Catholic and Enjoying It!
A reader writes:
I asked this same question of Bishop Robert Barron so you’re in good company. In pop-Christian culture I hear accounts of travelers missing a flight that ends up crashing. Often God and/or their guardian angel is given credit for orchestrating events to save their lives. One wonders what of those who died? Having said that…
Do you have any thoughts regarding the role of guardian angels in our lives and the yesterday’s tragedy in Oregon? I ask this as a Catholic believer & lover of God. But I have been trying to wrap my head around the irony all morning. Then again, at a deeper level, maybe there is no irony at all. Thank you.
I believe in angels, of course. But I think the job of an angel is *primarily* to help us prepare for a holy death. Angels show up in the life of Jesus, and what do they do? Help him get ready for Calvary. The angel in Gethsemane isn’t there to rescue him, but to help strengthen him. Beyond that, we know not the day or the hour…
The Holy Martyrs of Roseburg’s angels appear to have done their jobs very well to me. No angel is going to be able to prevent your death forever. But if you cooperate with your angel, he will orient the trajectory of your life so that, when you come to it as you surely shall, death will be a door, not a hole.
Holy Guardian Angels, pray for us!
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