[00:00] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Our Lord is teaching us in the gospel today that we are called to imitate Him in His mercy, that our Lord wants us not to seek vengeance or to reseek, to do ill to others who do ill to us, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but to show mercy, that our Lord is calling

[00:34] us to imitate this virtue by which we forgive others and give generously to others, even those who are not kind to us. And this is the perfection that our Lord is calling us to, to strive to be ever more conformed to His heart, His Sacred Heart, His Sacred Heart. Today we do a votive mass in honor of the guardian angels. It's a wonderful practice on Mondays to have a votive mass in honor of the guardian angels when there's no other feast day or memorial, and I do it also to remind myself to be attentive

[01:11] to my guardian angel and to turn to my guardian angel in the week that is ahead, that I may be assisted by my guardian angel in doing my duties for God and in helping me to stay close to Christ and also to help and to avoid temptations and so forth. And so the holy guardian angel is always with us to protect us, and perhaps we often forget or neglect to turn to our guardian angel and ask His assistance.

[01:42] We learn from the saints that devotion to the guardian angel is a very, is a very noble practice and many of the saints write about their devotions to their guardian angel or shared some of their interactions with their guardian angels. St. Frances of Rome, St. Gemma Galgani, St. Padre Pio are just a few of the saints who could actually see their guardian angel visibly and converse with them. I mentioned the other day, I think St. Frances of Rome, when she could not get to the church

[02:17] to go to church, she would ask her guardian angel to go to the church for her and pray before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament for her, pray before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament for her. St. Gemma Galgani, her spiritual director lived in another city at some distance away from her and she would write her letter to her spiritual director for guidance and her guardian angel would deliver it for her and her spiritual director would find her letter on his desk.

[02:48] Another time, though she had frequent visions of her guardian angel, another time she committed a small imperfection. It was not even, we could say a venial sin, it was more of an imperfection. And she said the look of her guardian angel on her that day crushed her heart so that she had upset her guardian angel by that imperfection that she had committed, that he looked at her with such disappointment the whole day, she said, that she could not bear to look

[03:23] at him, look at him. And what we know about St. Padre Pio and his devotion to his guardian angel, he would tell people, "Send me your guardian angel with your prayer intentions." And there would be some mornings that the friars would notice Padre Pio was very tired in the morning and they asked him why he was so tired and he said he was visited continuously through the night by guardian angels. People would bring their guardian, would send their guardian angel to him for their prayer intentions.

[03:53] And so it's just a reminder to us to stay close to our guardian angel and to ask our guardian angel's assistance and to help us above all to be ever more conformed in loving and following our Lord Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.