AngelicAssistance (en español)
Mary McClusky
March 1, 2012
Lifting our minds and hearts to God in prayer is the foundation of all our efforts on behalf of unborn children. Many pray directly to God to end abortion, while others pray through the intercession of the Blessed Mother or a favorite saint. Few make use of another powerful group of intercessors, though they are particularly suited to strengthen our prayers on behalf of human life. Who are they? The angels.
Angels are powerful and invisible spiritual beings tasked with doing God's work, and this includes assisting our efforts to spread the truth about the dignity of human life. How fitting to turn to the angels for assistance with spreading the pro-life message since they were the first proclaimers of the Gospel of Life! The angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to conceive and bear Jesus within her womb. Angels were the first messengers to share the good news of Christ's birth.
Though the first duty of angels is to worship and adore the face of God, they also provide every human life with physical protection and spiritual guidance. The Catechism says that "[f]rom its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession." At the moment of creation inside their mothers' womb, every soul is assigned to the care and protection of a guardian angel.
Angels communicate to us through inspiration or directly through our senses, though their spiritual work is normally imperceptible. They can illuminate the human mind with God's truth. Our prayers on behalf of human life can be strengthened by the assistance of these angels in various ways.
We can ask the guardian angel of the child in danger of abortion to intercede to God for protection from death. Another option is to pray to the angels to illuminate the mind of a mother who is tempted to have an abortion with the light of Christ's love for her and her child. We can also ask the angels to fight the demons that surround abortion facilities. Inspired by the angels' comfort of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, we might pray for the angels to send God's comfort and healing to mothers and fathers who have been involved in an abortion.
It is important to remember the powerful intercession of St. Michael the Archangel, assigned by God to fight evil spirits. Satan and other demons are fallen angels because of their pride, envy, and refusal to accept that God would bypass the angelic nature and become man in the Incarnation. Additionally, though angels are superior to man, they have no power to procreate.Not surprisingly, as a fallen angel, the evil one is a powerful enemy of life and is active in the world spreading the darkness of the culture of death. We can ask for St. Michael's assistance in fighting the evil one, and ask for his intercession for the repentance and conversion of those who provide and promote abortion.
No matter the time or the place, we can pray to the angels for their help in protecting life and illuminating the minds of those involved in abortion. Through the intercession of the holy angels, may we be courageous witnesses to the dignity of each human life. Strengthened by the joy of Christ, we look forward with hope to the day when we will rejoice with all the angels and saints in heaven that we have faithfully spread the good news about the Lord, the giver of all life.
Mary McClusky is Special Projects Coordinator at the Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. To learn more about the bishops' pro-life activities, go to www.usccb.org/prolife.