Angels
My Angel Story…
My interest in angels began early one Saturday morning during a 7:00 A.M. mass, where I had been scheduled to assist at as an altar boy. Even then I was not a morning person and so I yawned my way through the sparsely attended service of a few elderly women and my mother. At one point the morning sun shining through a pane of green glass in the stained glass window lit up old Father Gabriel’s snow white hair causing him to look like a punk rocker or an alien to my fourth grade imagination. I was trying to follow along and do my part while barely suppressing a serious case of the giggles that could turn to out loud laughter if I didn’t put a lid on it! I knelt beside the altar and rang the Sanctus bells signaling the moment of sacred consecration.
I was not looking at Father Gabriel and things were going just fine. After I rang the little brass bells (always my favorite part of serving mass) Fr. Gabriel lifted, with trembling hands, the chalice and host above the altar for the faithful to venerate. Just then, a storm of gold liquid light poured through the church roof gathering into a large, masculine, angelic form as he swooped down the aisle. He appeared to be completely outlined in liquid gold light, the rest of him being transparent. When he reached the altar the angel’s hand joined Father Gabriel’s for a split second in holding both the chalice and the consecrated host during the elevation. The spirit then turned back into a rush of golden light with a flaming tail, almost like a comet, and shot back through the church roof immediately above the altar. I was in awe and amazement searching the faces of the others to see if they had seen it too! Only I stood gaping in astonishment as Fr. Gabriel cleared his throat for me to help him down to the altar rail to assist in serving the blessed sacrament.
The rest of the mass was a hazy blur as I tried to process what I had seen. It all happened so quickly but it was real and I was shaken by the wonderment of it. While riding home in the backseat I told my mother the story and asked if she had noticed anything unusual. She hadn’t. She didn’t exactly discount what I told her I had seen but I sensed she thought it was more a kind of holy daydreaming due to the early hour and environment. But my thoughts at that mass were neither lofty nor holy. I was tired, a little bored and then occupied trying to stifle my laughter over Father’s shocking green hair! It was a moment of profundity that has marked me to this day. It has not made me a saint, or especially virtuous certainly I am far from holy. What it did do was open my eyes to the unseen reality of the spiritual realm and sent me on a quest in search of the Wild Divine.
I’ve seen no more angels but Archangelica is the bloom of a seed planted long ago. We are a marketplace ministry which strives to offer unique, lovely and even whimsical objects that celebrate the Divine within ourselves, in the world and even deeper into sacred mysteries. It is my hope that the angels might touch you too, in your place of deepest need. To that end we offer gifts and guides for the journey into the heart of God. All of us are travelers along the way. May you find some strength, some mirth and some comfort here. Certainly we don’t have all the answers but we invite you to join us in living with the questions. Here is the beginning of wisdom.
Share your Angel Story…
I invite you to share your authentic angel story by e-mail for possible publication on this site.