Are you engaged?

                                    Guardian Angels - not just for children


This question was posed for me by Madame Linen whilst discussing a certain young man of our acquaintance.

"His trouble is that he is not engaged with his Guardian Angel" was Madame's comment and, the more I thought on it, the more accurate she was in her assessment.

But Mme had also struck pure gold in touching upon a topic that is often close to my heart; that of my own relationship with my Guardian Angel (or GA for short).

I, along with many of us, I suspect, tend to ignore the presence (for that is what it is) of our own, our very own, GA.

We often forget that the good Lord has endowed us with yet another arrow in our quiver in the form of an angel totally and utterly dedicated to our well being.

The trouble is, we are so bound up with life in a neon lit, fast food treadmill, that we overlook this important presence in our lives, this all important vital aid (and aide) sent by Almighty God to look over and care for us while we wallow around in this awful environment we call the world.

We do not, in Mrs L's immortal words, "engage with our Guardian Angel" often enough, if at all.

The Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have a belief in a 'being' that we might call God and their 'god' sends them messages, so they believe, by means of a tapping or an inner voice. They are attuned to this 'tapping' and respond accordingly, as best they can without the privilege of knowledge.

I believe that our GA is the source of the 'tapping' and, if only we could tune in to this wavelength, we would save ourselves a great deal of bother and inconvenience.

I think that I may have heard it on a few occasions and, very occasionally have been fey enough to respond.

The first and somewhat tame incident, was when driving along a main suburban road between Staines and Laleham.

I was but a callow youth and had a tendency to go a shade heavy on the accelerator (gas) pedal. I had not given my GA a second thought since leaving the warm embrace of a Dominican education some ten years earlier and was proceeding quite swiftly on my way.

As I approached a wide bend a sudden thought came into my head.
Unexpected, and not entirely understood.

It was a thought that actually said: "Guardian Angel says to slow down"

So incomprehensible and yet commanding was this 'tapping' that I braked and slowed the car to within the speed limit.
And, within two or three seconds I found myself driving through a police radar trap. Phew!

Now this was not a life or death situation. I was wrong to have been speeding but a fine of a few pounds would not have been the end of the world. So why?

Cynics will say that it was a cognitive response to earlier indoctrination. Maybe.

But, it has happened a few times since, perhaps not more than on three or four occasions.

I do not think that my GA has been idle so much as the fact that I have been so top heavy with secular issues that I have failed to hear the 'tapping' message.

Those who are not of the Catholic Faith (and even a few more liberally minded Catholics) may think that I have been indulging too much in the amber liquid, but that is not the case.

After all, it would be a pretty fruitless exercise for God to endow us with a guardian who then did nothing to actually guard us.

Our angel is there for a purpose; to enlighten and protect, to direct and govern.

When we left home for our Saturday Vigil Mass last weekend, a neighbour stopped us in our tracks to chat about sheer trivia.
I kept cool and gently revved the car and, after 2 minutes she released us from a debate regarding the weather and we proceeded some 50 metres to a t junction.

Two cars were locked in a smash there and the badly shaken and bruised occupants were climbing out to assess the damage.

The crash had taken place one minute before our arrival at the t junction and, if we had not been delayed, we might well have been involved.

Of course, some will say that this incident proves nothing in terms of a Guardian Angel's protection, but I know better and I said my GA prayer with even greater fervour that night.

I have been glad of my GA's protective influence with regard to some rather more dramatic moments in my life but that knowledge rests between my GA and me.




Picture: http://thisburningfire.blogspot.co.uk/

A Catholic 'earworm'

I did not know what an 'earworm' was until today when Mrs Linen brought me up to date as she does regularly.

I tend to dislike new words that creep into the English language, I am a traditionalist after all.

But the word 'earworm' apparently refers to the catchy song or tune or, in my case, hymn that you hear and then just cannot get out of your head.

It is on a loop that repeats and repeats incessantly; you hum it, you sing it, it stays with you for days and days.

You may even wake up in the middle of the night hearing it.

This one I owe to Fr J and the October Devotions after Mass last Sunday.

It could also be something to do with the fact that I remember my mother singing this at my bedside when I was the tender age of three or four (gulp).

I think that every Catholic mother would like to croon this hymn softly to their loved ones - and your Guardian Angel will appreciate it also.

The Guardian Angel and the Mangy Donkey

October 2nd - Feast of The Guardian Angels.....

The year was 1936 and Spain was in the throes of a bloody civil war that pitted father against son and brother against brother.

Of especial interest to the Communist side were Catholic Priests and religious.

 Priests especially, were the target of mock trials and obscene executions involving vile tortures beforehand and, just as often they would be assassinated in the streets or at the altar (the Reds delighted in defiling holy places as well as in the act of murder).

Not exactly my idea of what
 a Guardian Angel looks like

A young priest, aged 34 and just 11 years ordained was going about his daily pastoral duties in his usual lively and diligent manner. He was en route to Madrid Cathedral and, as the times dictated, he walked with eyes in the back of his head, wary in case an assassin would step out of the crowd and kill him.

 Wary, also of the hand on the shoulder and the subsequent arrest and torture before a bullet through the stomach would put a painful and lingering end to his life.

As he approached the Cathedral steps he noticed a sinister looking man walking purposefully towards him across the piazza. The man’s hand was going towards an inside coat pocket, very obviously going for a gun; if ever there was an assassin in the making, this man was the one.

As the priest frantically looked about him for routes of escape he saw a large thuggish looking man moving swiftly to head off the assassin. He blocked the assassin’s path to the priest and, when the killer made to bypass him he moved again in a threatening fashion to block the way.

Thwarted, the killer turned on his heels and vanished into the crowd.

The priest, meanwhile, was watching this drama spellbound.

Then, to his dismay, the thug approached him and, in a confidential manner hissed in his ear: “Mangy donkey, mangy donkey”.

Immediately he turned around and striding off was soon out of sight.

The priest was stunned. Not only from the shock of narrowly missing death but also by the thuggish man and the words he had whispered into his ear. “Mangy donkey, mangy donkey”.

These words were used by the priest when he went on his knees in front of the Blessed Sacrament each day. He would speak to Our Lord saying:

“Lord have mercy upon me your unworthy servant, I am no more than a mangy donkey, please have pity on me your mangy donkey”

It was then that the priest realised that, as he alone knew that he used these words in his dialogue with Almighty God, the thuggish man must have been……his Guardian Angel.

Fr Josemaria Escriva then proceeded into the Cathedral to give thanks for his salvation.

This account comes from a broadcast made on EWTN some 3 years ago and has been written from memory.

Fr Josemaria Escriva went on to found Opus Dei and to be canonised a saint of Holy Mother Church.

                                Prayers to Guardian Angels

O God, who in Thine ineffable Providence, hast sent Thy Holy Angels to watch over us: grant, we humbly pray, that we may always be defended by their protection and may rejoice in their fellowship forever. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

God our Father, in a wonderful way You guide the work of angels and men. May those who serve You constantly in heaven keep our lives safe from all harm here on earth. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O my good Angel whom God hath appointed

to be my Guardian. Enlighten and protect,

direct and govern me, this day/night and for evermore.

Amen.

Who would you most like to meet in Heaven?

Assuming, of course, that we make it to Heaven and also that, our loved ones might be first on the list – so just who else would we most like to meet?

The question used to be asked of us boys in the RE class of Sister Paul OP.

The good sister, herself, had a burning desire to meet with Hereward the Wake (“after St Paul, of course, boys”). What? Hereward the Wake? What would a good old Irish nun be doing with meeting an 11^th century marsh vaulting rebel – oh, it must have been the rebel bit!

"I'm as surprised as you are Lord, but shall
I let him in?"

But it remains an interesting question. Who would it be? St Thomas More ranks high in my shortlist which also includes St Cuthbert Mayne, St Edmund Campion, St Catherine of Siena, St Maximilian Kolbe and, of course, our own Bl Titus Brandsma. But we are not restricted to canonised saints; so my list could extend to include Fr Donald Proudman OP., J.R.R. Tolkien, GKC and Hilaire Belloc, Archbishop Fulton Sheen oh, and Keith who borrowed £5 off me in 1971….it would be good to meet up with him again!

But…I almost forgot. I just have to include my Guardian Angel on my list. My guess is that he/she will be found in Heaven’s version of Intensive Care – much needed after looking after me!

Just for the sake of some reminiscence therapy (and a few good Catholics)

Remember the hymn to one's Guardian Angel? No?...here it is.....

Not a guitar, flute or didgeridoo in sight! Deo Gratias!