We often forget that God created angels, as they are not mentioned in the story of creation. Why is that? And why, as we hear in today’s Gospel, would God assign an angel to each human being? Cannot our all-powerful God take care of everything Himself? Of course He could, but perhaps, being so charitable and knowing within Himself as Trinity that it is a great joy to serve God, He fashioned the angels partly so that they could share that joy as well. But there is perhaps a deeper reason He created the angels, and today’s memorial could give us a clue.
The creation story we read in Scripture not only teaches us that God created all things and therefore is worthy of all worship and thanksgiving, but it likewise teaches us that He created the universe and everything in it for us. Unlike anything else we are fashioned in His image and likeness, and considering our small size compared to most things in the universe He need not have created a universe or even a world so vast in which to place us. But He did. The angels were not mentioned perhaps because even they, in part, exist because of what He ultimately set out to create: us. He fashioned them to serve Him and to serve those made in His image and likeness that would dwell in the temple of His creation; they would be His sacred attendants. And when things went awry their duties changed: they became not only attendants to His sacred image, but their mighty guardians, keeping watch over His dearest treasures and, with the advent of the Church, His very children.
Can you even comprehend the joy of the angels that guard us for Him? What honor they must feel watching over us, viewing constantly the Face of God in the beatific vision, but also seeing reflected in our own nature the image and likeness of the God they serve and love! If our guardian angels teach us nothing else, let them teach us this: the fact we each have such amazing protectors indicates how highly treasured we are by the One who set them over us.