Welcome to the Catholic Teacher Daily Podcast, where we explore the profound presence of guardian angels in Catholic education. As Jonathan Doyle guides us through the spiritual battlefield of the classroom, we delve into the empowering role of these celestial beings. Join us as we uncover the power of prayer, guidance, and divine protection in our journey as Catholic educators.
Listen on:
Welcome Aboard: Embrace Your Mission, Navigate the Battlefield
Hello there. My friend, Jonathan Doyle, is with you once again. Welcome aboard to the Catholic Teacher Daily Podcast. I do this because you are amazing, you have responded to the vocational call of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And you have placed yourself at the pointy end of the spear, at the forefront of his advancing kingdom.
What looks to you like a classroom, is a missionary field, and it is also, my friend, a battlefield. It is a place where light and darkness, good and evil, wrestle in plain sight for the souls of young people. That has got to be one of the best introductions I’ve done in a while. Welcome to the board. I’m glad you’re here.
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Be that person who does the thing you’re not supposed to do. And that would be a great blessing. You can find me on Instagram at jdoylespeaks. If you’re looking to see the kind of crazy life that I live, starting at 4:00 a.m. every day. You can find me there on Instagram: @jdoylespeaks. And of course, on the website, if you want to book me to speak, consultancy projects. All of that stuff is there. If you’d like me to come and talk about any particular issues of Catholic education or formation leadership, It’s on the website: jonathandoyle.co,
The Power of Guardian Angels in Catholic Education
Friends let’s jump into a great quote from one of the great Catholic educators. If you were picking your all-star team, This guy’s kind of like Tom Brady, almost of Catholic education. We can talk about Saint John Bosco, also known as Don Bosco, You’re really a holy when you get called by multiple names. I want to talk to you just quickly today about guardian angels.
I want to talk about something that we don’t obviously think about very much as Catholic educators, but do you realize that you have a guardian angel who accompanies you every single day into your vocational work. Now, how do we know that? We know it for one reason: because Christ himself told us. Christ himself literally talked about guardian angels. That appears before the throne of God on behalf of the little ones. And the church has always taught that we each have an angel assigned to our protection, to our gardens, and to our edification.
We can pray for this angel to guide us, support us, and protect us. We can ask for that. So let’s listen to this quote. This is John Bosco:
“Be ever more convinced that your guardian angel is really present. That they are always by your side. St. Francis of Rome always saw the angels, the guardian angel standing before her, arms clasped at his breast, his eyes lifted up to heaven. But at the slightest failing, he would cover his face, and in shame at times turned his back on her.“
Take that anyway; you will. But I guess it makes sense, right? Because the angels who are not fallen angels cannot be in the presence of sin. Because they are pure spiritual beings who share in the holiness of God. So it’s interesting to note that when we sin. It’s not; I think that they dislike us in any sense. It’s more that they are confronted by the reality of sin, which is not in their nature as pure, holy spiritual beings to be exposed to it.
This is just me doing random theology here. So if any of you are advanced theologians, please. I don’t sense the heresy alert. I could put it into the ChatGPT in a minute. I’ll just get the transcript and go. Is there any heresy in these? There isn’t any heresy. The appeal of spiritual beings is the church’s authoritative teaching, my friend. You have an angel assigned to you at conception. This angel accompanies you through each day.
Empowering Catholic Educators: Prayer, Guidance, and Guardian Angels
A few years ago, I was speaking in Nashville, Tennessee, and the great state of Tennessee. And we had the great privilege of being looked after by the Dominican sisters of Saint Cecilia, whom we loved dearly. We had got to spend some time at their mother house, and our kids were very little still, and they taught us this prayer. Every time the sisters picked us up, if any Dominican sisters are listening, you know exactly what I’m about to say. But the sisters taught us this prayer, and every time they picked us up, every time we drove the car from anywhere, We did this prayer,
"Angel of God, my guardian dear, To whom God's love commits me here, Ever this day, be at my side, To light and guard, to rule and guide."
I still pray that prayer most days. So I just wanted to do this episode to remind you that you are going into a battlefield.
Navigating the Spiritual Battlefield: Insights for Catholic Teachers
I said this yesterday, what looks like a classroom is a missionary endeavor. It is a mission field, it is a battlefield. The enemy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ cannot create. He can only mutate; always teach that to people. Satan does not have the power to create anything. He can only mutate things. It’s very clear in scripture, and the church teaches authoritatively that Satan has been vanquished and will be vanquished to death.
There’s no final victory for Satan. Satan is not holding out for some kind of turn of the tide where he overcomes God? It’s really important to know that Satan is not God’s equal. You do know that, right? Satan is an angel. To be really blunt, Satan got his butt handed to him by Michael in heaven. Michael actually removed Satan from heaven.
Do not spend another day of your life laboring under the assumption that God is somewhere in the cosmos, concerned that Satan may one day figure out how to beat him, that’s not a theme. We’re Catholic. The victory has been won by the blood of our savior, Lord Jesus Christ, who won that victory on Calvary for our eternal salvation.
Satan can’t win the ultimate victory because he’s not even God’s rival. The only thing he can do is to try to steal individual souls from the hands of God. That’s all he can do. That’s the only vulnerability, as far as I’m aware theologically, that God has. So the vulnerability of love, of free will, of giving his creatures free wills so that they can choose to reject him. So what is Satan’s plan? Is to try and steal each soul from God. It’s all he wants.
Angel Appearances and Divine Protection: Inspiring Stories for Educators
So what looks like a classroom is actually a battlefield. Why? Because it’s a place where Leo Tolstoy would say, light and dark battle in the heart of the human person. And because you go in there, you teach virtue, you teach faith, and you model Christian virtue over time. You are actually poking and kicking sand in the devil’s face. So that’s why we need a guardian angel, because we don’t need to carry that weight alone. We have a spiritual guardian.
I just want to remind you today that, as a Catholic educator, keep this in mind, your guardian angel. No, you are never abandoned. You are never alone. And speak to your guardian angel; speak to them; ask them to be with you; ask them to lead you to holiness; and ask them to pray for you. Ask them to prompt you and guide you throughout the day.
I won’t go down this rabbit hole too far, but there’s a lot of interesting evidence of angelic appearances. I remember years ago a priest giving a Holy, and this is a very well-known priest with great credibility. He told a story about some religious sisters in Africa, and this’ll be going back 50 or 60 years—not in my life, but the story when he told it was that the sisters had a convent and it was in a part of Africa that was in a great deal of turmoil. Some rebel soldiers surrounded the convent late in the afternoon. The sisters obviously felt terrified that they would be overrun, enduring great suffering and death.
So these rebel soldiers surround the convent, but then they stop. And all through the night, they keep a vigil over the soldiers around the convent, but never into it, and never fire a shot. And as it dawned, they withdrew and didn’t return. Several years later, one of the sisters ended up meeting one of those rebel soldiers, and they realized the connection. The sister asked this young man, Why didn’t you attack? And he said it was because of the men. What men, we were alone. And he said, No, he said you were surrounded. They said the rooftop of the convent was surrounded by these fully armed men dressed in white. That’s why we didn’t attack.
It just messes with you. I just get messed up by that. Because I believe it to be true because I heard it from someone I deeply trust and even if it isn’t true, it still moves me because God provides for us.
Final Blessings and Insights: Trusting in Guardian Angels for Catholic Educators
So pray, my friend. Pray for your school; pray that the angels of God will surround that place. So many times when I’m speaking in schools or dioceses, I really pray for the angels to surround the building and protect us from any demonic interference. I believe this to be true and the church teaches it. I’m not saying anything to you; the church does not teach.
All right. God bless you. You’re covered. You’re surrounded; press into it. Pray for it.
Please make sure you’ve subscribed. For me on Instagram, @jdoylespeaks. Everything else is on the website. Book me to speak on consulting projects, staff formation. It’s all there.
My name is Jonathan Doyle. God bless you. My friend, this has been the Catholic Teacher Daily Podcast. You and I are going to talk again tomorrow.
