Guardian Angels Don't Wear Capes, They Dodge Cattle: A True Story about a Farm Accident, God's Providence, and Catholic Teaching on Guardian Angels
- Leah Brix
- 1 minute ago
- 4 min read
The sound of bellering steers is but a memory on the Brix farm.
But where the bare cement now stands, hundreds of hooves once trampled.
The giant beasts made their home inside the great iron bars that enclosed them, finding comfort in the endless supply of feed and fresh, clean water.
For those unfamiliar with cattle farming, steers, specifically Holstein steers as we raised here in dairy country, can be best compared to an ADHD teenager- they are nosy and impulsive. They certainly aren't mean creatures, but the sheer sight of a 1400-pound finished steer can be terrifying.
One evening, my husband and three oldest kids were sorting out the heaviest boys to load onto a semitrailer at 5 the next morning.
Cattle have a herd mentality, so when one runs, they all want to run.
And run they did. There were two steers running together. One was selected for market, the other was not. When my boys tried cutting them, one ran in an unexpected direction.
I was sitting on the ranger with all the little kids, and my mother's heart stopped as I watched one of the enormous beasts run by my son. I watched his body fly into the air and fall back several feet from where his feet had been planted.
I assumed the worst. I panicked, but there was nothing I could do! I was holding an infant and was surrounded by 3 other young ones.
Adam, my husband, was in the pen and rushed to his side. The next thing I knew, my son came walking out, face white as a ghost, but otherwise uninjured. He mumbled a request for a ranger ride back to the house, and the nightmare was over.
How was that even possible? How had he survived? The shoulder of the running steer caught his shoulder and heaved him both upwards and backward several feet.
I could spend hours analyzing how what looked like a fatal accident left him with nothing but a sore butt from his landing and an injured pride.
Was it because Adam had just added a fresh corn stalk bale to the pen, so the bedding was fluffy? Was it because the steer hit his shoulder, which threw him up and spun him away instead of dropping my son directly under the steer's thundering hooves? Or was it his guardian angel saying, “Not today!” and preserving him from harm?
I won’t know exactly what happened that day, nor do I need to know, until I enter into the beatific vision.
But I do know that he has a guardian angel, whose primary role is to protect him. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “Beside each believer stands an angel as a protector and shepherd leading him to life.” Now it is most commonly thought of as the protection of the soul and guidance towards salvation, but guardian angels absolutely can intervene to guard against serious physical dangers.
According to the Order of the Holy Cross, whose mission is to promote consecration to the Holy Angels, it teaches, “St. Thomas Aquinas holds to the principle that God makes use of the angels for every physical intervention in the universe, and that 'all corporeal (physical) things are ruled by the angels.’ The angels are, as it were, the hands and feet of God’s Providence. Their knowledge of the natural universe and its laws is incomparably superior to ours. They hold a mysterious power over the material world, and their dominion goes far beyond the limits of science and technology.
They protect our bodies from physical dangers and care for our physical needs. We can find many passages in the Bible where the angels protect man from physical harm, such as in the book of Tobit and Daniel.”
This summer, we are revisiting past blog posts. I thought I was going to choose one and show how I have grown or changed since then, but then this old post, Angels, the Original Guardians of the Galaxy, came to mind in a quite an unexpected way.
I was driving in my car, and by car, I mean 15-passenger van, and had turned on the radio to the Patrick Madrid show. He was talking about angels with a caller, and he mentioned how he had written an article titled “Angels, the Real Guardians of the Galaxy” a while back, and directed her to it.
No way, dude! What are the odds of that! I wrote my post in December of 2023, and he wrote his in November of 2025. I will never play on the same field as Patrick, but I am incredibly flattered that, at one point, my wit almost matched his.
Ok, back to my original point. Because I was recently reminded of this old blog post about angels, thanks to Patrick Madrid's caller, I thought I would pay tribute to it. I encourage you to check it out, as I have included two other miracles that I have experienced involving my guardian angel that you might enjoy. Angels, the Original Guardians of the Galaxy
And because I want to leave you with something to really chew on, go ahead and check out Patrick’s article here- https://open.substack.com/pub/patrickmadrid/p/angels-and-the-architecture-of-the?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Let's close in an ancient Spiritual Communion
O holy Angel at my side,
Go to Church for me.
Kneel in my place at Holy Mass
Where I desire to be.
At Offertory in my stead
Take all I am and own
And place it as a sacrifice
upon the altar throne.
At holy Consecration’s bell
Adore with Seraph’s love,
My Jesus hidden in the Host
Come down from Heaven above.
And when the Priest Communion takes,
O bring my Lord to me,
That His sweet Heart may rest on mine
And I His temple be.
Amen.
Until next time, your sister in Christ,
Leah
