The family vacation was to commence with a visit to a reported Marian apparition site in rural Alabama. Smart phones and GPS systems were still several years away.

Even if Dad had been willing to do the unthinkable and ask for directions, there was no one to ask, not unless we made for the lone farmhouse on the horizon. With no other cars in sight, he stopped the engine. Mom reclined her seat as Dad fumbled with an old paper atlas.

“We might have to turn back,” he sighed with a glance at the fuel gauge.

A pair of piercing blue eyes appeared suddenly at the window. “What brings you all out here?”

The voice belonged to a towering blonde man who had seemingly stepped forth from the stalks, only those stalks were less than waist-high.

After a moment’s shock, my parents explained their predicament and described the shrine they were hoping to reach.

“You’ll be wanting to make a right at the next corner,” the fellow replied, pointing out where to turn and what to look for.

After Dad jotted down the directions, my parents turned to express their gratitude. But the stranger was gone.

“Hello?” called Dad. He and Mom checked around the rear of the car and scanned the young stalks. Nothing. “How could a fellow that huge just disappear?”

“Don, let’s go,” Mom decided a moment later. “Maybe the Lord sent us an angel to help us find our way.”

They did find their way. The directions were spot-on, and they met up with other pilgrims praying the Rosary at the shrine.

This story from my parents isn’t unusual. A great many people experience encounters in times of need that are hard to write off as merely fortunate coincidences. But even when those helping hands remain unseen, the fact remains that the Lord has assigned each of us an angel to serve as guardian and guide.

Not until the next life will we witness all the ways in which God’s grace has intervened in our lives, and I suspect that once we behold all the blessings which were bestowed — and all the hardships we were spared — those crosses that we did endure will look a lot lighter. Perceiving “what could have been” will be a humbling experience, and one that will fill us with gratitude. 

But alongside those blessings, we will also behold all the ways in which our guardian angel was there, defending us from evil and subtly nudging us toward paths that lead closer to our Heavenly Father and not farther away from Him. A powerful helper is ever at our side, but do we remember to ask for that aid and to thank our guardian angels when we make it through those difficult situations?

St. John Vianney reminds us, “Our guardian angels are our most faithful friends, because they are with us day and night, always and everywhere. We ought often to invoke them.”

You aren’t just a “job” in the eyes of your guardian angel. These servants of the Lord love what they do, and while we may frequently frustrate them with our poor decisions, the truth is that they love us as well. Should you ever feel lost in life, remember that we are never truly alone. A faithful friend is forever at your side.