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The word angel is derived from the Greek word angelos, meaning "messenger." The angels are indeed heralds -- as well as helpers and healers, teachers and friends. I like to think of angels as extensions of the presence of God, created to be "angles" of God's consciousness. They represent and amplify the divine attributes and they give us the very personal support we need for our sojourn on earth.

Saint Basil said, "It is a teaching of Moses that every believer has an angel to guide him as a teacher and a shepherd." The early church fathers held that every city, town and village -- even every parish and family -- has a special guardian angel. The Hebrews and some early Christians taught that even nations have their own guardian angels.

Islamic tradition says there are four guardian angels assigned to protect each of us, two during the day and two at night. (They must be working on round-the-clock shifts!) Other angels are described as "pious travelers," who scan the country and report back to Allah all that they observe. In Zoroastrian tradition, the Amesha Spentas, comparable to the JudeoChristian archangels or Kabbalah's sefirot, personify divine attributes and work to defeat evil and promote good.

Some people say, "If there are all these angels waiting to help us, then why haven't they already done something about this problem in my life or in my neighborhood?" But what they don't realize is that the universe doesn't work in a top-down management style; it's based on free will and team work.

When God created us, he gave us free will so we could exercise our individuality. God doesn't go back on his word. He respects our free will. You can think of earth as a laboratory where God has given us the freedom to experiment and evolve. If, like an indulgent and overbearing parent, God sent his angels to rush in and stop us every time we were about to make a mistake, we wouldn't experience the results of our good and bad choices -- which is how we learn our lessons and grow spiritually.

So, according to universal law, we need to ask God and the angels to intervene in our affairs. When we do ask, we are giving them the power to act on our behalf and do what's best for us. We are entering into a partnership with the divine, a union of heaven and earth-team work.

I have received many letters over the years telling me how angels saved the day. Someone once wrote and told me that he was returning home with friends from a seminar when he ran into some car problems. "When I was driving home," he said, "my car developed a problem and began to seriously overheat. None of us had any money to spare and were going home 'on a wing and a prayer' -- literally.

"Each time the needle started creeping up hotter and hotter, I would make fiery calls to the angels. I told the people in the car to hold the visualization of snow, of crystal clear, cold mountain streams and ice all around the whole engine. Then we would watch the needle immediately go right back down as the temperature dropped to normal. It was such a wonderful testimony to the power of the spoken word and the intercession of heavenly helpers."