Praying with the Angels

Print in my room. 

“Each one of us, even the poorest of the poor, has angels watching over him. The angels are glorious, pure and splendid, but they have been given to us as companions along the way of life. They have the task of watching over you all, so that you do not stray away from Christ, your Lord.” - Pope Pius XII, October 3, 1958 

Praying Alone 

I have a print of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane hanging in my bedroom. And even though the trials I face are nothing compared to His, on a level, I can identify.

While Jesus prayed, on the eve of His crucifixion, his disciples slept. He knew what it was like to pray without human company. And, so do I.

I do understand, of course, that God is always listening. Just like I know He is always there when we pray. Sometimes I feel His presence and sometimes I don't. And when I don't, I can't help wishing that there were other people there to pray with me. 

Unfortunately, there are no family prayers in our house and no immediate possibility of them either. Or so I thought.

Because now, thanks to the Opus Sanctorum Angelorum (Work of the Holy Angels), I'm starting to see prayer in a different way. 

My New Course of Study

The Opus Angelorum (or OA) promotes devotion to the holy angels through Church approved spiritual formation. The Order offers a 12 month home study course with access to priests and religious if needed, various retreat locations, a nice selection of books and media, and a path to consecration at a nearby OA event.

Everything I've received from the OA so far is wonderful. This includes monthly Formation Letters, prayer cards and related books and booklet. Some of which are pictured below.

I'll be sharing more on what I'm learning in future posts. But in this one I want to talk about something I heard in a video by OA associated Fr. Matthew Hincks. 

The video explains the 12 ways you can grow with the angels. While all 12 suggestions were excellent, there was one that really stuck with me.

A New Way to Pray

I'll write out the 12 suggestions in my next blog post because it is my intent incorporate all of them into my life. But this morning I'm focusing on number eight, which I have already tried.

Pray with your Holy Guardian Angel.

Note the wording here. Fr. Hinck does not say that we should pray to our guardian angel (though we certainly can pray to him - provided we understand the difference between angels and God). Instead, Father is telling us to pray with our guardian angel. 

Fr. Hinck goes on to remind us that when two or three are gathered together in His name, Our Lord is present. For me, the idea that my guardian angel can serve as a companion in prayer was a revelation. So this morning, when I prayed the Rosary, I asked my guardian angel to pray along with me and then I asked the angels of various family members to join in. 

By the time we got to the Salve Regina, there was an entire company of us, there in my room praying. And I felt myself to be in wonderful company.

You can get Fr. Hinck's full teaching on this topic (Twelve Steps to a Living Friendship with the Guardian Angel) on the Opus Angelorum website for $4. I just picked it up and have already listened to it twice!

For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.  - Matthew 18:20 (Douay-Rheims Bible)

Material from the OA.

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For more on the Opus Angelorum, please visit OpusAngelorum.org There is a lot of great free content on the website!