Page 19 - Unity Edn 43
P. 19
Saints Feast Days UNITY
I
Feast of Guardian Angels - October 2
erhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief
that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined.
PYet guardian angels are not only for children. Their role is to represent
individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer, and to
present their souls to God at death.
The concept of an angel assigned to guide and nurture each human being is a
development of Catholic doctrine and piety based on Scripture but not directly
drawn from it. Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:10 best support the belief: “See that
you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in
heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”
Devotion to the angels began to develop with the birth of the monastic tradition.
Saint Benedict gave it impetus and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the great 12th-
century reformer, was such an eloquent spokesman for the guardian angels
that angelic devotion assumed its current form in his day.
A feast in honor of the guardian angels was first observed in the 16th century.
In 1615, Pope Paul V added it to the Roman calendar.
Reflection
Devotion to the angels is, at base, an expression of faith in God’s enduring
love and providential care extended to each person day in and day out.
Feast of St. Luke - October 18 Our
Lady
uke is first mentioned in
the letters of Paul as the of the
Llatter’s “coworker” and as the
“beloved physician.” The former Rosary
designation is the more significant
one, for it identifies him as one of -
a professional cadre of itinerant
Christian “workers,” many of whom October
were teachers and preachers.
His medical skills, like Paul’s
tentmaking, may have contributed 7
to his livelihood; but his principal
occupation was the advancement of
the Christian mission.
If Luke was the author of the third
Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles,
the course and nature of his ministry
may be sketched in more detail from
both texts. He excludes himself
from those who were eyewitnesses
of Christ’s ministry. He indicates participation in the Pauline mission by
the use of the first person in the “we” sections of Acts. They suggest
that Luke shared in instructing persons in the Christian message and
possibly in performing miraculous healings.
The “we” sections are analogous in style to travel reports found
elsewhere in writings of the Greco-Roman period. They place the
author with Paul during his initial mission into Greece—i.e., as far as
Philippi, in Macedonia (c. 51 CE). It is there that Luke later rejoins Paul
and accompanies him on his final journey to Jerusalem (c. 58 CE).
After Paul’s arrest in that city and during his extended detention in
nearby Caesarea, Luke may have spent considerable time in Palestine
working with the apostle as the occasion allowed and gathering
materials for his future two-volume literary work, the Gospel and the
Acts. In any case, two years later he appears with Paul on his prison
voyage from Caesarea to Rome and again, according to the Second
Letter of Paul to Timothy 4:11, at the time of the apostle’s martyrdom
in the imperial city (c. 66 CE).
(Taken from the Encyclopaedia Britannica)

