The Church has never formally declared that every individual has a protecting angel. However, a writer as far back as St Jerome said it was the "mind of the Church." "How great the dignity of the soul, since each one has from birth an angel commissioned to guard it," he wrote in his commentary on the gospel of Matthew. Coincidentally, the Gospel reading for today is the same as yesterday's for the feast of St Therese of Lisieux. The emphasis yesterday was on the childlike qualities of Therese. For Jesus was saying that true greatness only comes to those who in a spirit of complete docility and trust submit themselves totally to the will of their Father in heaven. Today the focus is more on Jesus' statement at the end of the reading where he says that the angels of children and all the 'little ones' in our society are in constant contact with God. The meaning is that those considered as of least consequence - children, the poor, the marginalised - are all very special in God's eyes and, through their angels, can be sure of God's loving concern. Today, we pray that God's ever-loving protection will be always with each one of us and guide us on the right paths, help us always to follow the paths shown to us by Jesus our Lord.