Protection of the Angels

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, to rule and guide.
Amen

I've known that prayer since forever. I sang it as a lullaby to my children when they couldn't sleep. It was the school prayer of one of the schools I taught at (my personal favourite school to work at to date). 

Today is the Feast of Saints Michael, Raphael and Gabriel and Guardian Angels is at the end of the week. These are some of my favourite feasts! And, of late, we have been putting our guardian angels to the test. The car crash seems to have been a mini miracle in itself, not only that no one was injured - the most important detail, but also in the kindness offered by neighbours. And, of course, the final detail of my rosary ring being the last thing found at the crash side and returned to me by the neighbour who 'knew it was mine'.

One of the readings that came up for me this week was Daniel 10. Daniel had been fasting and praying for three weeks when an angel finally turned up to say that his prayer had been heard and that he was most beloved. But, do you know what that angel said to him? He said "Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind...to God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. Then, explaining his lateness in arrival he says 'The prince of the Kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me'. No one really knows who the 'prince of Persia' might represent here - a force of darkness of some sort that delayed the angel until Michael, Archangel turned up to help.

There is a myriad of things I do not understand about this reading, but some things I have managed to take away. Firstly, from the moment Daniel set his mind on prayer, God heard him. Secondly, whilst Daniel might have been frustrated that he didn't get an immediate answer to his prayer, the angel explained there was more going on the spiritual realm than Daniel could possibly know about. And, lastly, the angel was on his way and Archangel Michael came to help him.

The angels are always on their way. 'Be on the side of the angels' was what a teacher friend of mine used to say to the students as they left for the weekend, the holidays or indeed, for the rest of their life. I can't really think of any better advice.

When Jesus was born and the angels were in the sky singing to the shepherds, Luke's collective word for them is stratia.  That literally means an armed unit of soldiers. I remember learning about that for the first time in an undergraduate Greek class and thinking our 'heavenly host' in white floating about on clouds seems tame in comparison.

There have been a lot of angels protecting us round here of late. I hope there have been lots of angels around your way too.

Send news about Pope Leo - I am sure there was a stratia of people there!