It was when I was in Holy Redeemer Hospital, Dimapur that I met Sr. Mildred Rongthaluh who shared an incident from her life which reminded me of the tender devotion to Guardian Angels which I always treasured. She is from Ribhoi, Meghalaya. She was doing  her second year of nursing in Assam Medical College in 1998. One night as it was her turn for night duty she was in the general ward. An accident victim was brought to the hospital who was in a critical situation. Preliminary tests showed that he was in immediate need of blood transfusion. However, blood transfusion was not usually done at night as doctors were not present in the hospital during night those days. Since there was no place in the ward he was given a room which was a little away. Though a little hesitant she decided to do it and invoked the assistance of her guardian angel. She placed the IV line on the patient’s arms and told the attendant to remind her when it was done.

While walking back she prayed to her Guardian angel and asked him to remind her once the transfusion was completed. It was about 11 pm. She went around seeing to the usual duties and returned to the duty room. Now it was 1 am. She had forgotten about the blood transfusion. After a while she heard someone knocking at the door. Thinking that it might be the dog which was moving around out in the verandah she did not pay attention to it. Then came the second knock and with the third time she was certain that there was someone outside the room. So she got up from the chair and moved to the door and opened it slowly. To her amazement there was no one at the door; neither a man nor the dog.

Suddenly she remembered that she had asked her guardian angel to remind her when the transfusion was over. She ran to the room where the patient was kept. As she reached she found the attendant sleeping soundly and the blood having emptied from the bottle had just begun to re-enter into it from his veins. She had just reached in time. She thanked her guardian angel and removed the line.

She also recalled another incident which also took place when she was a student. In one of the examinations she performed so badly that she was able to answer only fifteen objective questions. She was certain that she would be getting fifteen out of hundred. When she got the answer paper she, in fact, got fifteen. Out of shame she was not willing to reveal her marks to her companions and superiors. But she prayed to her angel to save her from this shame. surprisingly when the progress report came she had found that she was given fifty-one in that subject.

Devotion to guardian angel is not a fairy tale meant only for small kids. It’s a real experience for many. Scripture speaks clearly on this theme. Exodus 23:20-22 speaks of God sending his angels before us to protect us.

“Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. “But if you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

Later in psalms we read again, “No evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.”  (Ps:91:10-11). Jesus had reaffirmed the existence and constant intercession of our guardian angels when he said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Mt: 18:10)

Whether we are aware or not our angel is always with us, seeing everything we do, listening to all what we say. What will we feel when we love someone greatly and do a lot for his or her good but receive no response from the person we love. We will certainly be sad. Similarly our angels will be sad if we do not respond to their love.

One way to develop a tender devotion to our angels is to give him a name. It can be feminine or masculine as gender does not matter here. If my angel’s name is Neha I can wish her in the morning, ‘Good morning Neha’ and speak to her addressing her as Neha. I can ask her to come and sit beside me and feel that she is walking beside me. Though such things look childish when one has a first hand experience at one time or other after beginning with these practices he or she will realize that these things and not childish but tender childlike ways to express our devotion to our guardian angel.