, they do this on account of their superior power and as guardians. Thus God commands us to heed their voice.
“You are surely encouraged to speak to your angel, and the usual practice is to say something like, ‘Dear guardian angel … ’ or simply ‘guardian angel, please help… ’ ”
If you are like me, you probably don’t think much about your guardian angel. In fact, you may not have thought about him (or her or it) for years. But at least today, let us thank our guardian angel for always being with us, helping us, protecting us, even though we don’t always know it or recognize it.
Let us pray: Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love entrusts me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen
Deacon Hooper is a deacon assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs. He can be reached at [email protected].