In 1982 my husband was offered a job in southern Idaho. For work related reasons he went ahead of me, by a couple of weeks. He took our 11 year old son with him. I was left alone with our 10 and 7 year old sons and our newborn baby daughter, whom I was nursing at that time. I had chosen to nurse ‘only’, with no other type of supplemental feeding. I was attending a support group, and my feedings were very successful, so I didn’t feel the need of any substitutes, since my mother’s milk was fully sufficient for her at that young of an age. Since she was still an infant, I fed her regularly during the night as well.

Once, during my husband’s absence, I woke from a very intense nightmare in the middle of the night. I was one of those people afraid of being left alone at night time. So, it took all the grace God could give me to strengthen me through the time that my husband and I were apart. This particular night I was going to need even more grace since I was in no condition to nurse our sweet baby, because I was still under the influence of the frightening dream. So, I began to earnestly implore God to help me and protect me so that I would be able to nurse our precious daughter. The baby began waking up and I knew I couldn’t wait for the intensity of the effects of the dream to wear off. Trusting God for what I needed in order to care for her, I lifted her from the bassinet beside our bed and held her in my arms. As I sat propped up in bed and drew her closer to me, I was amazed to see (not literally physically, but with what I call “my spiritual eyes”) a large Angel wing coming from the right, as if the Angel was positioned behind me and wrapping us up with its protective wings. Then another wing proceeded to do the same thing as it came from my left side. Both our precious baby and I were enveloped in God’s amazing protection by his Holy Angel, given to us as an answer to my outcry for help. I felt peace and was then able to successfully nurse our baby with confidence and calm. ~Judy R.

I grew up praying to my Guardian Angel every night and I never “outgrew” this important practice. For my own family, I faithfully beseech my children’s and my husband’s Guardian Angels every day by praying the Guardian Angel prayer one time for each of them, “Angel of God, [family member’s name] guardian dear…”, inserting the family member’s name where it fits. A recent family experience confirmed for me the importance of this practice.

My son celebrated a major college milestone by going skydiving for the first time with some friends. Despite the company having 20 years of safely helping people experience this sport, my motherly concerns were in high gear. We spoke to him while on the way to Mass – and just before he boarded the plane – and everyone prayed to his Guardian Angel at Mass for his safety. Independently of this, his brother was also praying at Mass almost 300 miles from our location. The priest gave an excellent homily about us not having any idea when God will call us home…and yes, our son called us after Mass and began with, “Mom, I’m calling before you see this on the news.”

All of his friends made their jump, with my son being the last one to leave the plane (in fact, he was the last jump of the day). He came safely to earth and then turned to see the plane suddenly point straight downward and nose dive straight into the earth. The young pilot tragically died on impact and we grieve for him and his family. An investigation determined that the engine failed right after my son jumped from the plane. At that point, the pilot lost control and crashed.

We believe God and our son’s Guardian Angel intervened in saving our son and his friends. Interestingly enough, our other son was in a motorcycle accident one week prior to this event and walked away with only minor injuries. I asked both of my sons to please let their guardian angels have some rest! ~Donna J.

I am middle-aged, and believe I have experienced the protection of angels twice in my life.

The first time was approximately 10 years ago, when I was taking a walk through my neighborhood. I approached a creek at the edge of the neighborhood when three large stray dogs came up from the creek banks and began to head straight for me. They seemed menacing and began approaching me faster. I knew they would be close to me very soon, and I had no time to do anything but start saying a prayer to my guardian angel. As soon as I finished the prayer, all three dogs froze immediately, and all three dogs looked at the same point in the air about 5 feet above my right shoulder. Then, as if on cue, they all turned around at the same time, away from me, and went back to the creek area. The way they froze in unison, and the fact that they were all staring at something above me which I couldn't see leads me to believe my Guardian Angel showed himself to the dogs to protect me.

Another time involved the protection of someone else. I was driving slowly through the parking lot of the local pharmacy, and became distracted when I was changing the radio station. When I looked up from the dial, I saw that two women were about to step in front of my car, and I realized I wouldn't have time to stop without hitting one of them! (Although I was driving very slowly, my skin crawled because in an instant I realized I could still harm them as they were about to step in front of my car.) Just as I began braking (and praying to my Guardian Angel!), a gust of wind came. One of the women was wearing a straw hat, and the gust blew the straw hat off of her head. Both women spun around, turning away from my oncoming car. They were laughing and trying to catch the hat. The thing is.... it was a very still, stifling hot day in the middle of the summer, with no breeze to speak of (there hadn't been one for days), much less a gust of wind. I believe, our angels were working together to prevent the women from being hurt (and maybe one of them inspired the woman to wear a hat that day). ~Deanna D.