Pope Francis

Friday, 22 May 2015

Angels

It is common doctrine that each and every man, baptised or not, has his guardian angel. The angel’s mission begins with the conception of a man and continues up to the moment of his death. St John Chrysostom affirms that all the guardian angels will gather together at the universal judgement in order to bear witness themselves to the ministry that they exercised through God’s command for the salvation of each man (St John Chrysostom, Catena Aurea, vol III, p238).

This trust and veneration of our first brothers in the Faith for the angels is particularly highlighted in the account of the freeing of St Peter from prison: An angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell, and he struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying ‘Get up quickly'. And the chains fell from off his hands. And the angel said to him, ‘Dress yourself and put on your sandals’ And he did so. And he said to him, ‘Wrap your mantle around you and follow me' (Acts 12:7-11)

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