Homily – Friday of the 26th Week In Ord. Time, Year B. Memorial the Holy Guardian Angels
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Job 38:1, 12-21; 40:3-5
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Ps 139:1-3,7-8,9-10,13-14ab
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Matthew 18:1-5, 10
A God Who Guards and Watches Over Us
Today we celebrate the memorial of the Guardian Angels,
God’s messengers. It is a celebration of a God who guards, guides, loves, and
watches over each of us. Scripture, of course reveals in many places the role
of the angel in our lives. This was
true, when we celebrated the feasts of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and
Raphael with their richness in meaning and roles, the other day. We know of the
story of Angels in the Books of Exodus, Daniel, the Prophet Ezekiel, Zechariah,
Revelation, and Tobit and in Luke-Acts of the Apostles etc. Each of these and
many more shows that the Lord would constantly send his holy Angels to guard
us, hear our supplication and prayers, as well as defend and protect us from
every danger!
Ordinarily, Angels, God’s “messengers” can come to us in
different forms, in a child, the poor, and in our friends, whenever, and
however, the Lord choses! In all that Job went through, as we have been reading
this week, the Lord did not abandon him. In his losses, sufferings, arguments
with God, friends (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar) came to comfort him with their
own perspectives on life. Yet, Job was been guarded by divine providence.
In chapters 32-37, like his first three friends, a man with a Jewish name Elihu, appears stressing retributive justice as
an explanation to Job’s sufferings and losses and added that the source of true
wisdom was from the spirit of God and
not from advancement in mortal’s age( 32:8).
In all these, today’s first reading (Job 38), returns to
God’s responses, speeches as well as Job’s repentance as was the cases with
Habakkuk and Thomas, the doubter, in John’s Gospel. In these rhetorical
speeches, in the first reading, just
read, God’s shows the limitation of human beings, their power and intellect and
wisdom as well as his divine sovereignty (over creation), mercy, love and
protective care and faithfulness of God, who continuously guards and watches
over his children.
Although, in the case of Job, God never tells Job why he
suffered, but instead describes his great power, love and wisdom, Job final
acceptance and repentance is important:
“Behold I am of
little account, what can I answer you? I put my hand over my mouth. Though I
have spoken once, I will not do so again though twice, I will do so no more” (Job
40:3-5).
In other words, Job finally acknowledges his limitation,
his insignificance positon, and dependence on God for protection and greatness.
Job in a sense anticipates today’s Gospel of Matthew 18, where, Jesus taught
his disciples that true greatness lies in one putting on a humble, and docile
attitudes of a children, who are always dependent, solely on the protective
love and feeding and provision of their parents and guardians. In their
treatment of the little, ones, socially poor or inferior they must not despise
or look down on them, because, their “angels in heaven (as was believed, Acts
12:15= Peter was liberated from jail by an angel) always look upon the face of
my heavenly Father,” (Matt 18:10; cf. Acts 12:15).
As mentioned, earlier, “angels” (angggelos) means,
messengers. Ordinarily, even though, we
are called to be “God’s messengers ,” our prayers this day, as indicated, particularly
in the ”prayer over the offerings,” is
that, as we humble venerate the holy angels today, we may under his divine protection,
be guarded and delivered from present
dangers and brought happily to life eternal, an everlasting way( Ps 139:24b)
Reflection Questions
1.
Do we see ourselves as “angels” to
one another?
2.
When we doubt, and argue, do we like
Job, Habakkuk and Thomas come to believe, remain silent, profess, my Lord and
my God?
