Angels Watching Over Me

Today, September 29 is the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels. Many people love angel stories, and many more are rather skeptical. 

I believe that there are many things happening in the spiritual realm more real than what we see with our eyes. That is why we should not despair, and only trust and believe in what God is doing on our behalf. After my open heart surgery in December 2019, my sister prodded her husband to share what happened when he was praying for me during my procedure. He was very reluctant, saying repeatedly, “I’m not an angel person.” Then he narrated that while he was praying for me, he saw several large angels surrounding me during my operation. “Then I cried,” he said, embarrassed, “and I’m not a crying person either!” After that, he knew I was going to be all right. 

I cried too when he told me. Imagine, God sending angels to watch over me! We don’t really know but what if that is the ordinary run of events? If we pray that God will send His angels to watch over our children, our spouses, our homes and schools, our country, will He not do it? It may seem old fashioned to believe in benevolent beings taking care of us but the scriptural foundation is what Jesus said in Matthew 18:10, that each one of us has an angel. The pillars of the early Church believed in angels. St. Basil of Caesarea, a fourth century theologian wrote, “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him or her to life”. 

We commemorate this feast because we desire to celebrate God’s wonderful and faithful protection and providence. Many times we are unaware of our angels’ intervention, but there are many stories about how someone is saved by one who cannot be traced. 

I remember one story that came out in the news about a serious car accident involving a young girl. She could not be extracted from the wreck at first until a man who was dressed as a priest appeared and prayed over her and told the crew afterwards that they could now extricate her. They were able to, but when they looked for the man, he was nowhere to be found. He also did not appear in any of the pictures although many people saw him. The news agencies tried to trace him, calling up parishes, but they were unsuccessful.

Father, thank You that You command Your angels to guard us in all our ways. (Psalm 91:11)