Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels (ABC)
Readings:
Exodus 23:20-23
Psalm 91:1-6, 10-11
Matthew 18:1-5, 10
All Scripture passages are from the New American Bible unless designated NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, and that is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of this Sunday's Readings: Guardian Angels
The Bible tells us that God appoints an angel to guard every child at
birth on the path of life. Individual angels assigned to this duty protect and
intercede for their charges. They guide us as a messenger of God's divine will
for our lives, and they guard us as an instrument of God's goodness in
protecting us from the evil of sin and the malice of the devil. Pope Paul V
added this feast to the Liturgical calendar in 1615 in response to the
widespread devotion to angels among the faithful. Initially celebrated on
September 29th, it was known as the Feast of Michaelmas, honoring
all the angels. However, the faithful wanted a day to honor their own special
protectors, so Pope Clement X selected October 2nd as the Memorial of
the Holy Guardian Angels in 1670.
In the First Reading, at God rendezvous with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai, He assigns an angel to guide and guard them on their journey to the Promised Land of Canaan. If the Israelites are obedient to God's commands, He promises them victory over their enemies. However, He also warns them not to rebel against the angel who carries His divine authority. God also assigns an angel to guide and guard us on our way to the Promised Land of Heaven. Our journey will be victorious if we are obedient to God's commandments and keep to the path that leads to our eternal salvation.
In the Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist is confident that God's presence will protect him and everyone who turns to Him in every dangerous situation. He gives the assurance that God guards those who belong to Him with His angels, saying, For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways (verse 11). Jesus will quote from this verse in His reply to Satan during the desert Temptation.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus instructs His disciples about greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven and warns them that they must trust in God and have the humility of a little child. Jesus places a small child in front of them to represent all the children of every generation. Then, Jesus warned His disciples and the world that anyone who harms an innocent child would have to answer to God the Father on the day of his or her death and their Individual/Particular Judgment (CCC 1021-22). It is a dire warning for all those who participate in abortion or support that great evil in the murder of innocent children, or practice and are complicit in the abuse of children. There is no middle ground in judging these sins as other than acts that are an abomination to God.
The First Reading Exodus 23:20-23 ~ Angels Are God's Messengers and Our Protectors
20 See, I am sending an
angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have
prepared. 21 Be attentive
to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive
your sin. My authority resides in him. 22
If you heed his voice and carry out all I tell you, I will be an
enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. 23 My angel will go before you and bring you to the
Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will
wipe them out.
These verses are part of Section IV of Yahweh's Covenant Treaty with the children of Israel: The Sanctions. In Exodus 23:20-33, Yahweh affirmed the divine promises He made to the Patriarchs that His covenant people inherited. He gives them both promises of protection and dire warnings for both disobedience to the angel-messengers commands and the dangers of being seduced into the paganism of the Canaanites when they take possession of the Promised Land. The word translated "angel," in both the Hebrew (malak) and the Greek (angelos) means "messenger." The divine messenger in verse 1 appears to be distinguished from God himself (see Gen 16:7), but he performs Yahweh's function as guardian of Israel. This spiritual being is either the pre-Incarnate Christ or St. Michael, the guardian angel of the nation of Israel (Dan 12:1).
At God rendezvous with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai, He assigned an angel to guide and guard them on their journey to the Promised Land of Canaan. If the Israelites are obedient to God's commands, He promises them victory over their enemies. However, He also warns them not to rebel against the angel who carries His divine authority. God also assigns an angel to guide and guard us on our journey to the Promised Land of Heaven. Our journey will be victorious if we are obedient to God's commandments and keep to the path that leads to our eternal salvation.
Responsorial Psalm 91:1-6, 10-11 ~ Security Under God's Protection
Response: "The Lord has put angels in charge of you, to guard you in all our ways."
1 You who dwell in the
shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, 2 say to the LORD, "My refuge and fortress,
my God in whom I trust."
Response:
3 For God will rescue
you from the snare of the fowler, from the destroying pestilence. 4 With his pinions he will cover you, and
under his wings, you will take refuge.
Response:
4c His faithfulness is a
buckler and a shield. 5 You
shall not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day; 6 nor the pestilence that roams in darkness.
Nor the devastating plague at noon.
Response:
10 No evil shall befall
you, nor shall affliction come near your tent. 11 For God commands the angels to
guard you in all your ways.
Response:
The psalmist is confident that God's presence will protect him and everyone who turns to Him in every dangerous situation. "The shadow of the Almighty" in verse 1 is literally, "the shadow of the wings of the Almighty" (cf. Ps 27:5; 31:21; 61:5 for the same imagery) expressing God's shadow as an image of the safety afforded by the outstretched wings of the cherubim in the Holy of Holies (see 1 Kng 6:19, 23-28). The psalmist compares God' protection to a fortress (verse 2) and perhaps an eagle (verse 4) as well as to a soldier's buckler (a small round shield worn on the forearm) or a full-sized shield (verse 5) at all times of the day and night (verses 5-6). In verse 11, the psalmist gives the assurance that God guards those who belong to Him with His angels. Jesus will quote from verse 11 in Matthew 4:6 and Luke 4:10-11 in His reply to Satan in the desert Temptation.
The Gospel of Matthew 18:1-5, 10 ~ Jesus Tells His Disciples About the Necessity of Childlike Humility
1 At that time, the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?"
2 He called a child over, placed it in their midst,
3 and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me." [...]
10 "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."
The opening words in verse 1, "At that time," literally, "in that hour," link these verses to the previous passage in 17:24-27 when Jesus spoke of the privileges of the "sons of the Kingdom" and paid the Temple tax for Himself and Peter. Perhaps the elevation of Peter as leader of the Apostles at Caesarea Philippi, the authority he received (Mt 16:13-19), and the separation of three of the Apostles from the others in their privilege of witnessing Jesus in His glory in the Transfiguration experience (Mt 17:1-8) have made the other Apostles uneasy about where they stand in the Kingdom of the Messiah. Jesus even paid Peter's tax, but He has not paid theirs, and so they have come to Jesus with a question about rank in the Kingdom.
The secular world bases greatness on social rank, wealth, or unique abilities. However, in this passage, Jesus teaches that standards of importance in the world are not what matter in His Kingdom. Jesus uses the image of a little child as His teaching point. The Greek word in the Biblical text is "paidion," a term that refers to a child under the age of twelve. Notice the repetition of the word "child/children" in the passage. Jesus is expanding on the teaching He gave in 16:24-26, where He said that self-denial was a necessary condition of true discipleship (verse 24). A little child has no concern for rank or status and only seeks to please his parents and caregivers.
Jesus uses a child to illustrate His teaching point because adults are, for the most part, self-sufficient, but little children are entirely dependent on someone else for their care, or they cannot survive. Jesus tells the disciples that childlike humility, obedience, self-emptying, and total dependence on God are the measures of greatness in heaven. Whoever is childlike in this way will be honored in the Kingdom of Heaven.
In verse 4, Jesus emphasizes the importance of childlike humility in His Kingdom by linking that desired behavior to one's eternal salvation. Jesus makes three critical declarations in verses 3, 4, and 5:
Verse 3: "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" is perhaps an echo of God's judgment against the Israelites of the Exodus generation who were not trusting and childlike but were disobedient and rebellious. Because of their lack of faith and their continued failures in obedience, God barred them from entering into the Promised Land (Num 14:22-23). Those disciples of Jesus who fail to achieve childlike obedience and faith will not only fail in being "great" in His Kingdom (verse 4), they will also fail to enter into the Promised Land of Heaven!
With Jesus' declaration in verse 5: "And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me," there is a shift in His visible metaphor of the child. Previously the child only served as a model to imitate (verses 2-4). Now the child becomes the center of the action. "One child such as this" refers not to children in general but to those who declare themselves Jesus' disciples. The disciples, who in humility accept the non-status of a little child, are living in imitation of Jesus. Those who receive such a Christ-like disciple as an emissary (the meaning of the word "apostle") in the "Name of the Lord" receive Christ; one's "name" expresses the complete essence of that person. Also, see 10:40, where Jesus told the disciples, "Whoever receives you receives me and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me" and Jesus' teaching on humility and service in Mark 10:35-45.
Then in verse 10, Jesus tells them, "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." In the ancient world, children were without status, and they were referred to as the "servants" of their fathers. Jesus states that this is not the case in His Kingdom He links the status of the disciples, who are the children of the Kingdom, to their guardian angels in heaven. In Scripture, angels appear as guardians of people and nations. The Church teaches that each person receives a guardian angel at birth who continues to watch over and intercede for that person throughout his or her entire life. See Tobit 5:4-8; 12:12-15; Job 33:23-24; Ps 34:7/8; 91:10-13; Dan 8:15-17; 9:20-23; 10:4-14, 20-21; 12:1; Zec 1:7-11; Lk 16:22; Acts 12:15 and CCC 336.
In verse 10, using a child to represent all the children of every generation, Jesus warns the world that anyone who harms an innocent child will have to answer to God the Father on the day of his or her Individual/Particular Judgment. It is a dire warning for all those who participate in abortion or support that great evil in the murder of innocent children, or practice and are complicit in the abuse of children. There is no middle ground in judging these sins as other than acts that are an abomination to God.
Catechism references (* indicates Scripture quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Exodus 23:20-23 (CCC 332*)
Matthew 18:3-4 (CCC 526*); 18:3 (CCC 2785); 18:6 (CCC 2785); 18:10 (CCC 329, 336*)
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