Invite the angels

The celebrant of a Mass I attended recently said beliefs of many in our town in potions and icons to protect them were misplaced.

It is Catholic teaching that there are angels; that each one of us has been assigned a personal guardian angel from infancy. Many of these beings must be disappointed at being ignored for most of our lives!

There are surely a multitude of unassigned angels ready for ad hoc duties for the Lord. With the world being as it is today, there must be plenty for them to do.

We believe that help comes from God alone, albeit through the intercession of saints and other faithful. Might angels also be a force for good? We could contrast this with the sangoma’s statements regarding his products.

Satan has his minions, too, the fallen angels, which are doing a marvellous job for their master. There are wars, genocides, the betrayal of nations and persons by those in positions of trust by politicians such as Robert Mugabe, and decreasing recourse to or even acknowledgment of God in the halls of power.

In England the denial of God’s existence is advertised on a London bus, and leading people in South Africa seem embarrassed to be even remotely religious. With greed over-evident, the almighty “I” is all that matters.

When I was taught catechism, an important warning was to “avoid dangerous occasions of sin”. For youth today, avoidance of sin must be terribly difficult.

Satan’s followers benefit from human apathy. Perhaps the good angels need to be invited into our lives. Jesus said: “I stand before the door and knock. If anyone should hear my voice, I will come in and share his meal.”

Let’s extend such an invitation to the angels.

Tom Drake, Alberton