from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures,
which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God
and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction,
and for training in righteousness,
so that one who belongs to God may be competent,
equipped for every good work.
St. Paul is quite clear about the value of the scriptures in his second letter to Timothy, a portion of which we read today. This has inspired many a Christian to pick up the Bible, and attempt to read it cover to cover. But they soon encounter verses like these from the first reading today:
In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.
…
And Joshua mowed down Amalek and
his people
with the edge of the sword.
Fed, since infancy, with the images of Christianity as a message of peace, they simply do not know what to make of the gore in the texts they are reading!
Perhaps this is because they lack the tools necessary to read, and more importantly interpret, the Bible. One reads the Bible not only literally, but also metaphorically, reading the text for the images that it generates. In this reading, we are helped by the traditions of the Church, which we inherit as part of our patrimony.
For example, the month of October, is traditionally celebrated as the month of the holy angels. Recognizing this custom, we can see how the psalm today has so much more beneath the surface, just waiting for the eyes of our heart to read them!
My help is from
the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
St. Augustine tells us that this verse is a reference to Christ, the Word of God through whom the Father made all things. And, as the creed tells us, these things include “all things visible and invisible”.
And so, my dear brothers and sisters, we are introduced to the fact that the world we inhabit is not just the physical, or natural, world that can be seen; but the spiritual, or supernatural, world that cannot be seen. This supernatural world refers to those of the angels, both good, and bad. To be a Catholic, is to believe in the existence of the angels, as a truth of the faith (CCC § 328). And here, we encounter the third dimension of our faith, the Magisterium, that helps us understand and interpret both scripture and tradition.
Let us return to the angels. Our help, from God, comes from the good angels, and particularly, or most intimately, from the guardian angels that are assigned to each and every one of us from birth.
May he not suffer your foot to slip;
may he slumber not who guards you:
indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps
And how do the angels protect us? St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that the angels enlighten us, communicating to us the superior form of life. In other words, they constantly guide us toward the Truth. And this presence is intimate and near. Listen to the words of the psalm:
The LORD is your guardian; the LORD is your shade;
he is beside you at your right hand.
Those of you who are familiar with the Tintin comic series, or perhaps other cartoons - I can think of the famous Tom and Jerry series, will be familiar with the image of a good angel and a bad angel. And this is because these cartoons and comics are directly inspired by Christian belief that our guardian angel is at our right-hand side, guiding towards good. In fact, St. Padre Pio offered a very specific knowledge about the angels, asserting not only that our guardian angels are at our right, but that when a man is ordained a priest, the angel moves to his left.
God, in His goodness, however, does not only provide individuals with guardian angels, but also communities and nations.
indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps,
the guardian of Israel
There is a belief in the Catholic Church that even nations are provided guardian angels. Once again, we see how popular culture faintly echoes Catholic scripture. Many of us would have heard of the popular video game – Prince of Persia. There is a reference to the Prince of Persia in scripture:
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me twenty-one days. So Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia (Dan 10:13).
The princes referred to here, as is also very often the case in the rest of scripture, are the guardian angels of the places, or other angels.
And this is not the only reference to angel guardians of places and communities, for in the book of Revelation (1:20) we read of the “the seven stars [who] are the angels of the seven churches.” Believe therefore, and petition, the guardian angel of your nation and region.
God in His wisdom, and His mercy, has ensured, therefore, and this we must believe as an article of faith, that we have guardians at every level – the personal, and the community. And it is for this reason that we can, in confidence, sing:
The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your life.
The LORD will guard your coming and your going,
both now and forever.
Our minds strengthened by these learnings from scripture, let us turn to the angels to help us on the true and narrow path.
Holy Mary, Queen of the Angels; pray for us.
All God’s Holy Angels; pray for us.
(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful gathered in the Royal Chapel of St. Anthony, Old Goa, on 18 Oct 2025.)
(image reference: Illustration from Hergé’s The Red Sea Sharks, from the Adventures of Tintin series.)
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