The Guardian Angel assists you in life but also in death. that's how
The Angels, who assisted men during their life on earth, still have an important task to perform at the time of their death. It is very interesting to note how the Biblical Tradition and the Greek philosophical tradition harmonize on the function of the "psychagogic" Spirits, that is, of the Angels who have the task of accompanying the soul to the ultimate destiny. Jewish rabbis taught that only those whose soul is carried by the Angels can be brought into heaven. In the famous Parable of poor Lazarus and the rich Epulon, it is Jesus himself who attributes this function to the Angels. "The beggar died and was brought by the Angels into Abraham's womb" (Lk. 16,22:XNUMX). In the apocalyptic Judeo-Christian reading of the first centuries, there are three angels "psycopomnes', - who cover the body of Adam (ie man)" with precious linens and anoint him with fragrant oil, then put him in a cave rocky, inside a pit dug and built for him. There it will remain until the final re-surception ”. Then Abbatan, the Angel of death, will appear to start men on this journey to the judge; in different groups according to their virtues, always guided by the Angels.
it is very common among the first Christian writers and among the Fathers of the Church, the image of the Angels who assist the soul at the moment of death and accompany it in Paradise. The oldest and clearest indication of this angelic task is found in the Acts of the Passion of Saint Perpetua and companions, written in 203, when Satyr tells of a vision he had in prison: “We had left our flesh, when four Angels, without touch us, they took us in the direction of the East. We were not loaded in the usual position, but it seemed to us to go up a very gentle slope ". Tertullian in "De Anima" writes: "When, thanks to the virtue of death, the soul is extracted from its mass of flesh and leaps out of the veil of the body towards the pure, simple and serene light, exults and startled to see the face of her Angel, who is preparing to accompany her to her home ". St. John Chrysostom, with his proverbial wit, commenting on the Parable of poor Lazarus, says: "If we need a guide, when we pass from one city to another, how much more the soul that breaks the bonds of the flesh and passes to future life, she will need someone to show her the way. "
In prayers for the dead it is customary to invoke the assistance of the Angel. In the "Life of Macrina", Gregorio Nisseno places this wonderful prayer on the lips of his dying sister: 'Send me the Angel of light to guide me to the place of refreshment, where there is the water of rest, in the bosom of the Patriarchs '.
The Apostolic Constitutions have this other prayers for the dead: “Turn your eyes on your servant. Forgive him if he has sinned and make him the propitious Angels. " In the history of the religious communities founded by San Pacomio we read that, when a righteous and pious person dies, four Angels are brought with him, then the procession rises with the soul through the air, heading east, two Angels carry , in a sheet, the soul of the deceased, while a third Angel sings hymns in an unknown language. St. Gregory the Great notes in his Dialogues: 'We must know that the blessed Spirits sing the praises of God sweetly, when the souls of the elect leave this world so that, busy understanding this celestial harmony, they do not feel the separation from their bodies. .
by Don Marcello Stanzione