Angels We Have Heard On High?? Angels We Have Heard Near-by!

The Annunciation - Tanner 1898

Feast of the Guardian Angels - October 2

When we see pain on a tortured person’s face, we might glimpse for a second the image of Jesus crucified, a reality that artists for centuries have shown in infinite variation and detail and one that enters the lives of all of us at one time or another.  We might look at a woman in a jewelry shop with eyes of D.H. Lawrence, who saw Aphrodite in the body of the woman washing her clothes in a river.  We might see a Cezanne still life in a momentary glance at our kitchen table. When a summer breeze blows through an open window as we sit reading in a rare half-hour of quiet, we might recall one of the hundreds of annunciations painters have given us, reminding us that it is the habit of angels to visit in moments of silent reading. (-Thomas Moore, in Care of the Soul)

Story: Once upon a time there was a blacksmith who worked hard at his trade. The day came for him to die. The angel was sent to him, and much to the angel’s surprise he refused to go. He pleaded with the angel to make his case before God that he was the only blacksmith in the area and it was time for all his neighbors to begin their planting and sowing. He was needed. So the angel pleaded his case before God. He said that the man didn't want to appear ungrateful, and that he was glad to have a place in the kingdom, but could he put off going for a while? And he was left.

About a year or two later the angel came back again with the same message: God was ready to share the fullness of the kingdom with him. Again the man had reservation and said: ‘A neighbor of mine is seriously ill, and it’s time for the harvest. A number of us are trying to save his crops so that his family won’t become destitute. Please come back later.’ And off the angel went again.

Well, it got to be a pattern. Every time the angel came, the blacksmith had one excuse or another. The blacksmith would just shake his head and tell the angel where he was needed and decline. Finally, the blacksmith grew very old, weary and tired. He decided it was time, and so he prayed: ‘God, if you’d like to send your angel again, I’d be glad to come home now.’ Immediately the angel appeared, as if from around the corner of the bed. The blacksmith said: ‘If you still want to take me home, I’m ready to live forever in the kingdom of heaven.’ And the angel laughed and looked at the blacksmith in delight and surprise and said: ‘Where do you think you've been all these years?’ He was home. (-Megan McKenna in Parables)

Story: Once upon a time there was a woman who longed to find out what heaven is like. She prayed constantly, ‘O God, grant me in this life a vision of paradise.’ She prayed in this way for years until one night she had a dream. In her dream an angel came and led her to heaven. They walked down a street in paradise until they came to an ordinary looking house. The angel, pointing toward the house said, ‘God and look inside.’

So the woman walked in the house and found a person preparing supper, another reading the newspaper, and the children playing with their toys. Naturally, she was disappointed and returned to the angel on the street. ‘Is this all there is to heaven.’
The angel replied, ‘Those people you saw in that house are not in paradise, paradise is in them!’ (-Edward Hays in Feathers on the Wind)

In Irish spirituality, there has always been great reverence for angels. The word ‘angel’ in the Irish language is derived from two words ‘ain’ and ‘geal’ – the place of brightness. The belief that the angelic spirits come from the place of light, which is heaven. Angels are depicted in much of early Irish sacred art and appear in the writings of St. Patrick when he refers to the angel of the nation. The early Christians held a great reverence for spiritual things and believed that they were protected by the angels in all places and at all times. Many of the ancient prays reveal a close relationship between heaven’s helpful spirits and a believing people. There were no boundaries in the Celtic imagination and such messengers were present in all areas of life. 
So what then is the purpose of the angels in the twenty-first century where the sacred and the secular often clash and where many are wandering desperately seeking for some meaning in life and hoping for something deeper? The angels exist to bring the hope and protection of God into our lives though we all have free will and can make choices of our own.  

Perhaps unknowingly, we too have encountered the angels in our own lives in various guises and forms as they reveal to us the goodness and compassion of God, who longs to be close to us.
(-Liam Lawton, Where God Hides)