Today's liturgical observance is called a "privileged memorial." There are, I believe, some thirteen such days in the liturgical calendar. A privileged memorial enjoys its own special Liturgy of the Hours as well as a specific Gospel passage that takes the place of the ordinarily continuous reading of the Gospel (in this case, the Gospel of St. Luke). Just a few days ago would have been the Feast of the archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, had it not fallen on a Sunday. Today we remember the Guardian Angels.
Those of us who went to parochial elementary school might have said the following prayer every day before we were dismissed and sent home:
Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here; ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, rule and guide. Amen.
Artwork depicting guardian angels show them hovering over children as they sleep, walking with them as they cross a treacherous bridge, or even watching over them as they pick flowers near a precipice.
In today's world, a group of young people have adopted the name of "Guardian Angels" and patrol our city streets and subways.
In Chicago, after the city closed more than fifty elementary schools because of budget cuts, safe passageways were established for children who walk to school. These passageways are patrolled by beat cops. Some think of them as guardian angels.
I know some people who claim to know their guardian angel's name.
All of these examples speak to the belief that God has dispatched his angels to protect us from harm. Yet we all know that terrible things still happen to children. Are we to believe that these angels have fallen down on the job? Do guardian angels desert us from time to time?
I firmly believe that God's love for us is providential and protective. However, I also believe that such care is provided through our care and concern for one another. When our personal concerns overtake the care of others entrusted to us, the consequences of sin in our world seem to win out. So as we whisper our prayer asking for God's care, let us also commit ourselves to caring for one another.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator