I don’t often speak on the subject of the supernatural, preferring to have a very
earthly theology. Often, I find that miracles and supernatural events are
distractions from the work of social justice. My Grandmother gave me the best
piece of advice; “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you’re no earthly good.”…
But I’d like to take this opportunity to say; I do believe in angels. I do believe
in miracles. And tonight is the night to celebrate them.
What is an angel? What does an angel look like? Would you recognize one if you
saw one?
When most of us think of the word “angel”, we think of what the Bible calls a
“Seraph” or a “Cherub”. We think of a wondrous and sometimes terrifying
creature that appears as a human with wings.
But often, when the word “angel” is translated, it is not describing a kind of
creature, but simply means; “messenger”.
In the book of Genesis, there is the story Balaam’s donkey. Balaam was a prophet,
or magician who was contracted by a king to put a curse on Israel. While Balaam was on his way to mountaintop to look over Israel and pronounce the curse, the donkey kept turning aside, would
wander off the road. The reason the donkey was doing this was, unbeknownst to
Balaam, there was a Defending Angel with a sword standing in the road, waiting
to strike Balaam down. The donkey could see the angel, but Balaam could not.
And so Balaam would beat the donkey until he returned to the road. Finally, God
gives the donkey the gift of human speech and he says; “Master, have I ever
disobeyed you before? Why do you keep beating me, when I’m working to save your
life?”… How many angels were in this story? One or two? I’ll say there are two
angels, two messengers, the donkey being one of them, as he is given the power
to proclaim an eye-opening revelation and message to choose between Mercy and life,
or Violence and Death. Famous psychic, George Anderson says; “animals, especially
our pets, are the eyes of God.”
Another weird story and even hilarious story can be found in the Book of Acts. Peter
has been imprisoned by the Romans. Now, this event isn’t just an equivalent to
going to jail in the modern U.S.A., where the prisoner is fed daily, given the
opportunity to see a doctor if the prisoner is sick or maybe even given the
opportunity to leave as a reward for good behavior. Being imprisoned by the
Romans was a fearful thing, torture was real possibility, as Jesus found out
when he was crowned with thorns, mocked and beaten. Death, execution was
expected… So, when Peter escapes prison (with the help of an angel) and knocks
on the door of a friend’s house – listen to what is said. Acts 11:13-15 says;
“Peter knocked at the outside door, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.
She recognized Peter’s voice and was so happy that she ran back in without
opening the door, and announced that Peter was standing outside. ‘You’re
crazy!’ they told her. But she insisted that it was true. So they answered, ‘It
is his angel.’”
Hear that! “It is his angel.”… Peter’s friends have already given him up for dead.
They can’t, cannot believe he is alive in the midst of their grieving. What
they’ve just said is; “it must be his ghost.” So, what we see here is, it was
believed that human spirits of the deceased could also act as angels, as
messengers of God.
Would you recognize an angel if one came your way? Maybe we shouldn’t look at
the form, so much as we should look at what they do.
Obviously, since the word “angel” so often translates as “messenger”, we would
expect angels to proclaim the Good News, or at least to offer the message;
“choose ye this day the path of life or the path of Death”… It’s interesting to
note, by the way, the Creation of the world and multiverse (as related to us in
the Book of Genesis) begins with “and God said”! It begins with the utterances
of the Creator. In the Gospel of luke, the Covenant of God through Christ has
two-stage beginning; the first stage is when Mary says; “Yes! Let it be so!”
and the second stage is when the choir of Angels, the Shekinah of God, the
shepherds and the pagan Magi and all the creatures of the world are singing of
the glory of the birth of Jesus. Jesus later gives Christians the duty of
speaking out, of proclaiming the kingdom of God in the Great Commission. Jesus,
whom the Apostle John calls the “logos”, the Creative Word of God. And we have
come full circle. No wonder Jesus said that our words have great power and to
be careful with them, to let our yeses be a simple yes and our nos be a simple
no.
But angels, as we have seen in the reading from the Book of Revelation, do so much more than simply function as the mouth of God. St. Michael is portrayed in the Bible and in folklore as defending first the Jews and then later also the Christians from forces of evil. There is Raphael, the physician angel, who heals us; mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. And there are 13 more Archangels, each with their own specific ministry. But as we have seen, in the first reading and then through the Gospel, there are whole legions of angels going to and fro, through Christ, attending to the needs of the world and multiverse – hearing your cries and attending to your needs. And rather than giving you a dry list of names and functions, I’d rather share a couple more rich portraits to really bring the ministry of angels home to your hearts.
What do angels do?
There is the story of the prophet, I think it was Elijah, in the desert. And
the raven brings him bread… Angels attend to our physical needs. But there’s so
much more to this story. The raven has wings, it is able to travel from heaven
to earth and back again as a messenger. In this particular case, the raven is
descending from heaven to earth to feed the prophet. Bread from Heaven, it recalls
Mannah, it foretells the Eucharist – it is Christ. The angel is bringing Christ
to the prophet. The angels thus draw us to the sacraments and minister to our
spiritual needs as well.
In recent weeks, I’d been reading the diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska of Poland. She was a modern woman,
she’d lived during the early decades of the 1900’s, dying shortly before World War II. She was a mystic and had many visions.
St. Faustina, unfortunately, was also frequently very ill, dying of cancer while
she was in her early 30’s… There were times when she was had to be sent to the
secular hospital, which was 90 miles away from the convent. In those days, that was quite a formidable distance and so, her sister-nuns were not able to visit often, and St. Faustina did not always have a priest available
either. These were desperate times for the poor woman, because she was extremely devoted to the sacraments of Confession and Communion. And when I say “extremely” devoted, I do mean “extreme”.
When the opportunities presented themselves, Faustina would attend Mass and receive
Communion on a daily basis and would attend Confession on a weekly basis. When she was left to languish in the secular hospital, without access to the sacraments, she would fall into depression – she felt as if she’d been led out
into the desert and was withering up and dying. But just as God sent the raven to the prophet in the desert, God sent a ministering angel to Faustina in the hospital. St. Faustina described this particular angel as a Seraph or Cherub,
as appearing human but with wings. Interestingly enough, the angel appeared in her cell with the Bread and Wine prepared to give Faustina Eucharist. (I have to note that the angel did not consecrate the Bread and Wine, leading us to believe that it had been consecrated earlier and most likely by the great High Priest Christ himself.) But St. Faustina stopped the angel. She said; “Angel, before you give me Communion will you hear my Confession?” The Angel looked upon her with a sad smile and said; “I cannot. There is only One who forgives sins and He has reserved that ministry for priests.”
So here, friends, is yet another kind of ministering angel, your priest. An angel who is able consecrate your Eucharist and to hear your Confession and to profess the forgiveness of God, the healing of God and reconciliation of the Church Community.
