Posted on 10/02/2012 12:25:36 PM PDT by koinonia
Excellent read from Fr. Dean's website:
"Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." St. Basil the Great
Today the Church celebrates the feast of the Guardian Angels. Angels, as we know, are creatures endowed with intellect and will; they can, therefore, as personal creatures, know and love God. They already possess the Beatific Vision of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in glory and are faithful, humble servants of Christ the King and Mary the Queen.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ is the center of the entire angelic world. They were created through Him and for Him - the Alpha and Omega of all creation. It is the Franciscan tradition that the test of the Angels where they freely chose to love and serve God forever in Heaven was a vision or infused knowledge of the Incarnation of the Word in the womb of the ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God. At this knowledge they had an immediate, but eternal choice: humbly serve Jesus and Mary or reject God's plan. We know the response of Satan and his minions: Non serviam! Whereas the Holy Angels, like St. Michael, marvelled at God's designs to elevate all of creation to Himself through the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and said: "Who is like God!?!"
What a privilege, then, for us to know that day and night that our glorious Guardian Angels "in Heaven always behold the face of My Father in Heaven" (Mt 18:10). Why is it that the Angels render such service to us when beholding the face of God unveiled? The answer lies in the fact that they exist for Christ. Their role as Guardians can be seen in two ways: they serve Christ in us; they serve us in Christ.
Serving Christ in us: We are made in Christ's image. As St. Francis of Assisi states in his Admonitions to the Friars: "Consider, O man, how great the excellence in which the Lord has placed you because He has created and formed you to the image of His beloved Son according to the body and to His own likeness according to the spirit." When God created us, He created us in view of Christ (Col 1:16) and with Him as our Head. And in our Baptism we were incorporated into Christ's Mystical Body. Hence the Holy Angels are sent to serve Christ which they see in us. While they never abandon us, one thing is for sure, their service of Christ in us becomes more powerful the more we resemble Christ. They want us to grow in union with Christ, to arrive at the full stature of Christ - in mensuram aetatis plenitudinis Christi (Eph 4:13), and the more they see Christ in us the more complete their service to us, especially in our tempations (Jesus in the desert - Mt 4:11), agonies and death (Jesus in Gethsemani - Lk 22:43), and finally in rising to glory (Jesus Risen from the tomb - Mt 28:5).
Serving us in Christ: Since they are forever united to God through, with and in Christ, they serve us in Him. In a particular way, while they cannot imitate Christ in the flesh, they can and do imitate Him in being sent by God. Christ was sent by God the Father; the Angels, in joyful imitation of the humility and obedience of Christ, rejoice to be sent in our service in imitation of Him who came to serve, and not to be served (cfr. Mt. 20:28).
May these, our precious companions, find us docile to their guidance and inspiration. May we, like them, seek to serve Christ in others and be Christ for others so that Jesus may be "all in all" (Col 3:11).
to whom God's love commits me here.
Ever this day be at my side,
to light, to guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.ping ;-)
(angels) .....”are faithful, humble servants of Christ the King and Mary the Queen.”
There is no “Queen” Mary or any other. In this sentence they are equating Jesus with Mary. Blasphemy! Jesus is GOD, Mary is a human sinner.
Don’t start rioting, ok?
Catholic ping!
Where are you getting this faulty information? Perhaps some comic book or pamplet that someone gave you?
Do you have any idea how many times angels are mentioned in the Bible?
Haven’t you read the first chapter of Luke where Gabriel, the archangel, visits Mary?
The True Role of Guardian Angels
Touched by Padre Pio's guardian angels [Catholic Caucus]
Celebrating Guardian Angels - October 2 - Feast of the Guardian Angels [Ecumenical]
Guardian Angels
OF GUARDIAN ANGELS AND THE ROLE THEY PLAY NOT JUST ON EARTH BUT IN PURGATORY [Catholic Caucus]
Our Guardian Angels [Ecumenical]
Her unborn 'guardian angels' inspire pro-life work
Question: “Are there really such things as guardian angels?”
Guardian angels caught on film?
Early Christians Representations of Angels[Feast day Guardian Angels]
I love my guardian angel.
At any rate, there is no "equating" Jesus and Mary here on the part of Fr. Dean (or the Catholic Church), but true honor is being given to the Queen of Heaven and earth, exalted by God Himself above all Angels and the rest of men to be His Mother.
Regarding Mary being a sinner: Could Jesus have preserved His Mother from sin by the foreseen merits of His Passion? Was it fitting that He do so ("Honor your father and mother")? Well, that's what He did and that's why the Angel could call her the "fully graced one" κεχαριτωμένη, (kecharitōménē). If she were a big sinner (like me) the Angel would have had to say, "Hail, not so fully graced one".
May the Lord Jesus bless you!
How you go from "full of grace/full of favor/etc." ... to ... "sinless" is beyond me.
Since Mary was sinless, and already full of grace ... does that mean she never partook of the Lords Table in communion?
Hi. I appreciate your comment, but I'm not sure what you're getting at in your question. Do you hold that communion is only for sinners? Or am I missing something here? No sarcasm intended; just an honest question.
At any rate, the constant tradition both in the East and the West (long before Calvin, Luther and King Henry VIII) is that Mary was sinless when she conceived Jesus. So it's not I who am making up this interpretation of "fully graced one" κεχαριτωμένη, (kecharitōménē) (Lk 1:28), but, like St. Paul, "I delivered to you first of all, what I also received...", namely, that Mary was "all holy" Παναγία, (Panagia) so as to be the worthy Mother of God Θεοτόκος ("Theotokos").
What I don't understand, and perhaps you can help me on this one, is why anyone would insist on calling the Mother of Jesus a sinner if the Lord could have preserved His own chosen Mother from all stain of sin by the foreseen merits of His Passion, Death and Resurrection?
God bless you! And praised be the Lord Jesus Christ!!!
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