Latest / The Catholic Current / LTACL: Eleven Guardian Angels? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) 10/5/26

Transcript

LTACL: Eleven Guardian Angels? (Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J.) 10/5/26 · The Catholic Current

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  I gotta ask you this. When was the last time you thought about guardian
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  angels? I've been thinking about them a lot lately because we just had that Feast
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  of the Guardian Angels not too long ago, and we know by faith that
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  everyone has one guardian angel assigned to them.
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  But what if I told you that I have 11
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  guardian angels? Would you believe me? Stay with me, I got a story to tell.
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  Hi, I'm Jesuit Father Robert McTeague, your host here every day at The Catholic Current,
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  coming to you from the Station of the Cross Catholic Media Network. Let's a
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  closer look. Glad you're here. So how
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  did I end up with 11 guardian angels? So let's see, everybody gets one.
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  That's de fide. It's a matter of faith. Padre Pio
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  said that priests get a second guardian angel. When I heard that, I was very
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  much relieved because I feel really sorry for my original guardian angel.
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  I believe he has PTSD and a facial tic and gets startled
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  by loud noises. I, I've really put him through it.
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  But then about 15, 20 years ago, I got an anonymous
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  letter from someone who said he had prayed for me the
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  Chaplet of Christ King of the Universe. Well, that sounds like
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  a good name for a chaplet. And it's claimed that whoever had received
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  the revelation regarding this chaplet said
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  that if you pray this chaplet for someone, that person
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  is perpetually accompanied by one member each
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  of the 9 choirs of angels. So 9 extra angels
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  plus my priest guardian angel and my original guardian angel, that comes out
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  to be 11. And then that got me thinking to a
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  charming painting that I had in my office many years ago, and it was called
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  Watchers in the Night. And my goodness,
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  it shows a little kid sound asleep in his bed,
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  and standing behind him is a ginormous angel,
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  not a cute angel. I think it's about 7 feet tall.
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  It's got a spear in its hand about 10 feet tall. It's got a ball
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  of flame in his other hand, and he's got his wings wrapped
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  around the bed. This is a guardian angel on duty.
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  And I showed that to a student of mine. I said, don't you find that
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  reassuring and comforting? And she said, not at all.
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  I asked her why not. And she said, well, look, if I need that kind
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  of protection, what the heck is after me? And that's a really good
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  question too. The truth is we are being
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  contested for. We are in a spiritual
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  battle. The devil, the accuser of the brethren,
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  whom St. Ignatius Loyola called the enemy of our human nature,
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  hates God and therefore hates us and
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  wants to spite God by destroying us, by turning
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  us away from God. We are being contested for,
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  and we can, I hope, breathe a sigh of relief, have some kind of reassurance
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  in recognizing that we do have a guardian angel who's
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  there to, you know, guard and guide and all that. But recently
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  I've been reading a lot of C.S. Lewis, including his science fiction
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  trilogy. And the first volume is called Out of the Silent
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  Planet. And the question is, well,
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  what's the silent planet? And I
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  did some research for what Lewis meant. And I located it all in
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  what used to be known as the Harmony of the Spheres.
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  And it was a belief in the ancient world, in the medieval world, that as
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  the planets moved along their course,
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  the arc of their movement can be measured in numbers
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  which can be translated into a musical
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  harmony. It's a fascinating idea to consider.
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  And the Medievalists said that the planets don't just plunk
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  along on their own; they have angels to
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  guard them. And of course, the Medievalists, if you're gonna
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  make a list, you gotta have a complete list. And so, there were angels not
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  only moving the planets and not only guarding individuals, but there were
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  angels for groups and religious communities and
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  ethnic groups and nations and so on. And so,
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  C.S. Lewis said, that the angels and
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  all that they guard and protect is supposed to move under God's
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  providence and together form the harmony of the spheres to
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  form the celestial cosmic symphony.
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  And why was the Earth considered the silent
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  planet? Because that was the planet that was in
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  rebellion. Man rebelled against
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  God under the prompting of the fallen angel Satan.
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  And so mankind and the planet Earth withheld
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  from God, withheld from the harmony of the spheres,
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  withheld from the symphony of creation,
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  the notes that only we could contribute.
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  We were cheating creation and cheating the Creator by
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  virtue of our sin. So when we sin, it's not
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  just me breaking some arbitrary rules.
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  It's not just me annoying the Creator, a dangerous thing to
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  do. But there is a cosmic and metaphysical drama
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  taking place. And a lot of it has to do with
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  whether or not we cooperate with
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  nature and grace in both the visible and the invisible
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  orders or not. Do we contribute to the symphony,
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  or do we, in spite,
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  withhold the notes we must give and instead bring about
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  a disharmony, a dishonor? A lot
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  to think about. My encouragement for you is to remember
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  you are being contested for and
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  you are being provided for. And I
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  ask you Look at yourself and say, am I acting
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  accordingly? Meanwhile, think on these things today.
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  Take them to prayer and talk about it with those you love. Go in peace,
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  and please do pray for me, for I am a sinner.