How can we ever pay for such a debt?
Guardian Angels
To try and get a grip on this debt to God, let us consider the debt we have to our Guardian Angels.
Our Guardian Angels - yet another gift from God - mould us and raise us to be delightful before God. Well, that is their aim.
How often have they assisted us? How often have they saved us from sin? From perils? From death? Even from hell?
For my part, I would rather avoid thinking about how my Guardian Angel has been tested and asked to do the impossible, time and again. It is a humbling thought to realise that, but for my Guardian Angel, I could already be a resident of hell!
P Suppose the Angel to set before you Paradise, full of delights and joys; and on the other hand Hell, with all its torments. Contemplate both, kneeling in imagination before your guardian Angel. Consider that you are most truly standing between Hell and Paradise, and that both the one and the other are open to receive you, according to your own choice. P INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE (P.46) By Saint Francis of Sales
And we have another perception of our Guardian Angels in that worthy book, THE SECRET OF SAINT JOHN BOSCO by Henri Gheon P Another time he demanded of a very rich woman, wife of the Portuguese Minister, that, as a penance for her sins, she should personally carry alms to a family in need.
"It is impossible, Father," she said.
"Why? Have you lost your money?"
"No, of course not. But I have not the time. I will go later. My carriage is waiting."
"It is your own affair. But I advise you to make three invocations to your Guardian Angel, for you will need his protection this very day." P
We merely get a glimpse of the work of our Guardian Angels, in these snippets, but it is quite clear that we are indebted to them and indeed, that we are quite unable to pay that debt!
How could we pay it? How can we repay someone who has saved us from hell? Someone who has steadfastly led us through life towards Heaven? Someone whose current work specifically involves our eternal well being? Whose loyalty to us is absolute, even as our own loyalty is so frail and faulty?
Thank you Guardian Angels.
The Saints, Angels and Holy Souls
Then there are these exquisite beings, every one of whom desire our eternal well being, as well. Some especially help us and have become our patrons. They too have co-operated to the end that we might perfectly follow the Eternal-will of The Heavenly Father.
There is no way that we can thank them enough or repay the debt we owe them.
Thank you Angels, Saints and Holy Souls.
Mary
But of course, there is The Woman of Scripture, our Mother and Queen. The debt owed Mary is exceeded only by that due to her divine Son, Jesus Christ.
Through her, only, did Christ join humanity. Therefore, through her only, do we have access to Christ's Salvation.
It is simply not possible to comprehend our indebtedness to Mary - each and every mortal from Adam to the end of the world.
Thank you, Mary.
God
Having pondered quickly on our indebtedness to those who have gained eternal life or are about to, it is obvious that we will be indebted to them forever; literally forever. Our comprehension of what we owe them is beyond us. We just can not cope with the magnitude of their charity and work towards and for us, for we do not understand the glory and blessedness of Heaven, towards which they have guided us, and away from the hatred, deathliness and ugliness of hell, from which they have saved us.
That being the accurate situation of the matter we ponder on, we must THEN raise our thoughts to the debt we owe The Blessed Trinity and the Christ!
If our comprehension suffered total instability concerning our debt to Mary and the Blessed, that comprehension becomes a limp rag, because our mentality can only collapse in astonishment at the mere thought of what we owe to our Creator!
But, it is a most important realisation, it seems to me, to just begin to at least acknowledge the gigantic debt due to God from all mankind, let alone from each individual! Once our mentality collapses in astonishment - at a mere glance of it - then the word 'adoration' begins to have real meaning.
Not only does our very person become seeped in this adoration, but this stance seems to draw knowledge from our Creator.
The Church
For example, we can gain a more complete appreciation of The Universal Church and of the supreme Pontiff, the Bishop of Rome, for do we not also have a debt to The Church which has raised us in Truth and Goodness and Love?
Further, in this adoration of God, we perceive, from yet another angle, the wonderful dogmas of The Church, and the