Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Phil 4:6-7



Thursday, October 08, 2009

I stand corrected

.
In my Guardian Angel post last Friday, I mentioned that as part of a religion lesson, I had encouraged my daughter to give her angel a name.

However, this week on EWTN radio Open Line show, I heard a caller say that she had read on the Vatican website that we should not name our angels. I found the reference and it is posted here. I hope I didn't lead anyone astray.

217. Popular devotion to the Holy Angels, which is legitimate and good, can, however, also give rise to possible deviations:

  • when, as sometimes can happen, the faithful are taken by the idea that the world is subject to demiurgical* struggles, or an incessant battle between good and evil spirits, or Angels and daemons, in which man is left at the mercy of superior forces and over which he is helpless; such cosmologies bear little relation to the true Gospel vision of the struggle to overcome the Devil, which requires moral commitment, a fundamental option for the Gospel, humility and prayer;

  • when the daily events of life, which have nothing or little to do with our progressive maturing on the journey towards Christ are read schematically or simplistically, indeed childishly, so as to ascribe all setbacks to the Devil and all success to the Guardian Angels. The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture.

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, Principles and Guidelines


at 8:24 AM Labels:

4 comments:

  1. RosarioOctober 8, 2009 at 3:18 PM

    Thanks for sharing. I had read a similar post on another blog, and I was very enthusiastic about the idea, but firt felt I should look up what the church thought of this tradition. You post is a confirmation that I should not name my gurdian angel or teach my children to name their guardian angel. God has already given them their names.

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  2. Crafty POctober 8, 2009 at 3:46 PM

    Barbara, this is so interesting. Thanks for the clarification and pointing us to the right resources!

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  3. DirtdartwifeOctober 8, 2009 at 7:34 PM

    I honestly have always felt an evil presence whenever the idea of naming my guardian angel has come up. It's made me feel as if I had a devil trying to urge me on, using false compassion and humanistic emotions in an attempt for me to name a being that God and my soul already knew.

    Thanks for confirming to me what I've always felt but never intellectually knew.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 9, 2009 at 8:34 AM

    I have been encouraged to name my guardian angel. I never knew that we shouldn't. Thanks for the information.

    Danette

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I appreciate your comments -- sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself!

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