Guardian Angels: invisible bodyguards

A preacher on a mission to Africa one day when he was visiting one of his parishioners, he came across two bandits who had hidden behind some rocks along the way. The attack never took place because, alongside the preacher, two imposing figures dressed in white were seen. The gangsters told the episode a few hours later at the tavern, trying to find out who it was. For his part, the innkeeper turned the question, as soon as he saw it, to the person concerned, but he declared that he had never used any bodyguards.

A similar story took place in Holland at the turn of the century. A baker known as Benedetto Breet lived in a proletarian neighborhood in The Hague. On Saturday evening he tidied up the shop, arranged the chairs and on Sunday morning held a meeting with the inhabitants of the neighborhood who, like him, did not belong to any church. His doctrine lessons were always crowded, so much so that many prostitutes, after attending it, had changed their profession. This had made Breet's character very unwelcome to anyone who exploited prostitution in the port area. So it was that, one night, the man was awakened with a start while sleeping, by someone who warned him that, in a neighborhood not too far away, someone was sick and asked for his help. Breet did not let himself be prayed, dressed quickly and went to the address that had been indicated to him. Arriving on the spot, however, he discovered that there was no sick person to help. Twenty years later a man entered his shop and asked to speak to him.

"I'm the one who came looking for you that distant night," he said. "A friend of mine and I wanted to set a trap for you to drown in the canal. But when there were even three of us, we lost heart and our plan failed "

"But how is it possible?" Breet objected "I was completely alone, there was no soul alive with me that night!"

"And yet we saw you walking between two other people, you can believe me!"

"Then the Lord must have sent angels to save me," said Breet with deep gratitude "But how come you came to tell me?" The visitor revealed that he had converted and felt the urgent need to confess everything. Breet's bakery is now a house of prayer and this story can be found in his autobiography.