Guardian Near
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Thursday, January 13, 2011 12:24 AM
Do you talk to your guardian angel?
My sister has a special relationship with hers, and she regularly encourages the rest of us to ask our angels for prayers and help.
I’ve always thought - based on what I knew about guardian angels - that this seemed like a good idea, but somehow I never got into the habit.
That changed early last month.
I had my first visit to the maternal-fetal medicine specialists who will be caring for the twins and me during this pregnancy. An ultrasound discovered that our twins are sharing a placenta, and the doctor I met was very straightforward about the involved risks. The risks are not very high, and my pregnancy is currently considered normal and healthy, but I still came home from the appointment very freaked out.
Demons were (I believe quite literally) circling me for the rest of the day. I was SO anxious, and finally in the evening it occurred to me to go to Adoration. I left the children with my sister, grabbed my prayer journal, and went.
I’ve spent some productive hours with the Blessed Sacrament over the years, but this was one of my best ever. After quite a bit of intensive prayer (I write as I pray, and my hand was aching) I left the chapel with a new peace.
Along with that peace came a strong conviction about the way that God wants me to protect my babies and myself during this pregnancy: by calling on our guardian angels.* Our own angels, under St. Michael the archangel, are equipped in a special way to fight the demons who want to bring fear to my mind and heart. They also have the job of guarding us, of caring for our health and keeping us from danger. They’re there! They want to do it! I realized how crazy it was that I hadn’t been calling on them already.
During the past six weeks I’ve been talking to our angels daily, asking them to pray for the babies and me, to advocate for us and guard us. I’m amazed how much peace doing this has brought me.
I even ask the angels for little things - like to keep me from slipping when I’m crossing an icy parking lot - and I feel sure that they do help, and that they love to do it.
When this pregnancy is over and my babies’ angels have started the job of guarding them outside the womb, I hope I can remember to keep calling on my own for the protection I know he wants to give me.
*Sidenote: Technically there’s no official Church teaching on when (or even whether) we each receive guardian angels, but the tradition of the Church is that every Christian has one, and probably every person, baptized or not. Theologians have debated whether we get our angels at birth, before, or after, but I feel strongly that - since the months before birth are statistically the most dangerous of a baby’s life - it makes sense that God would give them to us at conception. I also instinctively sense that my babies have been given their angels at conception. This is the point of view that I’ve chosen to believe, though - as far as I know, other opinions are equally valid under Church teaching!
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