Contacting Guardian Angel

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Hello everyone I was just wondering if it was safe to try and contact guardian angels.
I been a catholic all my life and don’t know the teachings or views on it. What do you guys think? I think that if one was interested in talking with guardian angel that you have to pray to Jesus and ask for protection because when you do talk to them, it can open up your spirit and even though your intentions are for YOUR guardian angel you could very well be talking to a fallen one in disguise. Let me know what your views are .

Thank you

Celtic Warrior
 
I’m afraid of that too, so I don’t pray to angels except for St. Michael. Well, actually I take that back–I have prayed the Chaplet of St. Michael, which asks for help from all of the 9 choirs of angels. But as far as praying to my own guardian angel or to those of others, I am reluctant. Mother Angelica has named hers and prays to him all of the time, but I have heard that we shouldn’t name our angel. I’m interested in the answers to this thread.
 
Just pray to your Guardian Angel. He knows his job and your prayers.

Do not worry.
 
When I mean contacting I mean actually talking to it. Asking questions about things like the spiritual realm. I don’t think we are to pray TO them because that would be worshiping the angels. We are to make earnest requests on our behalf which is what the prayers of angels are. Some people claim to have had conversations with them!
 
From: CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP
AND THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SACRAMENTS

DIRECTORY
ON POPULAR PIETY AND THE LITURGY

PRINCIPLES AND GUIDELINES

Vatican City
December 2001

Holy Angels
  1. With the clear and sober language of catechesis, the Church teaches that “the existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls ‘angels’ is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition”(280).
Tradition regards the angels as messengers of God, “potent executives of his commands, and ready at the sound of his words” (Ps 103, 20. They serve his salvific plan, and are “sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Hb 1, 14).
  1. The faithful are well aware of the numerous interventions of angels in the New and Old Covenants. They closed the gates of the earthly paradise (cf. Gen 3,24), they saved Hagar and her child Ishmael (cf. Gen 21, 17), they stayed the hand of Abraham as he was about to sacrifice Isaac (cf. gen 22, 7), they announce prodigious births (cf. Jud 13, 3-7), they protect the footsteps of the just (cf. Ps 91, 11), they praise God unceasingly (cf. Is 6, 1-4), and they present the prayer of the Saints to God (cf. Ap 8, 34). The faithful are also aware of the angel’s coming to help Elijah, an exhausted fugitive (cf. 1 Kings 19, 4-8), of Azariah and his companions in the fiery furnace (cf. Dan 3, 49-50), and are familiar with the story of Tobias in which Raphael, “one of the seven Angels who stand ever ready to enter the presence of the glory of God” (cf. Tb 12, 15), who renders many services to Tobit, his son Tobias and his wife Sarah.
The faithful are also conscious of the roles played by the Angels in the life of Jesus: the Angel Gabriel declared to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High (cf. Lk 1, 26-38), and that an Angel revealed to Joseph the supernatural origin of Mary’s conception (cf. Mt 1, 18-25); the Angels appear to the shepherds in Bethlehem with the news of great joy of the Saviour’s birth (cf. Lk 2, 8-24); “the Angel of the Lord” protected the infant Jesus when he was threatened by Herod (cf. Mt 2, 13-20); the Angels ministered to Jesus in the desert (cf. Mt 4, 11) and comforted him in his agony (Lk 22, 43), and to the women gathered at the tomb, they announced that he had risen (cf. Mk 16, 1-8), they appear again at the Ascension, revealing its meaning to the disciples and announcing that “Jesus …will come back in the same way as you have seen him go” (Acts 1, 11).

The faithful will have well grasped the significance of Jesus’ admonition not to despise the least of those who believe in him for “their Angels in heaven are continually in the presence of my Father in heaven” (Mt 10, 10), and the consolation of his assurance that “there is rejoicing among the Angels of God over one repentant sinner” (Lk 15, 10). The faithful also realize that “the Son of man will come in his glory with all his Angels” (mt 25, 31) to judge the living and the dead, and bring history to a close.
  1. The Church, which at its outset was saved and protected by the ministry of Angels, and which constantly experiences their “mysterious and powerful assistance”(281), venerates these heavenly spirts and has recourse to their prompt intercession.
During the liturgical year, the Church celebrates the role played by the Holy Angels, in the events of salvation(282) and commemorates them on specific days: 29 September (feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael), 2 October (the Guardian Angels). The Church has a votive Mass dedicated to the Holy Angels whose preface proclaims that “the glory of God is reflected in his Angels”(283). In the celebration of the sacred mysteries, the Church associates herself with the angelic hymn and proclaims the thrice holy God (cf. Isaiah 6, 3)(284) invoking their assistance so that the Eucharistic sacrifice “may be taken [to your] altar in heaven, in the presence of …] divine majesty”(285). The office of lauds is celebrated in their presence (cf. Ps 137, 1)(286). The Church entrusts to the ministry of the Holy Angels (cf. Aps 5, 8; 8, 3) the prayers of the faithful, the contrition of penitents(287), and the protection of the innocent from the assaults of the Malign One(288). The Church implores God to send his Angels at the end of the day to protect the faithful as they sleep(289), prays that the celestial spirits come to the assistance of the faithful in their last agony(290), and in the rite of obsequies, invokes God to send his Angels to accompany the souls of just into paradise(291) and to watch over their graves.
  1. Down through the centuries, the faithful have translated into various devotional exercises the teaching of the faith in relation to the ministry of Angels: the Holy Angels have been adopted as patrons of cities and corporations; great shrines in their honour have developed such as Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, San Michele della Chiusa in Piemonte and San Michele Gargano in Apulia, each appointed with specific feast days; hymns and devotions to the Holy Angels have also been composed.
Popular piety encompasses many forms of devotion to the Guardian Angels. St. Basil Great (+378) taught that “each and every member of the faithful has a Guardian Angel to protect, guard and guide them through life”(292). This ancient teaching was consolidated by biblical and patristic sources and lies behind many forms of piety. St. Bernard of Clarivaux (+1153) was a great master and a notable promoter of devotion to the Guardian Angels. For him, they were a proof “that heaven denies us nothing that assists us”, and hence, “these celestial spirits have been placed at our sides to protect us, instruct us and to guide us”(293).

To be continued
 
Devotion to the Holy Angels gives rise to a certain form of the Christian life which is characterized by:
Code: 
*

  devout gratitude to God for having placed these heavenly spirits of great sanctity and dignity at the service of man;
*

  an attitude of devotion deriving from the knowledge of living constantly in the presence of the Holy Angels of God;- serenity and confidence in facing difficult situations, since the Lord guides and protects the faithful in the way of justice through the ministry of His Holy Angels.Among the prayers to the Guardian Angels the Angele Dei(294) is especially popular, and is often recited by families at morning and evening prayers, or at the recitation of the Angelus.
  1. Popular devotion to the Holy Angels, which is legitimate and good, can, however, also give rise to possible deviations:
Code: 
*

  when, as sometimes can happen, the faithful are taken by the idea that the world is subject to demiurgical struggles, or an incessant battle between good and evil spirits, or Angels and daemons, in which man is left at the mercy of superior forces and over which he is helpless; such cosmologies bear little relation to the true Gospel vision of the struggle to overcome the Devil, which requires moral commitment, a fundamental option for the Gospel, humility and prayer;
*

  when the daily events of life, which have nothing or little to do with our progressive maturing on the journey towards Christ are read schematically or simplistically, indeed childishly, so as to ascribe all setbacks to the Devil and all success to the Guardian Angels. The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture.
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html
 
PS -also watch out for any New Age approach to Angels…LOTS of that out there
 
Celtic_Warrior said:
I don’t think we are to pray TO them because that would be worshiping the angels. !
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Yes we are to pray TO them.

Such is part of the communion of the saints.

Such is not giving them the adoration belonging only to God.
 
Celtic_Warrior said:
When I mean contacting I mean actually talking to it. Asking questions about things like the spiritual realm.
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One can pray to ones Angel.

But one is to avoid any and all occult or new age practice that some have proposed.
 
Catechism

I. THE ANGELS

The existence of angels - a truth of faith

328 The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.

Who are they?

329 St. Augustine says: "‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel.’"188 With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they “always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” they are the “mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word”.189

330 As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.190

Christ “with all his angels”

331 Christ is the center of the angelic world. They are his angels: "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him. . "191 They belong to him because they were created through and for him: "for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created through him and for him."192 They belong to him still more because he has made them messengers of his saving plan: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?"193

332 Angels have been present since creation and throughout the history of salvation, announcing this salvation from afar or near and serving the accomplishment of the divine plan: they closed the earthly paradise; protected Lot; saved Hagar and her child; stayed Abraham’s hand; communicated the law by their ministry; led the People of God; announced births and callings; and assisted the prophets, just to cite a few examples.194 Finally, the angel Gabriel announced the birth of the Precursor and that of Jesus himself.195

333 From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the life of the Word incarnate is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels. When God "brings the firstborn into the world, he says: ‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’"196 Their song of praise at the birth of Christ has not ceased resounding in the Church’s praise: "Glory to God in the highest!"197 They protect Jesus in his infancy, serve him in the desert, strengthen him in his agony in the garden, when he could have been saved by them from the hands of his enemies as Israel had been.198 Again, it is the angels who “evangelize” by proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s Incarnation and Resurrection.199 They will be present at Christ’s return, which they will announce, to serve at his judgment.200

The angels in the life of the Church

334 In the meantime, the whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels.201

335 In her liturgy, the Church joins with the angels to adore the thrice-holy God. She invokes their assistance (in the funeral liturgy’s In Paradisum deducant te angeli. . .“May the angels lead you into Paradise. . .”]). Moreover, in the “Cherubic Hymn” of the Byzantine Liturgy, she celebrates the memory of certain angels more particularly (St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and the guardian angels).

336 From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession.202 "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life."203 Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.

scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c1p5.htm#350
 
:clapping: for Bookcat!

Praying to your Guardian Angel is only to be encouraged! Before you sleep, before you do anything!

Sure, St Josemaria Escrive used to step aside when entering a Church, to let his guardian angel in ahead of him…so I heard.
 
Personally I don’t want to distract my Guardian Angel. I’ve had several events in my life that would have been the end of the line, literally, if my Angel hadn’t been there and ready to act.

My Angel knows his job, knows what I need and knows when i need it. So except for an occasional “Thanks” I let him be…

But that’s just me
 
Bookcat said:
If such is the case such would have been prior to the Church noting such is to be discouraged…
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👍
re: HOW DO YOU KNOW YOUR GUARDIAN ANGEL’S NAME?
Question from on 11-19-2011:
Dear Dr. Geraghty, You answered, “Angels do not have name like human beings have. The Bible has given some of names But it would be presumptuous of us to try to give them a name on our own. They are much much higher nature than we are. For us to give them a name would be like our dog or cats giving us a name”. And at CatholicAnswers.com Michelle Arnold answered: "The practice of naming guardian angels is discouraged by the Church: “Popular devotion to the holy angels, which is legitimate and good, can, however, also give rise to possible deviations . . . [such as the] practice of assigning names to the holy angels [which] should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture”.** I heard Mother Angelica on one of her shows say that she named her guardian angel and that she named him Fidelis cause he is ever faithful. Why would Mother Angelica do tha**t?
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Answer by Richard Geraghty on 12-20-2011:
Dear Anon,
Mother had her own homey way in presenting religious subjects. She was not speaking as the theologian but as one who had been saved from being run over by a truck or bus as a kid. Why not allow her to call her Guardian Angel a “Fidelis” as if he were a faithful dog?** I am sure that she would be the first to say that we will only know the real name of our Guardian Angel in the next life.
**
Dr. Geraghty
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I would say, “go ahead and say what you want.”

Your guardian angel is watching you read this post. And, watching you type your question that you want to ask. Your guardian angel knows your request. But, you’re dealing with a “person” (not a human, but an angel, which is still a person). Persons can make choices and do what they want.

From what I can tell, they are less interested in your physical safety than your own spiritual safety. Also, it seems that God is going to restrict them from acting at times, letting you hit rock bottom so that you can see for yourself that you are headed in a bad direction. My impression is that guardian angels will provide for a person’s physical safety so that they can live long enough to attend to their own spiritual well being.

So, if you talking to your guardian angel gets you closer to Jesus, and helps you get others closer to Jesus, then you may get to experience what you desire. But, if you’re more interested in spiritual fireworks, that prayer will probably go unanswered.

And, by the way, lets say that a demon does attack you. Who cares? Stand up and fight the sucker.
 
LoyalViews said:
:clapping: for Bookcat!

Praying to your Guardian Angel is only to be encouraged! Before you sleep, before you do anything!

Sure, St Josemaria Escrive used to step aside when entering a Church, to let his guardian angel in ahead of him…so I heard.
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Maybe that was just a precaution, so IF a brick came loose it would hit the angel and not him…:p:D

That’s a pretty cool practice.
 
I have found a much more effective prayer, is to ask God to thank the angels and bless them for all their hard work on our behalf. And to authorize and empower them to protect and guide us, body and soul.

I feel this kind of prayer is more pleasing to God, and to the angels themselves.
 
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