|
Dear Damien:
Well, first of all, remember that it is God, not your Guardian Angel who deserves the credit for the good things you speak about. The Guardian Angel is on assignment to you by the grace of God and operates upon God's directives. So be careful not to love your Guardian Angel so much that you forget who is behind the good works you Guardian Angel performs.
How to thank your Guardian Angel is simple. Remember that the Guardian Angels do not want you to overdo it in thanking them because all they do is as a messenger of God and thanks needs to be to Him who created the angels.
Here is a good thank you prayer from St. Gertrude:
O most holy angel of God, appointed by God to be my guardian, I give you thanks for all the benefits which you have ever bestowed on me in body and in soul. I praise and glorify you that you condescended to assist me with such patient fidelity, and to defend me against all the assaults of my enemies. Blessed be the hour in which you were assigned me for my guardian, my defender and my patron. In acknowledgement and return for all your loving ministries to me, I offer you the infinitely precious and noble heart of Jesus, and firmly purpose to obey you henceforward, and most faithfully to serve my God. Amen.
Here is another:
Dear Angel at my side, my good and loyal friend, you have been with me since the moment I was born. You are my own personal guardian, given me by God as my guide and protector, and you will stay with me till I die.
He who created you and me gave me to you as your particular charge. You assisted in great joy at my baptism, when I became part of the Mystical Body of Christ, and was made a member of the household of God and an heir of heaven. You saw the dangers that beset my path, and, if I sinned, it was in spite of you.
You envied me when Christ came to me in Holy Communion. Even though you probably were there among the angels that adored Him the night that He was born, you have not been able to receive Him as I can. O, help me to appreciate these gifts! Help me to realize, as you do, with every fiber of my being, that to serve Christ is to be a King! Help me steadfastly to avoid evil and do good and always guard my soul from sin.
Protect me as well from physical evils as I go about my daily work. You will be with me all my life, and at the hour of my death. Help me to face death bravely, patiently, with great love of God, knowing that it is only through death that I can come to Him in heaven! Then, come with me to my Judge, and when the hour of my salvation comes, take me home to my Father, God. Amen.
And yet another:
O Angel of God, my blessed protector, to whose care I have been committed by my Creator from the moment of my birth, unite with me in thanking the Almighty for having given me a friend, and instructor, an advocate, and a guardian in thee.
Accept, O most charitable guide, my fervent thanksgiving for all thou hast done for me; particularly for the charity with which thou didst undertake to accompany me through life; for the joy with which thou wert filled when I was purified in the waters of Baptism; and for thy anxious solicitude in watching over the treasure of my innocence.
Thou knowest the numberless graces and favors which my Creator has bestowed on me through thee, and the many dangers, both spiritual and temporal from which thou hast preserved me. Thou knowest how often thou didst deplore my sins, animate me to repentance, and intercede with God for my pardon. Ah! why have I so little merited a continuance of thy zealous efforts for my salvation? Why have I so often stained my soul by sin, and thereby rendered myself unworthy of the presence and protection of an angel, of so pure a spirit as thou art, who never sinned? But as my ingratitude and thoughtlessness have not lessened thy charitable interest for my salvation, so neither shall they diminish my confidence in thy goodness, nor prevent me from abandoning myself to thy care, since God Himself has entrusted thee with the charge of my soul.
Penetrated with sorrow for the little progress I have made in virtue, though blessed with such a Master, and sincerely determined to correspond in future with thy exertions for my salvation, I most earnestly entreat thee, O protecting spirit, to continue thy zealous efforts for my eternal interest; to fortify my weakness, to shield me from innumerable dangers of the world and to obtain by thy powerful prayers that my life may rather be shortened, than that I should live to commit a mortal sin.
Remember, O most happy spirit, that it was one act of profound humility, and one transport of ardent love for thy Creator, that caused God to establish thee forever in glory; obtain that those virtues may be implanted in my soul, and that I may seriously endeavor to acquire docility, obedience, gentleness and purity of heart. Conduct me safely through this world of sin and misery; watch over me at the awful hour of my death; perform for my soul the last charitable office of thy mission, by strengthening, encouraging, and supporting me in the agonies of dissolution, and then, as the angel Raphael conducted Tobias safely to his father, do thou, my good angel and blessed guide, return with me to Him who sent thee, that we may mutually bless Him, and publish His wonderful works for a happy eternity. Amen.
Then finally, there is this Litany to the Guardian Angel:
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy .
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven,
have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God,
have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Queen of Angels
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my guardian
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my prince
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my monitor
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my counselor
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my defender
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my steward
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my friend
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my consoler
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my brother
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my teacher
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my shepherd
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my witness
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my helper
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my watcher
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my negotiator
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my intercessor
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my patron
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my ruler
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my protector
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my defender
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my leader
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my preserver
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my preacher
pray for us.
Holy Angel, my enlightener
pray for us.
Holy Angel, guard and keep us
pray for us.
From every sin
guard and preserve us!
From every danger
guard and preserve us!
From every snare of the devil
guard and preserve us!
From every enemy, visible and invisible
guard and preserve us!
From pestilence, hunger, and war
guard and preserve us!
From the works of darkness
guard and preserve us!
From sluggishness in the service of God
guard and preserve us!
From sadness and anxiety
guard and preserve us!
From hardness of heart
guard and preserve us!
From the unworthy reception
of the Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord
guard and preserve us!
From a sudden and unprovided death
guard and preserve us!
From the eternal death
guard and preserve us!
Lamb of God,
who takes away the sins of the world,
spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God,
who takes away the sins of the world,
graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God,
who takest away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us.
Christ,hear us,
Christ,hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Hail, Mary! Full of grace,
The Lord is with thee;
Blessed are thou among women,
And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now, and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
V. He has commanded his Angles to watch over thee,
R. That they may guard thee in all thy ways.
V. Lord, hear my prayer,
R. Let my cry come before Thee.
Let us pray;
Almighty and eternal God,
who hast created me in Thy image,
though unworthy that I am,
and hast assigned Thy holy Angel as my guardian,
grant me, Thy servant,
that I may happily pass over the dangers of every evil,
both of body and soul,
and after the course of this life,
to come to eternal joy.
Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen
To say one of these prayers each day, rotating them throughout the week is sufficient for you devotion and thanks of your Guardian Angel.
God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary
|