October 2, 2026
Summary of the Morrow's Meditation.
We will consider to-morrow in our meditation: 1st, the goodness of God in instituting angel guardians; 2d, the duties incumbent on us in consequence. Our resolution shall be: 1st, greatly to respect the presence of our angel guardian, who is with us by night and by day, and not to allow ourselves to do anything in his presence but what is honorable and holy; 2d, to love him and to thank him often for his benefits; 3d, to invoke him confidently in our needs and our temptations. Our spiritual nosegay shall be composed of these words of St. Bernard, which will recall to us our resolutions: "Respect for his presence, gratitude for his good offices, confidence in his protection" (Serm. xii. in Ps. xc. 2, 6).
Meditation for the Morning.
Let us adore the providence of God, who, in His great love for men, has not only delegated His holy angels to be the protectors of cities, of provinces, and of kingdoms, but has also given to each man in particular a prince of the heavenly court to lead him along the road of life, to help him in his needs, and to defend him against his enemies (Ps. xc. 11). Let us thank Our Lord for such a favor, saying with St. Bernard, "O admirable goodness! O truly wonderful effect of His love towards us!" (Serm. xii. in Ps. xc.)
FIRST POINT.
The Goodness of God in the Institution of the Angel Guardians.
How marvellous it is! God lays upon a prince of His court the charge to accompany me always and everywhere, night and day, outside the house as well as in it; to assist me continually, even when I commit the sin which makes him shudder, even when I resist his inspirations and revolt against him. What goodness on the part of God, what an honor for me, and at the same time what an advantage! This angel has the mission to occupy himself about my interests even as though they were his own, and to render me all kinds of good offices. If I pray, he goes to heaven to carry my prayer thither, and returns to bring me the gifts of God. If I am in trouble, he consoles me by means of the good sentiments with which he inspires me. In whatever state I am he watches over me as a brother; he bears me in his hands, says the Psalmist (Ps. xc. 12), like a tender mother carrying her child; he snatches me away from perils, opens issues for me out of difficult situations; lastly, he is to me what the guide is to the traveller, the doctor to the sick man, the shepherd to his flock, the father to his children, the most faithful of friends to his friend. Hagar in the desert, Lot at Sodom, Isaac upon Mount Moria, Eliezer in Mesopotamia, Jacob pursued by Esau, the people of God at the Red Sea and in the desert, Eliseus, Judith, Jerusalem threatened by Sennacherib, the children of Babylon in the fiery furnace, Daniel in the den of lions, St. Peter in his prison,—did they not all of them experience it and render testimony of it? Do not we also every day have proof of it? Whence come the illuminations which render our faith more lively, those sudden movements impelling us to what is good, those happy moments in which the heart feels itself urged to give itself wholly to God? Ah! it is to the angels we owe all these impulses towards salvation, and when they have succeeded they make a feast of it in heaven. The misfortune is that so often we will not accept their good offices or listen to their holy inspirations; and when they have forced us to listen, as it were, in spite of ourselves, we still resist them. Let us thank God, let us thank our good angel, and let us be ashamed.
SECOND POINT.
Our Duties towards our Angel Guardian.
We owe it to our angel guardian to respect him, to love him, to speak to him, and to imitate him. 1st. We owe him respect. If we ought to respect great and holy personages, how much more ought we to respect the princes of heaven, the officers of the house of God! What a fault it would be not to pay any attention to their presence! What a still more heinous offence it would be to do things in their presence which we would not do in the presence of an honorable man! Since our good angel is with us everywhere, we ought everywhere to recall his presence to mind, and this thought ought to be sufficient to keep us in the path of duty, to make us avoid every word, every action, unworthy of so august a presence. 2d. We ought to love him. How, indeed, could we help loving such a benefactor, a friend so devoted, so holy, so perfect? How could we help assuring him a thousand times in the day of our love, thanking him a thousand times for his society, for his good offices, for the good thoughts he gives us, the good sentiments with which he inspires us? 3d. We ought to speak to him. When we really love any one, and having the happiness of living with him, we salute him and we speak to him, we tell him our joys and our sorrows, and we pour forth our heart into his. We therefore do not love our good angel if we allow days and nights to pass without speaking to him, without exposing our needs to him, without rendering our homage to him, without saying anything to him; if we do not salute him in the morning at our awaking in order to recommend to him the whole of our day, and in the evening before going to sleep in order to beg him to love and to adore God in our place during the night; if in our affairs and our difficulties, our languors and our disgusts, our combats and our maladies, we do not call on him to assist us; if, lastly, we do not salute on our journeys the angel guardians of the places we pass through, and in our relations with our neighbor the angel guardian of each person with whom we have any intercourse. 4th. We ought to imitate our angel guardian: imitate at church his profound reverence in presence of the tabernacle; in prayer, his recollection and devotion; in business, his union with God; in our temptations, his glorious combats with the devil at the cry of St. Michael: "Who is like to God?" in the exercise of charity, his endurance of the faults and defects of our neighbor, his gentleness, his patience, his eagerness to oblige, his devotedness; lastly, in all things, his conformity to the good pleasure of God, the uprightness of his intentions, his pure and innocent life.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.