Membership
Membership
Consecration
Children’s Consecration
Theological Foundation
Explanation of Consecration
Consecration to the Guardian Angel & All the Holy Angels
“From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by [the angels’] watchful care and intercession” (CCC 336). St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, that the angels, especially our Guardian Angels, “take part in all our good works” (Summa Theologica, I, 114, 3 ad 3; cf. CCC 350). “God has given to each one of us a personal Guardian Angel, primarily, for our own sanctification.” In order to receive their help more efficaciously we should develop an intimate relationship with our Guardian Angel committing our lives to him through a special devotion. One way is to consecrate ourselves formally to our Guardian Angel.
The purpose of the Consecration to the Guardian Angel is to bind oneself to one’s own holy Guardian Angel, so that his help can become much more efficacious in us and that we advance more rapidly on the way to God. The holy Guardian Angel wishes to employ his whole strength that we never again separate ourselves from God. He wants to speak to us more clearly through inner admonitions, motivate us more to do good (cf. CCC 350), alert us to dangers, illumine our mind, so that we may penetrate more deeply into the knowledge of God, the fear of the Lord and the love of God, as well as into the greatness and significance of the word of God.
What is required for making the Consecration and being admitted into the OA?
Candidates and members strive to give the holy angels as much space as possible in their lives and apostolate, so that the Angels can work with them for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.
Those individuals are fit for the Work of the Holy Angels:
• who love God and the holy Angels,
• who themselves gladly render Guardian Angel services and realize the need of expiation,
• who stand up for the holy Church and do not criticize her,
• who gladly pray and are not afraid of sacrifice.
Through the Consecration to the Guardian Angel, we become more disposed to all Guardian Angel services on earth, especially to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy (cf. CCC 2447). Eyes and ears, heart and hands become more open not only towards the holy Angels, but also towards our fellow men” (Statutes of Opus Sanctorum Angelorum).
The Consecration to All the Holy Angels
After having made the Consecration to the Guardian Angel one can go further and begin a formation towards the Consecration to all the Holy Angels. What is the difference? While the Consecration to the Guardian Angel is primarily ordered towards our own sanctification, the Consecration to all the Holy Angels calls for our commitment to work for the salvation of souls through prayer and sacrifice.
In the Consecration to all the Holy Angels, “we beseech the help of the holy Angels and in turn place our strength and readiness and our abilities at their disposal, allowing ourselves to be deployed in the battle for the kingdom of God and for the salvation of souls.” (Statutes of Opus Sanctorum Angelorum)
We should have the desire to enter more and more into the service of God and the Church in union with the holy angels, to love them with all our hearts, in order to become thus more open to God, so that, guided by the angels, our hands may become more and more the hand of the heavenly Mother, the hand of the Lord Himself.
Children’s Consecration to the Guardian Angel
From the outset, the Consecration to the Guardian Angel for children – also called the Guardian Angel Covenant – had its place in the Work of the Holy Angels. According to Mother Gabriele the consecration has as its aim,
to give the child an understanding of the holy Guardian Angel; helping the child to love him, listen to him and receive from him its “first religious instruction”, that is to say, the angel helps the child distinguish good from evil and helps it learn the first virtue of a child, which is obedience.