If you saw the movie Hacksaw Ridge, you saw how Desmond Doss seemed fearless when faced with the daunting task of rescuing wounded soldiers during the Battle of Okinawa. 75 men owe their lives to his courage, even though, as a pacifist, he never carried a gun during the war. The men he rescued describe Desmond Doss as a “guardian angel,” and he was the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his courage during the battle. As heroic as he was, a guardian angel is so much more powerful and amazing.
From the time we came into existence, God has assigned a guardian angel to each one of us. Our guardian angel’s primary purpose is to get us to Heaven. He is supposed to protect and shepherd us. Finally, he intercedes to God on our behalf. Your guardian angel is your greatest ally for your spiritual life, and you should grow in your devotion if you want to grow in holiness. The other day, I came across a passage that still has me thinking about our relationship with our guardian angel. I would be careful about claiming a guardian angel is designed with a personality, but I was intrigued by what the author had to say.
We’ve all heard that we become the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Your guardian angel was specifically designed with a personality that was meant to rub off on you. You’re supposed to have a certain amount of psychological compatibility with your guardian angel — his personality was meant to influence you, the decisions that you make, the way that you speak, the way that you think. And God designed this from the beginning (Cameron Riecker “The Devil Revealed to Padre Pio the Secret to Beating Lust”).
How is it that your angel’s “personality” is supposed to do something that changes how you act and brings you closer to God? It seems like it is a lot to say that an angel has a personality, but I do think our angels interact in a way that helps us grow in holiness. An angel is created with intellect and will, and his purpose is to aid you in your spiritual journey.
It is perhaps hard to speak of a “personality” regarding angels. However, we can say confidently that each angel is different from the others. When St. Thomas Aquinas reflects on the angels, he shares that as spiritual substances not individualized by physical bodies, each angel is completely unique (cf. Summa Theologica, I, q. 50, a. 5). Perhaps along these lines, we could think of our angels having a personality.
Our angel looks for the way to help us in our spiritual journey, illuminating our minds towards the good and helping us resist what draws us away from God.. Personally, I think this is very hard to imagine. But I will do my best to explain it and would love to get other people’s perspectives.
Our guardian angels do not need to learn about our human nature the same way we do. But each angel accompanies us through the circumstances of our lives and suggests a course of action that leads us towards Heaven and holiness.
What does it mean to be guided by an intelligence immensely higher than our own? This is one of the great gifts that God gives us and I think few of us really take advantage of it. Perhaps, we are used to praying a simple prayer to our guardian angel before traveling or when we are going to bed. However, this seems like too powerful of an ally to relegate to peripheral areas of our lives. We should get in the habit of consulting our guardian angels frequently.
Especially when we are experiencing temptation, we should turn to our guardian angel to petition grace and strength. A guardian angel doesn’t intervene only in crisis moments, like Desmond Doss at Hacksaw Ridge. Our guardian angel is right beside us when we are thinking about cheating on a test, saying an unkind word, or cutting someone off in traffic. By responding to his guidance, we draw closer to God and cooperate more fully in the work of our salvation.
Perhaps our guardian angel wants more than occasional prayer before bed or when we find ourselves in danger. Maybe he is waiting for us to invite him into the everyday decisions we have to take, because this is where holiness is won or lost.
You wrote the word ‘psychology’ and suddenly, im back.
LIKE A MAGNET.
Do we all have guardian angels? can they help those who dont believe or are they only helpful when we do?
If mine was designed for me, will its influence help me be less of an abrasive, argumentative pain in the neck? If it does, it feels like i would then be less “me”. Can it make me a more coherent pain in the neck instead? i feel like thats a comfortable middle ground… or does it only change my personality to make me more god-orientated? If that's the case, what exactly would that entail? Like if im believing in angels, that's probably pretty rad already.
I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
I'd actually never heard the 5 friends thing… i only have like 3 (no suprise to anyone) and i rarely leave the house, so that may be why…
Father, well said! I met CMH Desmond Doss and wrote an article about it--the link is pasted here: https://rbj.net/2023/05/26/conscience-requires-each-of-us-to-seek-and-find-the-truth-business-ethics/