guardian 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

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Do you pray this to your guardian angel? Truthfully, I'd forgotten about this prayer until I was with the Sisters in NYC last week. They say it every time they get in the car. It came back to me quickly. It was a favorite prayer of mine in my childhood.

I may have been fairly negligent of my guardian angel over the years but I know this precious angel was not negligent of me. I can look back and know without any doubt who was responsible for keeping me safe many, many times. One time that comes easily to mind was the summer between second and third grades when I almost drowned in the lake at our cabin. A friend of my sister's pulled me to safety. Barb Monsaas. I will never forget her.

Then, there are all the times the guardian angels of my children had to have been working overtime, keeping them safe. One son had a skiing accident, leaving him only with a concussion and a chipped front tooth. It could have been so much worse! (It happened right after Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident so you know where MY mind went!) Another son broke the law by threatening a teacher (RIGHT after Colombine). I don't believe he set out to break the law and, at the time, did not really understand what he did was very, very wrong. He was charged with a felony and spent a night in the juvenile detention center. While his father and I waited for his court appearance the next day, I could feel the angels surrounding us. Peace descended on me in a way I never would have thought possible, given the circumstance. My prayer was that justice be served and that my son learn a lesson. Justice WAS served that day. The prosecutor worked to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor because she said he'd never been in trouble before, his parents appeared to be very involved in his life and she felt certain they would never see him again in court. (She was right on all counts.) My son was a changed person after that experience. The night he spent in the detention center was an entire education in itself. He told me that there were kids there whose parents beat them up regularly, whose parents didn't want anything to do with them, who spent years in foster care. He followed me around for days afterward, asking if he could help me. (I wanted to ask him who he was and what had he done with my son! Instead, I just reveled in his kind attitude and thanked God he had learned valuable life lessons.) I, for my part, couldn't stop hugging him! He was sentenced to 60 hours of community service, to be supervised by me. I was so glad he was given a sentence like that. It proved to be character-building, as well as a punishment. And, trust me, I put him through his paces! As a result, he gained much experience in helping others in our community through the varied jobs he had to do. My daughter was in a roll-over accident, due to a friend's driving inexperience and poor judgment and black ice, in which she was not wearing a seat belt. She could have easily been thrown from the car and killed. She sustained a bad cut on her forehead and her back was strained. No one else in the car suffered any injuries, a miracle in itself. I walked around for two weeks, thinking I could have been planning her funeral and rejoicing--REALLY rejoicing--and thanking God that she was alive. (I STILL rejoice and praise God about that, years later!) I considered it a new psych diagnosis: parental post-traumatic stress syndrome. I knew, without doubt, that their angels were watching over all of the girls in the car that night. Too, throughout our lives, there are probably countless near misses of which we are unaware.

Whether we know it or not, our guardian angels are very important in our lives. The Church must think so, too, because they have their own feast day: October 2nd. So, the next time you have a near miss, take a moment to thank your guardian angel for keeping you safe...or just give thanks, out of the blue! I have a feeling our guardian angels appreciate our gratitude, especially when they are forced to work overtime--and even when they're not!