In this issue, I am going to be bold and brave, and write about something which is usually best left to the learned men of religion to analyze, discuss, and interpret. But I feel I have to somehow try, bullheaded that I am, and say my piece, regardless of the flak I might get in case I don’t get my facts straight.
Religion is about faith and one’s spiritual beliefs. I do not need to tell you that there are people who might worship a different God, one that is unlike yours, but in the end we are all unilateral in believing there is a God (or Yahweh, Allah, Jehovah, Elohim, Buddha, and other names). I try not to challenge anyone’s beliefs just because they are different from mine and frankly, everyone has a right to their own beliefs.
Today, I would like to explore with you the reality of angels. Yes, angels – those celestial beings who are assigned to guide and protect us from harm. Do you personally believe in angels? Are they real? Are they around us, interacting in our daily lives? Do we each have a special angel?
If you are a Roman Catholic like me, you would rest your beliefs in the Bible, a testament of past happenings before and after Jesus Christ. I cannot speak for other religions, for they have their own sacred scriptures and their own doctrines. Let me just say that I am writing from my own point of view and from what I have researched which, obviously, will never be enough to cover our topic.
In the Bible, it says that angels were created by God even before the birth of Jesus Christ. They were there to bear witness and acclaim God’s creations. Some of them were assigned to guard the gates in the Garden of Eden so that no one else after Adam and Eve can enter it. They were also there to announce and extol the joyous arrival of the Child Jesus. At the same time, these angelic beings, who worshipped and glorified God at all times, were created to be ministering spirits, to be intermediaries between God and humanity in their work as messengers, and act as man’s protector and guide at God’s will. God did not create any other angels after that single act of creation.
While the Bible has no specific say about this, theorists in angelology say that, in heaven, there is a hierarchy of angels, beginning with seraphim who are the caretakers of God’s throne all the way to the angels and archangels, who are assigned specific tasks by God. By the way, next to the seraphs are the cherubs, who are always pictured in Christmas (and Valentine’s Day) cards as chubby, cute, lovable beings with wings. Wouldn’t you know it? In passages of the Bible, cherubs actually have four faces – that of a lion, an ox, a human, and a flying eagle – seeming to be symbols of God’s mercy. They are also believed to be fierce warriors and would be terrible to behold. Your Hallmark cherubs are simply romanticized versions of the cherubs in art.
Does each one of us have a guardian angel? Ever since I was a child, I have always believed that we are each assigned a guardian angel, from the day we were born to the day we pass on. After all, we were taught in catechism classes to pray to the “Angel of God, my guardian dear”. The Scriptures, however, do not seem to be explicit about this, although there is a related reference to it in Matthew 18:10 when Jesus said: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” It is not clear whether this means that each person has a specific angel assigned to him. Sure, there are guardian angels in heaven like the ones that guard the tree of life and those that guard the psalmists. But whether an angel is assigned to be with each of us, wherever we are and in whatever we do, is still subject of an ongoing debate.
On the other hand, Islamic beliefs say we actually have two – one in front, another one at our back and that is, if you don’t count the two others on each of our sides, who seem to be only recording what is happening in our lives. I don’t know about you but it comforts me to think that there is a heavenly presence who will take care of me and who will try to steer me away from all harm. If I will ever need comforting or reassurance in my life, I know that my angels will be there to inspire and encourage me.
I am not alone nor will I ever be. It is important to remember that our angels will never tell us what to do, or influence our thinking or our way of life. Didn’t God give us the magnanimous gift of free will, the power to decide for ourselves?
Even if unseen, angels make their presence felt in a myriad of ways unknown to us. How many times have you called out to your angel (or to your favorite Saint, if you will) to help you get parking in a very crowded sea of cars only to find, as if by magic, a just vacated empty parking space? Have you ever been in a situation where you have to decide which road to take – to turn right or left, or go straight? And then hear a voice from within you telling you the best and right way to go? Most times, we refer to that as intuition, but is it really?
Angels are actually pure spirits and, as such, would have no bodies, but it is said that they may take on human forms if and when the need arises. So, for example, they can come to you as a random rider, who stops to help you with a flat tire. Or some stranger, who will help defend you from a bunch of thugs, or foil that dastardly attempt at handbag snatching.
Still don’t believe that there is an angel “protecting, guarding, and guiding” you? Let me tell you this story from my big sis. At the time of the 9/11 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, my sister and her husband, Manong Tal, were not far away from the buildings – watching with horror all the debris (and bodies) falling down, and the black smoke coming from the top floors where the second plane had struck. They heard an eerie, screeching sound when suddenly, the buildings started to crumble. The air was then filled with cement dust, cloaking the day in total darkness and turning visibility to zero.
My sister did not know where to go. She was scared of straying too far because she knew that most of the buildings in lower Manhattan were built higher than street level. If she wasn’t careful, she could fall down into the gutters.
So, she and her husband were huddled together with no one in sight, hardly able to breath. Then, from out of nowhere, they saw this moving light, blinking, circling, as if signaling them to go where it was. The light came nearer and they finally saw the figure of a man holding a powerful flashlight, who lighted their way down the pavements and guided them down through stairs (she thought it was maybe the subway) across the street and then up into the exit door of another building. There, people helped them wash off the cement dust from their bodies. My sister was in such a state of shock that she could not recall whether she had even thanked the stranger who helped them and who just vanished into thin air.
I am also compelled to include here the story of an eighteen-month-old baby, who survived after being in a half-submerged car in the cold, icy waters of a river in Utah for fourteen hours. The four responders who saved the baby said that they were spurred to continue looking for survivors of the incident because of a voice whom they mistook to be the child’s mother, crying out repeatedly, “Help me! Help me!” That couldn’t have happened because the mother was said to have died at the moment of impact. If not her, then who did that voice belong to?
And while this is not an angel story, I am so moved to add the story of an eight-year-old who, after an encounter with a migrant carpenter at their rundown farm, painted in 40 hours the world-renowned “Prince of Peace”. The said painting was later stolen and lost for so many years until it was found covered in sawdust and bought by a noble family for $800,000. Have you seen that painting? Its similarities to the image of Jesus in the Shroud of Turin will completely blow your mind!
So many times, we say thank you to someone who has helped us in some way or another and telling them, “You’re an angel”. Now, what if they really are your angels? – NWI
