Everyday Prayers: Guardian Angel Prayer

Every person who has ever lived, is living now, and ever will live has a guardian angel. Think about that for a moment. God assigns every single human being an angelic companion, who stays right beside that person from the moment of conception until the final breath. 

Our angels protect us and guide us according to God's will, and their goal is to get us home to Heaven to be with God, and with them, forever. If we pay attention to them, learn to recognize their gentle promptings, and follow the advice they whisper to our hearts, we will find it easier to choose virtue and avoid sin. 

Unfortunately, though, most of us tend to forget that we even have a guardian angel. We simply often ignore this God-appointed being who is really one of our best friends. 

To help us recall and rely on our guardian angels, we should say the following prayer at least once a day:

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

1. Angel of God – According to the Catechism, an angel is “a spiritual, personal, and immortal creature, with intelligence and free will, who glorifies God without ceasing and who serves God as a messenger of His saving plan” (p. 866). Angels are higher than human beings in the spiritual hierarchy. They know much more than we do, for they see God face to face. Those who have chosen to serve Him (and some did not and fell from their high place) do so perfectly. The angels love God with a full, deep love, and they love us dearly, too. They want nothing more than to see us get to Heaven, so when one of them is called to serve as a guardian, he must be quite thrilled with the job, as difficult as it must be.

2. my guardian dear – Here we accept our angel as our own beloved friend. We acknowledge his protection and guidance and begin to express our gratitude.

3. to whom His love commits me here – God is the One Who assigns each individual person to an individual angel. He entrusts us to the angel's care out of love. Of course, God never stops protecting us and guiding us Himself, but He wants to give us every possible opportunity to know and respond to His loving plan of salvation, so He also gives us an angel to help us.

4. ever this day be at my side – With these words, we ask our angel to do something that he does anyway. He stays right beside us every single minute of every single day. So why do we pray this? Really, we are reminding ourselves that we have a guardian angel at our side all the time and that we can depend on him. He will never leave.

5. to light and guard – Part of a guardian angel's job is to illuminate our minds with truth, especially about God's loving will, and to shine a spotlight on what we need to know to make good moral choices. A guardian angel also guards his charge, providing protection especially from spiritual dangers and attacks from the enemy but also offering protection from physical dangers according to God's will.

6. to rule and guide – Our guardian angel nudges us in the right direction. He gives us a gentle push along the correct path. He tells our hearts how to follow God's will. But we have to listen. We have free will, and we can choose to ignore both our angel and God. Our angel can't force us, but if we let him, he will always point us toward God.

7. Amen – With this one little word, we give a firm “yes” to everything we have just prayed. We reaffirm our acknowledgment of our guardian angel and commit ourselves to his care and counsel. We promise to listen to him and to follow him as he guides us along the path to Heaven.

Let us pray.

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom His love commits me here, ever this day be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.

Everyday Prayers: Come, Holy Spirit, Part 2

Let's continue our reflections on the Come, Holy Spirit prayer with the goal of growing closer to the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide. 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

1. Let us pray. - With these three words, we invite, even urge, ourselves and others to pray. We commit to reaching out to God in open and loving communication. Notice the plural here. Even when we recite this prayer individually, we are still including our human family, and especially our family of faith, in our petitions. When we are Christians, we are never really alone.

2. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful – Early Christians called Baptism “Illumination.” At Baptism, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the deepest part of us, in our hearts and souls, and He shines a light into us and though us. The Holy Spirit, when we are open, lights up the truth for us, the truth about God, about the world, about other people, about ourselves. And when we get out of His way, He can radiate through us to others and touch their hearts. Remember, too, that we don't know truth with just our minds. Rational thought is certainly part of the equation, but we also know the truth with our hearts, with that deep down intuition that is a gift from God, and with our faith when we choose to conform our minds and hearts to the reality that God has revealed.

3. grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise – What does it mean to be wise? The Catechism says that wisdom is “a spiritual gift which enables one to know the purpose and plan of God.” Fr. Jordan Aumann further explains that wisdom allows us “to judge and order all things in accordance with divine norms and with a connaturality that flows from loving union with God.” In other words, the Holy Spirit's gift of wisdom allows us to see (at least as far as humans ever can) through the eyes of God. It helps us figure out God's plans and purposes. It helps us make decisions based on God's standards. It helps us choose and act in, through, and because of our intimacy with God. This is to be truly wise.

4. and ever to rejoice in His consolation – We humans are weak and fragile and prone to being upset and frightened and worried. The Holy Spirit, therefore, consoles us in our troubles. He comforts us in our fears and failures and distress. He speaks to our hearts of God's loving care, of God's plan for our lives, of God's expectations. He lets us know that, no matter what, God will never stop loving us. He whispers that God's forgiveness is ours for the taking; we just have to repent and confess with sincere hearts. He reminds us that Jesus died for us and rose again that we might be with God forever in Heaven.

5. Through Christ our Lord. - We ask God the Father for the wisdom and consolation of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ, the Son. This is how all of our prayers always flow, for Jesus is the God-Man and the mediator between God and man.

6. Amen. - As always, we end our prayer with a resounding “Amen,” a firm yes to everything we have just prayed. In doing so, we affirm our faith in the Holy Spirit and our desire for His great gifts.

Let us pray once again.

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Everyday Prayers: Come, Holy Spirit, Part 1

The Holy Spirit is the most mysterious and seemingly inaccessible Person of the Blessed Trinity. We can relate to Jesus Christ, the Son, for He became like us in all things except sin. We can even relate to the Father, for Jesus has shown us how He is Abba (Daddy) to all His children. But the Holy Spirit is more difficult to get to know. We usually see Him under the guise of symbols, like a dove, tongues of fire, or a cloud, and those signs simply don't feel personal to us. 

That being said, we must still make a constant effort to grow closer to the Holy Spirit, to become ever more intimate with Him, for He is our Advocate and our Guide. He is the One Who inspires us. He is the One Who dwells within our souls when we are in a state of grace. He is the very Love that flows between the Father and the Son and from Them out to us. 

To begin our quest for a deeper personal relationship with the Holy Spirit, we can pray the following simple yet meaningful prayer every day:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

1. Come, Holy Spirit – We begin with an invitation, asking the Holy Spirit to come to us. We could stop the prayer right here if we say these three words with a loving, humble, childlike expectation and an open heart. The Holy Spirit will come to us when we ask Him.

2. fill the hearts of Your faithful – We continue to pray because we need to remember exactly what the Holy Spirit does when He comes to us. He fills our hearts. He enters the deepest part of our being and saturates us with the divine presence. That's exactly what we want: to be so filled with God that there is no room for anything else.

3. and enkindle in them the fire of Your love – The Holy Spirit starts a fire in us, a fire of love. Think about fire for a moment. It is a source of warmth and energy and life, but it also dangerous. God is like that, too. He is our Source of warmth and energy and life, but He is also dangerous. He is more powerful than we can ever imagine. When He enters our souls, He transforms us. He sets us on fire. He leads us into an intimacy with Him that we cannot fully grasp, and He guides us and sends us out into situations we never would have imagined we'd be in. A relationship with God is a risk. We can't control God. We have to let go of ourselves and surrender to His burning love. But it's a risk that's well worth taking.

4. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. - This sentence and the one that follows come from Psalm 104:30. Here we remember that the Holy Spirit was that breath of God that brooded over the waters at the beginning of the universe. God's Holy Spirit was active in creation, infusing the world with being and love.

5. And You shall renew the face of the earth. – God's Holy Spirit never rests. God keeps the world in being at every moment. If He stopped thinking about anyone or anything for even an instant, that person or thing would simply cease to be. But He doesn't. His Holy Spirit continually blows through the world, breathing new life into every place in which He is welcomed. This is especially true now the Jesus Christ has poured out the Holy Spirit upon those who believe in Him and follow Him. The Holy Spirit breathes in us, renewing us, refreshing us, and drawing us ever closer to the Blessed Trinity.

We will continue our reflections in the next post, but now let's pray again:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant us in the same Spirit to be truly wise and ever to rejoice in His consolation. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Holy Saturday: Waiting

The whole world waits in silence. Yesterday the King of the Universe died on the cross. Today all is quiet, watching, sensing that something more is soon to come, anticipating what will happen next.

Mother Mary waits, too. Yesterday she watched her Son suffer and die, and a huge part of her suffered and died with Him. Today she mourns in hope, remembering and trusting in His promise that after three days He would rise again. 

Mary's companions wait also. Yesterday these women stood with Mary near the cross, weeping over the death of their Lord. Today they remain close to Mary, tears still streaming down their cheeks, listening to her comforting words and taking heart in her calm demeanor.

The apostles wait in grief. Yesterday all their hope died on the cross with Jesus. Today they don't know how they will go on without Him or what they should do next. Despair creeps closer as the day passes.

The guards at the tomb wait and wonder. Yesterday the Man inside was crucified, and even though He is definitely dead and gone, the Jews requested a watch to make sure His disciples don't steal His body. Today the guards feel nervous, perceiving currents in the air but not understanding what they mean. Nothing could possibly happen, could it?

Pontius Pilate waits and ponders. Yesterday he ordered a Man to be crucified, a Man he knew was not guilty. Jesus had talked to him about truth, but he didn't know what truth was. He didn't even know if there was any such thing as truth. Today, though, he has strong suspicion that the Truth is about to crash down upon the world in a way he could never have imagined.

The Jewish leaders wait, strangely apprehensive. Yesterday, to their great satisfaction, their enemy had died on the cross, and they figured they would have to deal with him no longer. Today they aren't so sure. Something is brewing; they can't tell what, but they are pretty sure they aren't going to like it.

We wait, too. Yesterday our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for us, to save us from our sins and reconcile us with God, to open Heaven for us, to give us eternal life. Today we quietly prepare for what we know will happen tomorrow.

Amen.

Everyday Prayers: The Hail Mary, Part 2

Let's return to our reflections on the Hail Mary. We'll begin with prayer:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

1. The prayer's second sentence comes directly from Scripture except for the last word of it. In Luke 1:39, Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims these words to Mary in welcome. In doing so, she recognizes Mary's special role in salvation history, even going so far, in the next verse, as to call her visitor “the mother of my Lord.” Elizabeth then informs her guest that even her own unborn child has recognized the singularity of the situation: “For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.” Elizabeth completes her greeting with another blessing: “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Mary is blessed both because of what has happened to her and because of her response to God's plan in her life.

2. Blessed art thou among women – Mary holds a unique place among all women who ever lived, who live now, and who ever will live. She is the Mother of God, the one specifically chosen to bear the Incarnate Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Elizabeth may not understand this completely, but her heart tells her that Mary is no ordinary guest. We, too, recognize Mary's special blessing and extraordinary role when we join Elizabeth in proclaiming these words.

3. and blessed is the fruit of thy womb – How could Elizabeth have known that Mary was pregnant? Mary hadn't even said one word to her yet. The Holy Spirit has clearly filled Elizabeth's mind with knowledge and her heart with joy. She sings out a blessing on the Child Who would be her Lord and Savior, and we join our voices to hers in prayer and love.

4. Jesus – We, however, know something that Elizabeth didn't when she was speaking to Mary that day. We know the name of our Lord and Savior: Jesus Christ. We can call our God by name, for He has reached out to us in love, becoming like us in everything except sin.

5. Holy Mary – Mary is indeed holy. From the very instant of her conception, she was set apart for God. Conceived without original sin and therefore enjoying the intimacy of the divine indwelling, Mary remained sinless her entire life. Today she stands beside her Son in the bliss of Heaven.

6. Mother of God – Jesus is God. Mary is the Mother of Jesus. Therefore, Mary is the Mother of God. These three simple sentences form what has long been called the “Ephesus syllogism.” They express the faith of the Catholic Church, which was clearly defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. Of course, the Church believed this about Mary since the very beginning, but as often happens, the doctrine was explicitly stated after it was challenged by heretical claims. The Church always makes sure that her children receive the full truth about the faith.

7. pray for us sinners – We can be certain that Mary prays for all of her children all the time. She wants us to be with God and with her in Heaven forever, and she will do all she can to make sure that happens. Mary also brings our prayers to her divine Son, adding the strength and reverence of her own prayers to ours. We sinners (and we are all sinners) can always rely on the powerful prayers of our sinless Mother.

8. now and at the hour of our death – When we ask for Mary's prayers, she always gives them. We are constantly on her mind and in her heart. We especially need Mary's prayers at the hour of our death when we prepare to meet God face to face and when the enemy tempts us to despair. Then our Mother comes to comfort and strengthen us and presents her prayers on our behalf to her divine Son.

9. Amen – With this one little word, we say a firm “Yes” to everything we have just prayed. We once again recognize who Mary is, acknowledge her blessedness and grace, and reiterate our request for her prayers. We also express our great love for our holy Mother.

Once again, then, let us pray:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Everyday Prayers: Hail Mary, Part 1

Most Catholics pray the Hail Mary constantly. We learned it as children, recite it many times with every Rosary, and find it on our lips in times of stress and trial. We automatically call upon our Mother Mary for relief, comfort, support, and prayer. 

But how often do we pause to think about what we are really saying when we pray the Hail Mary? The next few posts will examine this beautiful everyday prayer in detail and draw out at least some of its great riches.

We'll being by praying the Hail Mary:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

1. The first sentence of the Hail Mary comes directly from Luke 1:28. The archangel Gabriel greets Mary with these very words when he appears to her at the annunciation. These words are spoken by God's messenger, and therefore, they come directly from God Himself, for Gabriel only speaks what God wills him to speak. When we pray these words, then, we are praying in the very words of God and speaking to Mary in the very words God uses to describe her.

2. Hail Mary – The word “Hail” indicates a special greeting for a special person. We are not merely saying hello but addressing Mary in a more formal way that recognizes her special status as the Mother of God and as our mother and queen.

3. full of grace – The Greek word used here is kecharitōmenē. A literal translation would sound something like this: “you who have been fully graced.” The word is a perfect passive participle in the vocative feminine singular. Let's unpack that mouthful of grammar. Vocative simply means that we are addressing Mary directly, and of course, Mary is one person (singular) and female. The word is a participle, which, in this case, serves in the capacity of an adjective and describes a characteristic of Mary. The participle is passive. The action happens to Mary but is performed by someone else. Finally, the participle is in perfect tense. In Greek, the perfect tense is like a red flag that draws attention to something very important. It sets an idea in the foreground and points a big arrow directly at it. It also implies a fullness and an ongoing condition that is the result of some event that took place in the past.

If we put all that back together, then, we discover that this one little Greek word tells us that someone (God, of course) has made Mary fully graced. He has done so in the past (at her Immaculate Conception), and the condition continues into the present. Being full of grace is a characteristic of Mary, and Luke presents that fact in such a way that it stands out. God really, really wanted Mary to know this about herself, and He also wants us to know this about Mary.

4. the Lord is with thee – God is indeed with Mary. Because she was conceived without original sin, God's Spirit dwelt within Mary from the very beginning of her life. Original sin is, of course, the absence of sanctifying grace in the soul, the absence of God's indwelling presence. But Mary never experienced this. Because the Lord chose to apply the merits of Jesus' redemptive death to Mary ahead of time, God was with Mary from her very first moment. He was with her when Gabriel appeared. He was always with her, for she never lost sanctifying grace through sin. He is with her even today, for she stands beside her Son in Heaven, basking in His love. 

We will continue our reflections in the next post, but now let us pray:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Everyday Prayers: Hail, Holy Queen, Part 3

Once again, we will resume our reflections on the Hail, Holy Queen by praying this beautiful prayer.

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen. 

1. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us – With these words, we ask Mary to look upon us in our misery. We beg her to turn to us with compassion, seeing not just our sins but our weaknesses, our needs, and our longings. Mary is our Advocate, the one who takes our case before the divine Judge and pleads for our pardon and our peace. She also presents all of our prayers to God, joining her own prayers to them to strengthen them that they may be answered according to the divine will.

2. and after this our exile – When we are in this world, we are away from our true home, which is Heaven. We lack face-to-face contact with God, the beatific vision that we one day hope to have. We walk in exile, on a journey toward our homeland but still separated from the perfection we crave. As St. Paul says, while we are here on earth, we see only as through a darkened mirror, dimly, indistinctly (1 Cor 13:12), but after the days of our exile, we will see the glory of God.

3. show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus – In fact, we ask Mary to show us her Son and, in doing so, we are actually asking her to get us safely home to Heaven, where we will see Jesus face to face. As we make this request, we also acknowledge that Jesus is both God (reigning in Heaven) and Man (born of Mary).

4. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! – We cry out to our Mother with open, longing hearts, recognizing her great mercy, her tender love, and her sweet nature.

5. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God – Once again, we beg for Mary's powerful prayers, knowing that as the spotless Mother of God, she has special access to her divine Son, Jesus.

6. that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ – What are the promises of Christ? Jesus has promised eternal life to those who believe in Him and obey His commands. And what are Jesus' commands? In the Gospel of Matthew, a lawyer asks Jesus, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus responds, “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (22:36-40). When we ask Mary to make us worthy of the promises of Christ, then, we are asking her to obtain for us living faith, the faith that both believes in Who Jesus is and lovingly acts on what He commands.

7. Amen – With this one little world, we give our full ascent to everything we have just said about the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in our lives and in God's plan of salvation. Our Amen should express our great love for our Mother.

Now let us pray:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning, and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary! Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. Amen.