{"id":5008,"date":"2011-05-09T11:00:52","date_gmt":"2011-05-09T15:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/?p=5008"},"modified":"2011-05-03T12:33:08","modified_gmt":"2011-05-03T16:33:08","slug":"everyone-has-a-guardian-angel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2011\/05\/everyone-has-a-guardian-angel.html","title":{"rendered":"Everyone Has a Guardian Angel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Does everyone have a guardian angel? Mike Leach, author of “Why Stay Catholic? Unexpected Answers to a Life-Changing Question”<\/a> thinks so. This is one of my favorite sections of his book.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLook, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!\u201d \u2014Zuzu Bailey, “It\u2019s a Wonderful Life”<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in angels.\u201d \u2014ABBA<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In a 2007 Gallup poll, three out of four Americans said, \u201cI believe in angels.\u201d Americans trust angels ten times more than they do their congressmen. That makes sense.<\/p>\n

Angels are a traditional Catholic idea, but how well do we understand what we believe in? How many of us think of angels as heavenly Tinkerbells? It never hurts to be like Zuzu Bailey and, when we take our favorite ornament out of the box, polish it and hold it in front of our eyes before placing it on the tree. We may see something new. Does an angel really get its wings every time a Christmas bell rings?<\/p>\n

Of course it does!<\/p>\n

Now on to the next question. What is an angel? An angel is a messenger from God.<\/p>\n

Like the UPS man?<\/p>\n

No, an angel is more like the postman. But unlike a postman in Alabama, say, who delivers a letter from Alaska to a third person in Mobile, the angelic messenger and its message are one. An angel is a good idea from God.<\/p>\n

The message comes from God to a child of God, just like that. That\u2019s why we can\u2019t see angels. They\u2019re instant.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn angel gives us a closer idea of God,\u201d writes Meister Eckhart. \u201cThat is all an angel is: an idea of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catholicism says we are surrounded by angels\u2014God\u2019s blessed ideas for us\u2014just as surely as if we were in the center of a fresco painted by Raphael. Angels guided Mary and Joseph on their flight from Bethlehem to Egypt. Angels guarded Jesus in the desert and comforted him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus counseled all of us: \u201cSee that you never look down upon one of these children, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven\u201d (Matthew 18:10, adapted). Was he not telling us that children see the face of God more clearly than adults because they are open to visits from angels? \u201cAngels,\u201d writes Richard McBrien in Catholicism, \u201care reminders that there is more to the created order than what we actually see, feel, hear, and taste.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be open to angels is to be open to miracles. A miracle is an angel heard.<\/p>\n

For my video on guardian angels click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

* Click here to subscribe to Beyond Blue<\/b><\/a> and click here to follow Therese on Twitter<\/b><\/a> and click here to join Group Beyond Blue<\/b><\/a>, a depression support group. Now stop clicking.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does everyone have a guardian angel? Mike Leach, author of “Why Stay Catholic? Unexpected Answers to a Life-Changing Question” thinks so. This is one of my favorite sections of his book. \u201cLook, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings!\u201d \u2014Zuzu Bailey, “It\u2019s a Wonderful Life” \u201cI believe in angels.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration-and-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nEveryone Has a Guardian Angel - Beyond Blue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2011\/05\/everyone-has-a-guardian-angel.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Everyone Has a Guardian Angel - Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Does everyone have a guardian angel? 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