I have a most extraordinary friend. We became attached one to the other more than 57 years ago. This friend of mine has every quality. He is loyal. Never has he left me alone.
He is intelligent, dazzlingly so. He has only to look at a thing, and he comprehends it through and through.
He is beautiful. There are no words describe the youthfulness of his countenance; he is fresh as the morning dew, and in his eyes, as in pools of crystal, one sees reflections of heaven.
He is strong. Nothing is too heavy for him. Nothing tires him. Nothing can resist his power.
He is lovable, always equal to himself, unchangeably peaceful and pacifying. And wherever he goes he leaves a trail of serenity and of joy.
He is grateful, grateful for the littlest words and gestures. And he remembers absolutely everything. It has happened, and often, I fear, that I have made him weep. Oh, yes, he weeps, but he pardons also, and very quickly. And he never holds a grudge.
He is a physician too. And what a physician! He treats and heals both body and soul.
He is a brilliant psychotherapist. He listens to all my sorry tales. He gives me the wisest counsels. He consoles me and sets me on my feet again. He shows me the path to follow. And he preserves me from ever despairing of the mercy of God.
He is my advocate, forever taking up my cause and pleading my defense. He speaks so in my favour, and when he does so, his eloquence is angelic.
While I sleep, he keeps watch. While I keep vigil, he keeps vigil with me. If I have to travel, he always goes along for the journey. (He has no fear of flying.)
His greatest joy -- perhaps you have already guessed it -- is when he accompanies me to the altar to offer the Holy Sacrifice. There he becomes absolutely radiant. He stands, like a deacon, at my side.
He is completely at home in the liturgy of the Church, and he knows it inside out. He sings with understanding, he bows profoundly, he teaches me how I am to conduct myself in the presence of the Thrice Holy God.
At the moment of the Consecration, he becomes all luminous: beautiful with an indescribable beauty. I feel him trembling with joy next to me. And then he becomes utterly silent; he becomes like a flame of adoration. At this moment he is never alone. All his confrères arrive and sometimes, just sometimes, one feels, but ever so slightly, the hushed movement of wings of light. They arrive, all of them together, to surround the altar and then, they adore, they adore, they adore.
For him Mass is never too long. Holy Mass is what he loves most on this earth of ours: Holy Mass, and then adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. He is always directing me towards the tabernacle.
Oh, and one other thing. He is phenomenally in love with my Mother, the Most Holy Virgin Mary. Her always calls her his Queen and his Sovereign. He reminds me often that Jesus, from the summit of the Cross said, not to an angel but to a man, "Behold thy mother." When I pray to Holy Mary, he exhales the loveliest of perfumes: a fragrance of purity, humility and love all at once.
So there you have it: a little portrait of my friend. Each of you has one rather like him. Love these celestial friends of ours, honour them, and consult them; and, today, give thanks to the Father for having given them to us.
His Excellency, Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma has given
Father Mark a special mandate to live under the Rule of Saint Benedict in adoration before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus, offering thanksgiving, intercession, and reparation for all his
brothers in Holy Orders. In this way, Father is preparing the foundation of the new Diocesan Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of the Cenacle. Father Mark is available to the
priests and deacons of the Diocese for spiritual and sacramental support in their pursuit of holiness. He is also charged with the spiritual formation of women who desire to dedicate themselves to spiritual motherhood in favour of priests.
That was magnificent. Thank you.
"And he preserves me from ever despairing of the mercy of God".
Thank you Father for this post.I really needed to hear these words,all of them in fact but especially the above sentence today.I didn't realise our Guardian Angels were like this! There was me feeling all alone today,and my Angel is here with me all the time.
I need to know if you received you guardian angel at the time of your Baptism, or from birth - also, do only the Baptized have them, or does everybody? If everybody has one, what does that guardian angel do with itself if the one who it is intended for should go to Hell? -- Another related question, "Can someone Baptized actually Go to Hell Forever? Sometimes it seems impossible to me that Our Father would send his very own reborn son or daughter to Hell forever and forever - I wait for your answers for i see you are an expert with real inside spiritual knowledge.
Dear Fr. Mark,
Thank you for the beautiful meditation on your constant friend. How precious we must be in the eyes of our Lord to be given such an incomparable companion for life and how much God desires us to be with him eternally by placing us in the care of such a magnificent friend. May God bless you abundantly as you have blessed us with such a beautiful and insightful meditation.
In Christ,
Fr. Gerry Battersby
It's a beautiful experience but isn't this a description of the role and personality of the Holy Spirit? and only God can forgive.
Luke 12:12 "for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."
John 14:26 "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.; Isaiah 63:10 "Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them. Ephesians 4:30 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
He is our advocate, counselor, and will guide us into all truth". John 15:26
"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. Also: John 15:25-27 (in Context) John 15 (Whole Chapter); John 14:17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. John 14:16-18 (in Context) John 14 (Whole Chapter) And John 16:13
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John 16:12-14 (in Context) John 16 (Whole Chapter)
Father Mark,
Thank you very much for giving such a very beautiful message to our guardian angel, though unseen, he is always there to save and sometimes marks his fingers on our arms if he sees that we are encountering some dangers. I know because when I had an accident of falling, I just don't know what happened, but I know my back fall on a plastic pail and I was lying flat on the wet floor but he held my head up so it wont fall on the cement, after a day I saw the mark of three fingers holding my arms and I did not feel any pain on my body but marks of bruised skin on my back can be seen by my co-workers in the church. They almost don't believed me but they cannot deny it because my angel left his fingers on my arms and bruises at my back shows of the accident that happened to me.
Thank you again Father and God bless you always.
To Nel:
St. Thomas says the Holy Spirit normally works through the ministry of the angels. St. John of the Cross says that all divine illuminations come from God down through the hierarchy of angels to man.
As to forgiveness, can a person (man or angel) forgive their neighbor when offended? Of course. It is different from remission of sin, but forgiveness is the duty of every Christian and holy angel. We also crucified their Lord: do they not need to forgive every human being?