Presence of Angels
“I thank you, Lord, with all my heart; in
the presence of the angels to you I sing.” Psalm 138:1
I first learned about angels as a young child, but I
don’t recall that I ever took them all that seriously. They seemed like a lot of the fantastic
beings that you hear about when you are young, like toy-making elves, fairies
and leprechauns. As with those other creatures,
I mostly “outgrew” angels. But, as I
began to take my faith more seriously about 30 years ago or so, I also began to
take angels more seriously.
Although I left my first childish thoughts of angels behind
when I was young, it was becoming a father with children of my own that led to
my first adult encounters with angels. I
don’t think it was a coincidence that I started taking my faith more seriously
when my children entered their teen years.
It was what all of us needed to survive those years.
One of the first saints that I was drawn to was St Padre Pio. There are many attractive attributes about this saint, but one of the things that most attracted me was his teachings about angels. Jesus affirmed guardian angels: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father." MT 18:10 Pio had a very close relationship with his guardian angel. Pio spoke of sending his guardian angel to assist the guardian angel of another to help protect that person at a time of grave physical or spiritual danger. Whenever any of my children was out too late at night I developed the practice of sending my angel to help protect them. It gave me something positive that I could do as an act of love, rather than just sit and worry, which was actually more of my nature.
The second religious pilgrimage that my wife Michell and I went on was to Ireland. One of the sites we visited was Knock, where on August 21, 1879 a number of people in a small village had a shared vision of Mary, Joseph, St John against the gable of the village church. Off to the side of these three figures was a cross, and an altar on which stood a lamb. Angels circled about the lamb. There is now a spectacular depiction of this vision at the apparition site encased in a chapel. That was the first time that I began to contemplate the presence of angels at Mass.
Another pilgrimage that we made where an angel is part
of the story is Fatima. The Angel of
Peace visited the three children several times in the year before they had
their visions of Our Lady. He is the first
angel who became part of my regular prayer life, as I pray the same prayers that he
taught the children.
Closer to home, I have a good friend, Deacon David Scheuer
who has had several extraordinary visions of his own that started with his own
son. It seems that while his son was
still little, like many children, he was a squirmer in church. They tried books and toys and snacks to keep
him quiet. One Mass where Dave was holding
him he pointed out what was happening at the altar. Suddenly his son stopped squirming and his
gaze fixated there. “Dad, do you see the
tornado?” Dave did not know what his son
was describing. Several times after, his
son asked again if his dad could see the tornado. Dave prayed to see the tornado. Eventually he did. The tornado was nothing less than the angels
that filled the sanctuary during the Eucharistic Prayer. Dave describes the scene and other spiritual
encounters that he has had in his book, A Glimpse of Heaven on Earth,
which I highly recommend.
Ever since I heard Deacon Dave speak a number of years
ago now, I am especially aware of the presence of the angels when I serve at
the altar. I do pray that if it is in
keeping with God’s most holy will, that he allows me a glimpse of the angels,
but I also know that Christ needs to be the center of my vision. I have yet to see the tornado. But, I also position myself one step further
back from the altar than I used to, to allow the angels an unobstructed view of Our Lord. That beings me joy and peace, because I now believe
and know that I am in the presence of the angels.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
Photo by Vitalii Onyshchuk on Unsplash
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