Skip to main content

NO NEED TO FEAR WHEN MY ANGEL IS NEAR!

One of the benefits of working from home is that my guardian Angel has fewer dangers from which to protect me. Before the pandemic, I left the office after 5:30 pm. I took the usual walk through the Pretoria CBD arcades, walking about 1 km in total to reach the public car parking. 

Bruce Lee, Hong Kong 2017

About 30 meters toward the end of the arcade, it opens up into a wide passage that leads to Church Square. Unaware as I exited the first arcade, a man waiting for me ran into me abruptly to knock me off my feet and sought to grab my cellphone from my pocket. 

My senses became hyper-aware and immediately averted the fall. I instantaneously swung the lunch bag I was carrying striking the man across the face. He came at me a second time filled with intent, and once again, I swung the bag at him, hoping he would stay away, and my lunch bag handle broke off on one side. Now furious and frustrated, he charged me a third time with a broken lunch bag dangling in my hand like those medieval spike balls on the end of a chain. I took my final strike with the lunch bag to avoid physical contact. The bag whipped around his head this time, and I thought this should be enough to deter the man. 

I thought wrong, and this man now put his fists up to start a street brawl. Thoughts in my head were racing. I have only ever fought in the karate dojo in a controlled environment, and the first thing I thought was that today would be the first day I would have to fight someone. I felt reluctant and knew I would have to wait for him to land the first strike before reacting. I got into my karate stance and waited for this man, and at that moment, I felt as if I had an invisible force that was somehow in between us. In a change of events, the man looked at me one last time, said something rude, and ran for his life toward Church square. I, in shock, raced to the car park as the adrenaline left my body. 

The famous lunch bag

That force felt as if it was radiating out from my soul. I was protected by something invisible, yet so powerful it scared the visible intruder away. I believe that invisible force was my guardian Angel. I am sure we all can recall occasions where we have received some protection without a suitable explanation afterward? 

"Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." St Basil 

From the beginning of human life until death, we believe that our life is surrounded by the angel's watchful care and intercession (a guardian angel). Now is this some random Catholic belief? 

The angels are present in the scriptures since the beginning of the creation story and through to the New Testament:

  1. Jesus incarnation - The angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her to not fear for she was to conceive and bear a son, called Jesus (Luke 1:30-31). 
  2. Jesus infancy - St. Joseph, in a dream instructed by an angel to take Jesus and flee to Egypt, to avoid the massacre Herod was planning on all male children under the age of two (Matthew 2:13).
  3. Jesus temptation - the devil tempted Our Lord to turn stones into bread, fling himself off the top of the temple, and to deny God for the greed of power to possess the kingdoms of the earth. Jesus rebuked satan, and he fled, and instead, the angels came and ministered to him (Matthew 4:1-11).
  4. The agony of Jesus in the garden - right before Jesus was arrested and endured immense suffering, he prayed that the Father's will be done, and an angel from heaven appeared, strengthening Jesus (Luke 22:43-44).
  5. Jesus resurrection - at Jesus resurrection from the tomb, a great earthquake shook the earth as an angel descended from heaven and rolled back the stone (Matthew 28:2).

As we can see, the angels are servants and messengers of God. They are spiritual creatures that have intelligence and will. They are personal and immortal creatures and more perfect than visible creatures (CCC 329-330). 

Greater awareness of the angels, in particular, our own guardian angel, is essential. Our angel has never left our side from our birth till the present. Our guardian angel is beside us in good and bad times, offering protection and prompting us to grow in our spiritual life. In moments where we deny the good for our own soul, and something unexplainable encourages us to go against our will. That could be our guardian angel. 

Some people lean on their guardian angels to help them with simple things like finding parking, supporting them during a presentation, or accompanying them in a difficult situation. Your guardian angel is by your side always, give them a personal name, talk to them, and become aware of their protection. We may go by years without ever recognising the presence of our angel. Still, it's never too late to say thank you to God for your angel's daily protection. 

"Get used to thanking the Guardian Angels in advance, thus putting them under an obligation." (The Forge, 93)

St. Josemaria makes the point above, and it's a very profound point. Try it! When you find yourself in a tough situation, say a prayer to Our Lord, thanking him in advance for your guardian angel. If others are involved, we can pray to their guardian angel, asking for help in a particular situation. Maybe you have a colleague or person that always gives you a hard time? Learn to evoke the invisible creatures by asking your guardian angel and that person's guardian angel to greet and resolve the issue. No matter how hardened the heart of a man, their guardian angel will never give up on them! 

An excellent childhood prayer many of us may recall from little and may pass on to our children. If you have never repeated this prayer, a simple effort to pray it every day may help us grow more aware of our angels. 


Angel of God Prayer 

Angel of God, my Guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen. 


Enjoy reading this blog? Stay posted by subscribing above. Do you know of a friend who could be interested in reading this blog? Please feel free to share the link below.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE OPEN TO LIFE?

I received a gift of this plant from my friends, Alex and Thato probably about five years ago. It was originally two succulents in a small boot pot. Over the years it started producing new shoots so I transferred it to a bonsai training pot. I put this training pot next to my desk and one day I ate an apple took some of the seeds pushed it into the pot and honestly forgot about it. At the end of November, I saw three little shoots sprouting and realised the apple seeds had taken. Two of the sprouts were growing nicely until...   Apple seed sprouts, 9 December 2024 First, let me start by saying this blog will be very personal and intimate but this sprouting of seed is a testament to something the world has neglected in the past 60 years or so and this parable is very telling. If you search global fertility rates by country you find a marked decline from around the 1960s when the data was first collected to now. In the 1960s the average number of children per woman was around 5 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

From the rising of the sun to its setting: we find the meaning of life

A few months ago we went away for the weekend to a little resort nestled in a ravine in Limpopo. It was the tail end of winter and so the chill of the early morning would bite, but this also meant watching the sun rise over the mountain, slowly pierce through the trees, stretching the first rays of the morning sun through the thick of the bush that had been in complete darkness through the night. Bela Bela, 07:17 - 26 July 2025 This made for prayer inspired by the treasure of nature, free of the distractions and hustle of city life. The sight of the sun sparked the words of the Mass in the common Eucharistic prayer, which quotes Psalm 113:3: "From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised!" The sun rises and sets day after day without fail. As I sat there, I realised how small I was in the universe, a tiny insignificant dot at the tip of Africa in some random bush. However, at the same time, I felt so loved that in the immensity of the univers...
Post a Comment
Read more

TOB PART IV - THE NIGHTMARE OF CONCUPISCENCE: A JOURNEY TO REDEMPTION

Have you ever had a dream which created some panic? A while back I was having a consistent dream that I would return to school and in my dream I was never studying for the subjects or attending the class and it would make me worry that I would sit in the exam and know nothing. Now, this is a random dream and it has been years since I was in school but in the subconscious of dreamland I was going to sit in the exam, know nothing and then fail the exam. Now imagine for a moment you wake up and that dream becomes a reality. I think that is how Adam and Eve may have felt when they had committed the first or original sin.  Satan and the Beast of the Sea, by Jean Bondol and Nicholas Bataille "Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked: and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons... 'I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Gen 3:7,10) The devil's lie was an empty promise. The serpent said to the woman, "You will...
Post a Comment
Read more

TOB PART I - WHO ARE WE?

We took our boys for their first glamping trip with their grandparents (my parents) to a resort in Limpopo called Klein Kariba. It had been about 18 years since I last visited the resort and a lot had changed. It is a little over an hour outside of the city of Pretoria and nestled in a beautiful valley.  Noah & Leo feeding Njala, 23 April 2024 One late afternoon as we prepared to make a fire a group of Njala (a lesser Kudu according to Google I won't pretend to know my antelope haha) came past to graze on nearby trees. Noah and Leo were able to feed them leaves and even stroke them. Raphael even got up close and giggled in baby talk as the female Njala was intrigued by a little baby. It is not common to get so close to wild antelope and the young herd may have recalled people feeding them leaves from the tree tops they couldn't reach when they were young. This exchange with creation can beg the question of, "Who are we?" and what makes us so different to the anima...
Post a Comment
Read more

DEATH, A DOOR TO LIFE

I recently wrote about grandparents as humanities living memory and detailed how I had three grandparents still alive. A month later, my grandmother (Maria De Menezes) passed away, and six days later, my grandfather (Reginald Joel) passed on.  14 June 2021, God's Window Mpumalanga Death is a strange thing and most unnatural to human beings as it leaves us feeling empty, confused, and maybe afraid of what might await us on the other side. The most apparent question death makes us ponder is the question of why? Why must we die? Does God enjoy punishing us with the void the death of a loved one can leave in our hearts? The answer is a profound no!  Before sin entered the world, there was harmony between the body and soul. However, when the first man and woman chose to give in to the devil's temptation and succumbed to his luring. The nature of sin that entered the world broke this harmony. When sin enters the world by our free but misdirected choices, we allow corruption to weake...
Post a Comment
Read more