guardian angel

(Set in the Philippines)

You're wandering inside a St. Paul's bookstore to look for some prayer booklets your mother told you to buy that morning. The Lenten season has began and, as a tradition, everyone from your family will be participating. (It's Friday. You can still taste the ginisang ampalaya and galunggong that your mother cooked for lunch.)

You're about to make a turn towards the next aisle when the sudden urge to look at the shelf beside you made you stop. It's a shelf full of guardian angel figurines, which are made exquisitely that you didn't doubt your sudden interest in them. Only a second has passed as you tried to get a better look when you heard a crash from the aisle that you were supposed to go to. Apparently, a tower of unopened boxes of books has fallen over. No one was hurt though, so you went back to the guardian angel figurines.

"Oh, right. guardian angels, haha. Did you just save me?" you jokingly thought to yourself. "Since you saved me, why not buy one, right?" The smallest one is just worth 110 pesos. Your Ate has one displayed in her room and you remembered that you actually want to have your own, too, so why not, right?

But, first, you need to find out the day of the week you were born. There are seven guardian angels, one for each day of the week. St. Gabriel for Monday, St. Raphael for Tuesday, St. Uriel for Wednesday, St. Sealtiel for Thursday, St. Jhudiel for Friday, St. Barachiel for Saturday, and St. Michael for Sunday.

You try to compute the day you were born using the leaflet provided. Monday. St. Gabriel. You have the same one as your sister's.

"How can St. Gabriel possibly handle the both of us AND still have to handle millions of people born on monday?" you jokingly thought, yet again, as you choose a St. Gabriel figurine, "that would be so hard lol."

But, wouldn't that be easier?

Wouldn't it be easier if St. Gabriel, or any other saint or angel, is the one who guides you, instead of me? It would be a lot easier if a saint or an angel guides everyone instead of us.

I am no saint nor angel. I have a name as common as yours. Actually, it's very similar to yours.

But, at least i know you.

At least I have an upper hand.

At least i know the mistakes that i have committed and have been punsihed for, the same mistakes that I will never let you commit, ever.

(Disclaimer: I have no intention to disrespect any type of belief or religion. This is just a "what if" that has formed inside my head lol. Thank you for reading!)