Friday, March 22, 2019

Psalm 90 v 11 - Our guardian angels

Image result for orthodox icon guardian angel



Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.
For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.

Verse 11 of Psalm 90 attests to a key doctrine, namely that, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it:
From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their [angels] watchful care and intercession. "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.

Looking at the Latin

The key vocabulary is:

quoniam,  for, because, since, seeing that, whereas.
angelus, i, m.an angel, spirit, messenger.
mando, avi, atum, are to enjoin, order,
de +abl from, away from, down from, out of; to indicate the thing with reference to which anything is done, with respect to, concerning (Lewis and Short).
custodio, ivi or ii, itum, ire, to guard, watch, keep, to maintain, to hold steadfastly.
omnis, e, all, each, every; subst., all men, all things, everything
via, ae f a way, road, path, street. God's way, way of life.

Accordingly a word by word translation is: 
Quóniam (for) angelis (angels) suis (his) mandávit (he has ordered) de (concerning/with respect to) te (you): * ut (in order that) custódiant (they may protect) te (you) in (in) ómnibus (all) viis (the ways/paths) tuis (your).
The English translations use a variety of tenses for the first phrase: For he has/hath given will/shall give his angels charge over you; the Latin is present subjunctive.

Monastic Diurnal
He hath given His angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways.
Brenton
For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways.
RSV
For he will give his angels charge of you
to guard you in all your ways.
Coverdale
For he shall give his angels charge over thee,
to keep thee in all thy ways.
Knox
He has given charge to his angels concerning thee,
to watch over thee wheresoever thou goest;
Grail
For you has he commanded his angels,
to keep you in all your ways.

Each of the words of this verse are important, and it is worth drawing out some of the nuances.

The temptation of Jesus in the desert: even the devil can quote Scripture

The word angel is qualified, in the verse, by ‘his’ (God’s). 

This is a reminder that not all angels are good angels! 

Rather, some are demons, who seek to destroy us. 

Indeed, this verse is the classic example of Shakespeare’s axiom that even the devil can quote Scripture: in the Merchant of Venice he says: 
“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!”

This particular verse is used by the devil to tempt Our Lord, and thus serves as a warning to us of the danger of presumption: the New Testament tells of how the devil asks Jesus to throw himself down from a high place, knowing that the angles would preserve him. 

Jesus replies, also quoting Scripture, that “You shall not tempt the Lord your God”.  

For us, the temptation is to demand a miracle of God out of personal pride, or perhaps in a situation where God’s providential plan demands another outcome: to demand that God heal a friend or family member for example, or else we will not believe. 

Our guardian angels

A second key message in this verse is that the angels guard us because God commands them to.  St Robert Bellarmine commented that:
“…the reason why the angels take such care of us is, because God ordered them to do so, gave us in charge to them; for, though they guard us with right good will, loving us as they do, and though they have a horror of the evil angels, and wish the heavenly Jerusalem to be renewed as soon as possible; and though they know all this to be most agreeable to their King, Christ our Lord, still God's command is uppermost, is their ruling motive for the whole; for they are conscious of being God's servants, and there is nothing that he requires more strictly from his servants than prompt and implicit obedience.”

Everyone has a guardian angel.  Bellarmine, though, noted that special help is accorded by them to the just:
…God's providence extends to all, and that he has given a guardian angel to each and every human being; but still that he has a peculiar regard for the just, for those that confide in him; and, therefore, that he has given special orders to his angels to look "over thee," the just man, who trusts in his help, "to keep thee;" the charge God gave his angels regarding the just was to preserve him from his enemies, the evil angels; for man, by reason of the flesh that envelops him, can see nothing save through the eyes of the flesh, and, therefore, is no match for the evil spirits, unless he get help from someone more powerful.

The ways of man and God

St Robert Bellarmine argued that the plural of the last phrase is significant, since there is no one path that everyone follows:
for numerous are the ways of man, and in every one of them he needs the help of his guardian angel. The law is the way, according to Psalm 118, "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord;" and in the same Psalm, "I have run the way of thy commandments." The way also means the works, as in Prov. 8, "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways before he made anything." Finally, this life is a way to a certain extent. The way of the law is varied, for there are many laws; the way of the works is equally so, for there are many works; the way of life is also varied, for there are many parts, ages, and states of life. We require assistance in every one of them, since we are liable to fall in every law, work, age, and state of our life.



Psalm 90: Qui habitat 
Vulgate
Douay-Rheims
Laus cantici David.
The praise of a canticle for David
Qui hábitat in adjutório Altíssimi, * in protectióne Dei cæli commorábitur.
He that dwells in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of Jacob.
2  Dicet Dómino : Suscéptor meus es tu, et refúgium meum: * Deus meus sperábo in eum.
He shall say to the Lord: You are my protector, and my refuge: my God, in him will I trust.
3 Quóniam ipse liberávit me de láqueo venántium, * et a verbo áspero.
For he has delivered me from the snare of the hunters: and from the sharp word.
4  Scápulis suis obumbrábit tibi: * et sub pennis ejus sperábis.
He will overshadow you with his shoulders: and under his wings you shall trust.
5  Scuto circúmdabit te véritas ejus: * non timébis a timóre noctúrno.
His truth shall compass you with a shield: you shall not be afraid of the terror of the night.
6  A sagítta volánte in die, a negótio perambulánte in ténebris: * ab incúrsu et dæmónio meridiáno.
Of the arrow that flies in the day, of the business that walks about in the dark: of invasion, or of the noonday devil.
 Cadent a látere tuo mille, et decem míllia a dextris tuis: * ad te autem non appropinquábit.
A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it shall not come near you.
8  Verúmtamen óculis tuis considerábis: * et retributiónem peccatórum vidébis.
But you shall consider with your eyes: and shall see the reward of the wicked.
9  Quóniam tu es, Dómine, spes mea: * Altíssimum posuísti refúgium tuum.
Because you, O Lord, are my hope: you have made the most High your refuge.
10  Non accédet ad te malum: * et flagéllum non appropinquábit tabernáculo tuo.
There shall no evil come to you: nor shall the scourge come near your dwelling.
11  Quóniam Angelis suis mandávit de te: * ut custódiant te in ómnibus viis tuis.
For he has given his angels charge over you; to keep you in all your ways.
12  In mánibus portábunt te: * ne forte offéndas ad lápidem pedem tuum.
In their hands they shall bear you up: lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13  Super áspidem et basilíscum ambulábis: * et conculcábis leónem et dracónem.
You shall walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon.
14  Quóniam in me sperávit, liberábo eum: * prótegam eum quóniam cognóvit nomen meum.
Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he has known my name.
15  Clamábit ad me, et ego exáudiam eum : * cum ipso sum in tribulatióne : erípiam eum et glorificábo eum.
He shall cry to me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will deliver him, and I will glorify him.
16  Longitúdine diérum replébo eum: * et osténdam illi salutáre meum.
I will fill him with length of days; and I will show him my salvation.

For the next part in this series, continue on here.


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