The Father’s Face

Understanding the ministry of Guardian Angels

10/02/2021

Mt 18:1-5, 10 The disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”

As a small child I loved to draw, especially nature scenes of landscapes: trees, birds and flowers, farmhouses, ponds and ducks. But do you know what I could never draw? I always failed in drawing faces. Either the eyes did not match, or the nose was too long like Pinocchio’s, or the smile was crooked. Maybe Picasso struggled to draw faces, too, so he made an art of depicting disfigured faces. My faces were prettier than Picasso’s!

I don’t know if C. S. Lewis drew faces as a child, but he was a master of painting faces with words. I will never forget how he described God’s Face at the end of his extraordinary essay, “The Weight of Glory.” Lewis wrote: “In the end that Face which is the delight or terror of the universe must be turned upon each of us either with one expression or the other, either conferring glory inexpressible or inflicting shame that can never be cured or disguised.”

God’s face, according to Lewis, can convey a twofold expression: one of delight or one of terror, kind of like the twin Mardi Gras masks, where one is comic and the other tragic. And what will trigger one expression or the other? Clearly, that will be the consequence of our conduct, while we walk in this world. On Judgment Day each of us will behold the Face of God, which will either beam with divine delight, or strike terror straight through us, far worse than seeing one of Picasso’s poor faces.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Guardian Angels. And Jesus tells us something astonishing about these angels. Jesus warns: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” Now, which of the two faces of Lewis, comic or tragic, do you think the angels behold? Naturally, since they are in heaven, they behold God’s glorious Face. St. Augustine called that Face, “Beauty ever ancient, ever new.”

But the angels are also aware, far more than C. S. Lewis, that God’s Face can also have a look of terror. Perhaps even the blessed angels glimpsed “the terror of the universe” when the fallen angels turned against their Creator in their ridiculous rebellion recorded in Revelation 12. That divine Face conferred “glory inexpressible” on the good angels, and “shame that can never be cured or disguised” on the fallen angels that fateful day. The Guardian Angels know both expression, and their job, therefore, is to guard and guide us here on earth. Why? So in the end we behold the Face that is the delight and not the terror of the universe.

My friends, do you have a devotion to your Guardian Angel? Sadly, most Catholics feel little or no fondness or even awareness of angels, much less of their Guardian Angel. Most people who do think about them, may mount a little Guardian Angel pin on the visor of their car. Or, perhaps hang a painting of an angel watching over two small children crossing a rickety bridge over a raging river. Whenever I bless someone’s new car, I pray: “Father, send your angels to watch over them on the road, and may they follow Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life, home to heaven.” And that is about all the attention the angels get.

Instead of just paying them a little lip service, I suggest we try to understand how the angels have the awesome privilege and aching pressure of beholding the Face of God. How so? Well, they know how our actions are changing the expression on that divine Face into either delight or terror. And therefore the angels pray fervently for us that someday that Face will confer on us glory inexpressible and not the other Fate.

I hope someday, with the help of my Guardian Angel, to draw the Face that is the delight of the universe. And maybe now even Pablo Picasso, who died in 1973, can paint a pretty face in paradise.

Praised be Jesus Christ!