The existence of angels is a debated topic amongst Christians and non-Christians alike. There are those who simply see angels as a product of childhood imagination. Then there are those who see angels as heralds, witnesses and agents of God. For many, the Guardian Angels that were trusted in youth are often forgotten as the cares and concerns of adulthood require one’s full attention. Then there are a few people who did not have any ponderings about angels in their youth, yet they might have been lucky enough to encounter angels with a newfound faith that arises long after their childhood days are just memories.
Bernini’s Angel on Sant’Angelo Bridge in Rome
For me, growing up in a family that didn’t attend church, I can still remember how I felt very blessed by my first contact with a Guardian Angel. My Dad happened to be a huge fan of the actor James Stewart. One evening, my Dad was watching a movie on TV starring James Stewart and directed by the Hollywood legend Frank Capra: 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life. I joined my father in watching the movie and soon was engrossed in the story of a man named George Bailey. Through events that were far beyond George’s control, his orderly life was suddenly bombarded by chaos. Not knowing what to do and being at the end of his proverbial rope, George believes his only way out of the chaos would be suicide, which he plans to do by jumping off a bridge into the bone-chilling rapids below. As George is about to leap off the bridge, he sees someone else fall off the bridge into the frigid water. George, being a kind and caring man, jumps off the bridge, not to kill himself but to save the poor soul struggling in the water. We, the audience, soon find out that the person George saves is actually George’s Guardian Angel, Clarence Odbody (played by the great character actor Henry Travers). Clarence knew that the best way to keep George from killing himself was to have George save him instead. After they dry off, Clarence gives George a very special gift by showing him what his hometown would have been like if George had never been born.
Watching It’s a Wonderful Life caused me to ponder what it would be like to have a Guardian Angel. I started to do some research and I found out, to my amazement, that many Christians do believe in angels. Later, I discovered that the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church has this to say about angels:
The existence of angels — a truth of faith 328
The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.
Who are they? 329
St. Augustine says: ” ‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel.’ ” With their whole beings, the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they “always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” they are the “mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word.”
330 As purely spiritual creatures, angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.”
On the specific topic of Guardian Angels, the Catechism says:
336 From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life. Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.
The way an angel intervenes for someone who feels totally hopeless, restoring them to being people of hope, is not unique to Hollywood movies. Angels are mentioned many times in Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic Christian editions of the Bible, such as in Luke 12:8 (“angels of God”), Psalm 29:1 (“heavenly beings”), Psalm 148:2 (“all His angels”), and Daniel 4:13 (“holy watchers”).
We also encounter the story of Tobit in Orthodox and Catholic editions of the Bible. The Book of Tobias, also called Tobit (noncanonical for Jews and Protestants) tells the story of how a pious Jew named Tobit, exiled to Nineveh in Assyria, observed the precepts of Hebrew Law by giving alms and by burying the dead. However, despite his good works, Tobit was struck blind. Concurrent with Tobit’s story is that of Sarah, daughter of Tobit’s closest relative. Her seven successive husbands were each killed by a demon on their wedding night, and when Tobit and Sarah pray to God for deliverance, God sends the angel Raphael to act as intercessor. Tobit regains his sight, and Sarah marries Tobit’s son Tobias. The story ends with Tobit’s song of thanksgiving, and an account of his death.
Near Trebon, Czech Republic.
Stories that affirm the presence of Guardian Angels are not just tales from antiquity. Angels play a major part in the lives of modern saints, too. Saint Padre Pio was gifted in not only being able to see his own Guardian Angel, but in also being able to see the Guardian Angels of those people who were entrusted to be his ‘spiritual children’. The Bible tells us in several places (e.g. Exodus 23:20, Daniel 6:22, Matthew 24:31, Luke 22:43, Hebrews 1:14) that angels act as messengers “sent out”, and Padre Pio wrote that they go “faster than planes”, so there is no need to doubt it. Regarding our own Guardian Angels, Padre Pio says this: “Treat this dear little angel, I do not say as a friend, but as one of the family.”1
I didn’t always believe in angels. But, as I grow older, I can safely say that I don’t just believe in angels; I depend on them.
Every day, may you find and experience these deliverers of hope.
- Padre Pio of Pietrelcina: Letters, Volume II; Our Lady of Grace Capuchin Friary, 1980.
Images from Motion Elements Studio
