“Mangy Donkey”

I heard a priest say about the angels, “At the very moment God creates them they can see the purpose for which they were made, and they can say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to their divine vocation.” That insight into the nature of angels is based on Thomas Aquinas. And there is more where that came from. But this morning, on the Feast of the Guardian Angels, I thought it would be special to take a moment to thank our guardian angel for saying yes.

One story I always remember about the guardian angels comes from the life of Saint Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei. On one occasion in Spain during the persecution of the Church that broke out there during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930’s, Father Josemaria was being threatened by angry men until another person mysteriously intervened to save his life. That person is said to have turned to him afterwards saying with affection, “Mangy donkey. Mangy donkey.”

Only God and the angels could have known that Father Josemaria referred to himself in his private prayer as a mangy donkey for the Lord to ride into Jerusalem. And since that day was October 2nd, the Feast of the Guardian Angels, he believed that the “man” was actually his guardian angel. Father Escriva would go on to found Opus Dei on this Feast.

This story is one of the reasons why you will always see little donkeys all over the place in Opus Dei houses. But Saint Josemaria had truly nurtured a warm devotion to his guardian angel from his youth. He was taught when he was a little boy always to thank his guardian angel for saying yes to God, a yes given freely to God at the moment his angel was created. +