"See that you never despise any of these little ones for I tell you that their angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven."
Gospel of Matthew
In our Christian scriptures, we have many references to angels. We know that God has not left us alone in our struggle. Scripture tells us that angels are present to serve as messengers and protectors.
When Peter was chained in prison and kept under guard, an angel woke him in the middle of the night, released his chains and brought him safely out of prison, past several guards and through locked gates. Angels ministered to Jesus after His temptation in the wilderness and during His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The angels reveal to us that the universe which God created is not just material, but that there are also spiritual connections we must also make in this life.
Pope John XX111 once wrote: "Our Father in heaven has charged His angels to come to our assistance during our earthly journey so that protected by the angels' help and care, we may avoid the snares upon our path, subdue our passions, and follow always the straight and sure road that leads to His Kingdom.
Although I have very little experience of angels as visible celestial beings as portrayed in movies or in TV shows, I can say without any hesitation that I have always experienced a sense of an interior "presence" that lies beyond what I would describe as "self". This interior sense of "presence" which words cannot adequately describe, if I keep in touch with it, guides and leads me to a greater truth that would not be experienced if I relied only on myself.
The aim in our spiritual journey is to establish a right internal order for our lives. I can get my body in shape and cultivate my mind for its own sake, but this is never sufficient to live a life of wholeness and fullness. We also need to get in touch with the guidance and wisdom that lies within whose source is beyond "self". It is here that we discover not only guidance and direction, but the power to live out this wisdom and truth in our lives.
When Jesus told His disciples: "I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of God," I believe this is the message he was trying to convey. Children have that great faculty of trust which many of us lose as we become adults. Jesus is saying that if we can believe in and trust that inner sense of God's presence, beyond "self", then we will be guided by the Spirit of truth and be given the power to live out that truth in our day-to-day journey. We are then listening to the angels sent to us from God to direct our path.
As we read in the Psalms:
You will then not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day;
Nor the plague that prowls in the darkness, nor the scourge that lays waste at noon.
Upon you, no evil shall fall, no plague approach where you dwell;
For you, has God commanded His angels to keep you in all your ways.
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