Popular pictures of Guardian Angels show them helping children cross a rickety bridge which spans a chasm, or about to grab a child reaching over a cliff to pick a flower.  These pictures were meant to inspire children with the reality of angels.  In dramatic ways they showed  children that God loves them so much that He protects each of them with their very own angel.

But Guardian Angels are not just for children.  They accompany us throughout our lives on earth.  The Catechism states: “The Church venerates the angels who help her on her earthly pilgrimage and protect every human being” (CCC 352).  St. Basil the Great, a Doctor of the Church, said: “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd, leading him to life.”  We should be as mindful of and as grateful for our Guardian Angels as we are our best friends.  Because they are!  As St. John Vianney said: “Our guardian angels are our most faithful friends, because they are with us day and night, always and everywhere. We ought often to invoke them.”

Jesus taught that these spiritual creatures, not confined to space and time the way we are, can be in two places at once.  They are with us always here on earth and in heaven as well where they “always look upon the face of my heavenly Father” (Matthew 18: 10).

We’re all familiar with temptations.  These are thoughts that arise in our minds which suggest sinful things either to be thought about or done.  Where do they come from?  From our enemy, the devil, who is a fallen angel.  But just as there are sinful thoughts that come to mind, so good thoughts can also come to mind.  Sometimes thoughts arise that remind us to do something that we either forgot or that are necessary for our safety.  Where do those thoughts come from?  From our Guardian Angels.

And so, when we experience temptations, we should ask for our Guardian Angel’s help.  We should ask our Angel to give us good thoughts, to replace the temptation with something good.  We don’t live in a vacuum.  As the saying goes: “An idle mind is the devil’s playground.”  So let’s not play with the devil but rather with our best and always faithful friend, our Angel.

St. John Bosco put it this way: “When tempted, invoke your angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped. Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him; he trembles and flees at the sight of your guardian angel.”