Fairy Godmothers Have Nothing On Guardian Angels!

Cinderella's fairy godmother does a lot of spectacular things in the physical world...

...but, as Cinderella's birth mother tells her, it is the non-visible things that are most important, the spiritual things, what we call the virtues. 

She doesn't urge Ella to acquire riches or work for worldly honors. Her secret to a happy life? "Have courage and be kind," she tells her beloved daughter as she's dying. "You have more kindness in your little finger than most people have in their entire bodies." And Ella never loses that kindness (charity), not in her grief over the loss of her father or her terrible loneliness. No torrent of bitterness overwhelms her spirit even from the ill treatment of those who should have loved her.

Ella's fairy godmother is fun and her magic is physically (if temporarily) transformational. But it doesn't change Ella really -- only her outward appearance, making her look like a princess. Inside, she remains the brave and kind daughter of her loving parents with an inward beauty far surpassing outward beauty.

None of us has a fairy godmother for real, although our human godparents are important prayer warriors for us if they take their job seriously. But every one of us has a special guardian, one who has much more to offer us than Ella's fairy godmother. 

God, the most loving of fathers gives each of us a unique and powerful friend, "to guide us in all of our ways." Guardian angels aren't a sweet story to engage children; they are real, much more real than the things we can see. They are terrifying in power and majesty which is why the first words they utter when they visit our world are, "Do not be afraid!" 

What kind of relationship do you have with your guardian angel? 

During Advent, my husband and I read My Angel will go before you by Georges Huber, a French journalist. It's a lovely book translated and published in English in 1983. It's short, only 121 pages plus end notes, but it has encouraged me to communicate with mon cher ange on a daily, sometimes hourly basis. 

Larry and I will continue reading it every day during the Christmas season after we say our rosary. God uses His angels to advance His holy will. Look at the Old and New Testaments and see how many references there are to angels. They bring messages both in person and in dreams. They protect God's people like the three young men in the fiery furnace and Daniel in the lions' den. They carry out punishments, like the angels who visited Sodom and Gomorrah and the angel of death who inflicted God's judgment on the pharoah of Egypt. How ungenerous of us who have so much for which to thank our guardian angels if we ignore them. 

I pray the guardian angel prayer every morning and every night. Sometimes I ask my angel to go and pray with the guardian angels of others for whom I'm praying. I was thanking my angel today for an obvious intercession in a difficult situation. 

Don't forget your angel. If you want help, your angel is there eager to assist. They not only stand by you, but are always in the presence of God. Wow! What a blessing for us, if we only remember to take advantage of their goodness and love for us.

Intercede for me, mon cher ange. Je toi remercie de tu gentillesse envers moi. Fairy godmothers are fun to imagine, but guardian angels work the real magic in our lives.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL!