Evangelization Outreach / Irorobeje Crystal Owhoso-Maddox

Dear guardian angel: a declaration of thanksgiving for deliverance from evil

On Easter Sunday of 2007, my family and I stepped into the sacred waters of baptism and were joyfully received into the Catholic Church. It was a day of miracles—overflowing with tearful joy and profound communion with the Body of Christ.

That same year, as autumn began to unfurl its golden leaves, I stood at the precipice of death. One moment, one decision, could have ended my life. In the fall of 2007, I was robbed at gunpoint.

My sister and I had just wrapped up a late night at a club when we were confronted by four men—strangers who, in an instant, became wielders of violence.

One of them pressed a gun to my chest. In that breathless moment, I embraced the instinct to take the bullet if it meant sparing my sister. I found the strength to make the sign of the cross, and a wave of serenity washed over me. That peace—unshaken in the face of terror—was not mine alone. It was divine comfort, a silent assurance that the Lord’s angels were near and present—a protective overcoat of heavenly intervention and promise of deliverance.

Now I cry out:

“O Lord, my God, I cried out to you for help, and you healed me. You have brought my life up from the pit, O Lord” (Ps 30:3–4).

When I sing this responsorial psalm, I am reminded of the countless times my guardian angel has stood between me and death.

A heavenly emissary of God, my guardian angel is charged with keeping me in his embrace so that I may continue the work he has set before me. The spiritual and physical realms of this world are not separate—they are intertwined, interlocking in moments of warfare and divine intervention.

In those moments, I cry out to God for assistance in battle, and I must give thanks for the intercession of divinity in my very human existence.

Just as Tobias did not recognize the angel Raphael, who appeared out of nowhere to guide, protect and heal, I too have been led by unseen hands.

My guardian angel has been a steadfast sentinel, a divine companion walking beside me through shadowed valleys and into the light. I have felt the brush of wings in moments of despair, the whisper of grace in times of confusion, and the shield of mercy when danger drew near.

This is my declaration of thanksgiving—for deliverance from evil, for the sacred presence of my guardian angel, and for the God who sends his messengers to walk with us. I am alive today not by chance, but by divine design.

And so I lift my voice in praise, not only for the miracle of survival, but for the purpose that survival has revealed. I have been spared to serve, protected to proclaim, and healed to testify.

May my life be a living psalm, a testament to the power of faith, the reality of angels, and the mercy of a God who never abandons his children.
 

(Irorobeje Crystal Owhoso-Maddox is the coordinator of archdiocesan Black Catholic Ministry.) †