TWENTY-FIRST DAY
LOVE AND GRATITUDE THAT WE OWE TO THE GUARDIAN ANGELS
MONTH OF OCTOBER
Consecrated
TO THE HOLY ANGELS
IN WHICH THEIR EXCELLENCES, PREROGATIVES AND OFFICES ARE EXPOSED, ACCORDING TO THE TEACHINGS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE, THE HOLY FATHERS AND DOCTORS OF THE CHURCH
By Alejo Romero, Presbyter
TO START EVERY DAY
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PREPARATORY PRAYER
Sovereign Lord of the world, before whom all the creatures of heaven, earth and hell bend their knees reverently; look at us here prostrate in your divine presence to give you the tributes of love, adoration and respect that are due to your exalted majesty and high greatness. We come to contemplate during this month the excellences, prerogatives and offices with which you have enriched for our benefit those sublime spirits that, like burning lamps, are eternally around your throne, making your divine perfections shine. O beautiful Sun of intelligences, who fill all the empyreum with immense radiance, cast on our souls a flash of those flashes, so that, knowing the deep malice of sin, we may hate it with all our strength, and the living flame of divine love may be lit in our hearts, so that we may walk along the paths of virtue, until we reach heavenly Jerusalem, where we will join our praises to those of the angelic spirits and blessed, to glorify them for all eternity. Amen.
It is read about every day.
TWENTY-FIRST DAY
LOVE AND GRATITUDE THAT WE OWE TO THE GUARDIAN ANGELS
Meditation
POINT 1º. Consider my soul, that the duties that bind us to our Holy Guardian Angels are more imperious and more intimate than those we have for the other Angels and saints of heaven, because, although they have these abundant titles to deserve our love and respect, they do not have divine authority over us nor do they take care of us with more persevering request from the cradle to the grave, because just as when a father gives his son to a master to educate him, he transfers to him the duties of fatherhood when it is convenient for the end he proposes; of the same God, by giving us to the guardian Angels to guide and straighten us in this mortal life, has communicated to them his sovereign authority, whatever is necessary for the achievement of our ultimate end, that is, our eternal happiness. We must, therefore, consider them clothed with divine authority over us; they have the right that God has given them, and we have the duty to consider them as their representatives. And as they faithfully carry out their noble mission, pouring out with their hands full over us the abundance of their favors, from here are born the duties of love and gratitude that we have for them. First of all, love, because the most powerful reason for loving is love itself, this is why it has been said that love begets love: "If you see amari, love," "If you want to be loved, love too." The guardian Angels love us in a very tender way that we cannot understand; because we are like them intelligent and free creatures and the similarity of nature always generates love; they love us because they have seen God love us to the point of giving us his Son and they have seen at the same time this Son give his life to rescue us and be loved by us throughout eternity; more as love only corresponds to love, we must also love our guardian Angels. Even more, even assuming that they did not love us, it would be enough for us to know that God loves them because they are the most perfect creatures he has brought out of nowhere. And wouldn't it be fair for us to love what God loves? What is worthy of divine love, wouldn't it be with greater reason worthy of ours? On the other hand, if the set of qualities that constitute the merit of a person produces love in us, how great should the love we profess to our guardian Angels be: since the greater and more excellent the qualities that adorn a person, the kinder they make him. And who doubts, as has already been demonstrated in the previous days, that the nobility, wisdom, grace, holiness, power, beauty, and other beautiful gifts, which form a harmonious whole are gathered in our guardian Angels? They are, therefore, indisputable and, for the same reason, put beyond doubt the beautiful titles that make creditors to our love for the guardian angels.
POINT 2º. Consider, secondly, that gratitude being the recognition of the benefits dispensed; to no one after the kind Jesus and his most holy Mother, we owe greater gratitude than to our Holy Guardian Angel; because after our Savior and Mary, from no one we have received greater goods and more careful request than from our heavenly protector and perpetual companion. To persuade us well of this duty, it would be enough for us to remember the offices they perform with us: they purify us, enlighten us and perfect us, they free us from the dangers of soul and body, offer God our good works, they come down from heaven to earth, full of blessings and graces that they pour out on our souls, they excuse our faults before God, they assist us in a word day and night, giving us all kinds of attention and care. In view of so many and so continuous benefits that they dispense with us, can we deny them our feelings of gratitude? We would then be more ungrateful than the beasts themselves, - because historians refer to surprising examples of this beautiful virtue given by some animals. Let us solve ourselves, then, to be from now on more grateful to our guardian Angels, and to reciprocate with more grown love to all their tender and loving wakefulness, so their vigilance will be doubled more and more until we put us in possession of the heavenly kingdom.
Holy guardian angels, who are our light, our protectors, our counselors and our guides, receive the tributes of our recognition and pray for us.
Practice
Whenever you come out of a hurry, or the company you undertake has a happy success, remember that your Guardian Angel has taken a very special part and give him the finest thanks.
Three Our Father and three Hail Marys with Gloria Patri are prayed and offered with the following:
Prayer
My most loving guardian Angel, representative of God on earth to direct all my steps towards good and turn away with tender request from the paths of evil; with what love will I be able to reciprocate you with so many and such affectionate care, as you are continually lavishing me since I came to this world? And how can I give you the most vivid testimonies of gratitude that you deserve, when I can barely understand or glimpse the greatness of your benefits? You, my Angel, know well my helplessness and blindness so as not to demand from me the tributes of recognition that correspond to you, therefore, I only beg you to reach me from God the grace to let me rule and govern from you according to the divine favor.
Example
Santa Francisca Romana, who flourished in the mid-fifteenth century, constantly enjoyed the visible presence of her guardian Angel. She saw him next to her in the form of a beautiful child, from whose face such vivid glows were born, that for her there was never night. Her eyes raised to the sky, her lips smiled sweetly, her golden hair floated gracefully with the breeze, her hands crossed over her chest, her clothes appeared sometimes candid like snow, others like the blue of the sky and others of the color of purple. Blessed lived the saint next to such a partner; but if she ever committed a slight fault, she was absent from her until she atoned her. Other times that to attend to the fulfillment of some obligation he had to suspend the prayer of the Holy Rosary or the parvo office of the Blessed Virgin, when he returned he found that the Angel had written with golden letters what he had failed to conclude: the Angels are so pleased with the accuracy in attending to their own duties. (P. Rafael Pérez.)
FINAL SENTENCE
TO THE QUEEN OF LOS ANGELES
Oh, Mary, the purest of virgins, who, by your great humility and heroic virtues, you deserved to be the Mother of the Redeemer of the world, and for this very reason to be constituted Queen of the universe and placed on a majestic throne, from where tender and compassionate you look at the misfortunes of humanity, to remedy them with maternal request; pity, August Mother, of our great misadventures. The world has left in us nothing but sad disappointments and bitter disappointments; in vain we have run in pursuit of the lying happiness that promises to its worshipers, because we have tasted nothing other than the bitter gall of remorse, and our eyes have shed abundant tears that our brothers have not been able to wipe. Everywhere infernal legions pursue us inciting us to evil, and we have no other shelter than to take refuge under the folds of your virginal mantle, as the chicks pursued by the sean have no other asylum than to gather under the wings of the bird that gave them the being. For this, from the bottom of our bitterness we cry out to You to send to us and for our defense the angelic spirits, of whom you are the Queen and Sovereign, so that they free us from their cunning ambushs and guide us along the right path of happiness. Amen
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Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, be my salvation.
Glorious Patriarch Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saint Michael, pray for us.
San Rafael, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel, pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels, pray for us.
All the angels and saints of God, pray for us.
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Dear brother, if you liked this exercise in honor of the holy angels, share it with your family and friends!
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Hail Mary Most Pure, conceived without sin.
Church of the Savior of Toledo at 21:00:00
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