September is the month when all activities begin again after the summer break.
For many people, precisely because of this, it may seem like an “unpleasant” month, although for the same reason it has its own beauty, because the ordinary course of everyday life resumes.
For the Church, September is a month of full light because it is dedicated to the angels, heavenly creatures whose task is to “bend down” toward us to protect us, watch over our journey and lead us to the complete joy of Paradise.
Why a month dedicated to the angels?
The Church traditionally dedicates the month of September to the angels because, like a mother, she wants to give us moments throughout the year to “lift our eyes to heaven,” to remind us that life does not end on earth and that therefore we must live with our gaze raised, because heaven loves, protects and guides us.
The angels express all of this: divided into various hierarchies according to their different functions, they contemplate God and intervene in our lives as presences of guidance, consolation and help.
In particular, September 29 celebrates the holy archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, while October 2 commemorates the guardian angel.
Angels in the words of Saint John Paul II and Pope Francis
John Paul II writes: “I have a particular devotion to my guardian angel. Since childhood, probably like all children, I have repeated the invocation many times: ‘Angel of God, my guardian dear, enlighten, guard, direct and govern me.’ My guardian angel knows what I am doing. My trust in him and in his protective presence is constantly deepening within me. Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel and Saint Raphael are the archangels whom I often invoke in prayer.”
Regarding the angels, Pope Francis emphasizes their precious presence at our side: “On the journey and in the trials of life, we are not alone; we are accompanied and supported by God’s angels, who, so to speak, offer their wings to help us overcome many dangers, so that we can soar above those realities that can weigh down our lives or drag us down.”
“Angels are love in motion. Love that never stops”, writes Paulo Coelho, and it is beautiful to think of angels in this way!
The angels, we might say, are one of the many ways in which God continues, day after day, to “announce” himself to us (because that is precisely what the word “angel” means) and to bring his love to us.
Let us turn to them with confidence!
