The feast of the Guardian Angels reflects a long-held belief in the Catholic Church that each one of us has the protection of one of God's special messengers we call 'angels'. It is basically an expression of the protective care that God gives to each one of us at every moment, in every place and in every situation. This is beautifully expressed in the Gospel passage for today.

We are told that one day Jesus' disciples came and asked him who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus answered their question by calling over a small child and setting him in front of them. And he said that unless they became like this little child they could never be part of God's world. And the one who best imitated the spirit of a small child would be the greatest.

And what is it that makes the child so great? It is not the ignorance of the child or its helplessness but rather its willingness to be taught, its willingness to learn, its basic openness to the truth. That is the quality that we need to become the people God wants us to be. The passage concludes by telling us that we must never look down on people like this, because they are under the special protection of God as indicated by the fact that "their angels are constantly in the presence of the Father". It is for us, then, to have that childlike openness and simplicity before God and at the same time to realise that we are specially under his loving protection.