Guardian Angels

A few years ago, I read a survey about what people fear most.  You would think that perhaps pain and death or terrorism might top the list, but they do not.  At least here in the United States, the number one fear was getting old and becoming dependent on others for the simplest acts of life – feeding oneself, going to the bathroom, cleaning ourselves.  We live in a society that takes pride in self-reliance, founded on the principles of independence and self-determination.  We teach our children to study hard at school to get a good education; get a good job and work hard; then you can be whatever you want to be and do whatever you want to do.  You will not have to depend on anyone or be a burden on anyone.  Independence is the goal, dependence is failure.  So it makes sense that the fear of helplessness and dependence is our greatest fear.

Jesus reminds us this morning that we must embrace this great fear and become as dependent as a little child or we shut ourselves out of the kingdom.  (Mt 18:1-5)  His mention of the angels and our celebration today of our guardian angels reminds us of our utter dependence on God’s providence and on his protection.  (Mt 18:10).

Yet I resist.  I seek more tangible support.  I look to money and other possessions to assure my independence such that I need not rely on anyone else for sustenance and support.  As a society, we build walls and guns and bombs and other instruments of violence to protect us from the wickedness of those who would harm us or make us dependent on them. 

Yet while these tangibles cannot be evil in their own right – they are only things, after all – our love of them, which we profess whenever we assert our vaunted independence through them, is truly the root of all evil, for our love of them precludes our absolute love of God, who loves us absolutely, without condition and without end.  Our love of them refutes our dependence on God, in whose name is our true help and salvation.  (Ps 124:8)

Today, as we celebrate the feast of the guardian angels, listen closely as the angels whisper Jesus’ message to me and to you:  accept and embrace the dependence of a little child and you accept and embrace Jesus.  Put aside your love of the finite and the fallible and become a dependent child of God, and you will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.