Wednesday, October 2, 2002
The Guardian Angel
1st Reading: Ex 23:20-23
Gospel: Mt 18:1-5, 10
The disciples came to Jesus and asked him, "Who is
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
Then Jesus called a little child, set the child in the
midst of the disciples, and said, "I assure you that unless you change
and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
Whoever becomes lowly like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven, and whoever receives such a child in my name receives me.
See that you do not despise any of these little ones, for I tell you: their angels in heaven continually see the face of my heavenly Father."
Commentary
Angels have been in fashion during the last years. Shelves in bookstores have multiplied with books about angels. And we might even have held a holy card with the image of a small and infantile, chubby and rosy-cheeked being. That is not the way I imagine the guardian angels of today's Gospel. Jesus says that they are the angels of the smallest of this world. They are the angels of those who cannot defend themselves. They are continually in God's presence guarding the life of these innocents. How it pains me to think that today they must be so busy. The innocents, the poor, the battered women, the enslaved workers, the elders abandoned… are so many! Their angels in heaven must be claiming for justice with Father God. Can we not hear their plight?