Holy Angels on Earth and in Heaven
Today is September 29, feast of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. The day after tomorrow we will be in October, the month dedicated to the angels. And October 2 is the feast of our Guardian Angels. You probably memorized the prayer to your guardian angel: “Angel of God, my guardian dear . . .” […]
A Cat Christmas Story
In a Christmas letter this year, a friend whose pet cat had died recounted how she noticed a calico cat roaming her property. It was “small, skinny, and timid.” She didn’t take it into her house but let it return to the woods. Regularly the cat came around, and the woman brought it lunch by […]
Meaning of Names and Patron Saints
The other day I told two of our cooks that the saint whose feast day landed on their birthday could be considered their patron saint. One man’s birthday was the feast of St. Basil, which was appropriate for a cook. When I told the other man that his saint was St. Josaphat, he commented, “It […]
Strange Happenings: Angels at Work?
At dinner the other night an elderly friend I’ll call Lucy told us a touching story. A few years ago on her 65th wedding anniversary, she was sorely missing her deceased husband. She lived alone, and there was no one to share her sadness and console her. She figured that her children would not remember […]
What’s Heaven Like?
My Aunt Arline was born with cerebral palsy. A good Lutheran couple adopted her. Operations to straighten her arms left long scars on her. Her speech was slurred, and she walked with difficulty. Sometimes her slight body was marked with ugly bruises from falls. Nevertheless she was a delightful person, married to my father’s brother, […]
Angels on High and on Earth
The Christmas story is replete with angels: The Angel Gabriel delivers the startling news to teenage Mary that she was chosen to be the Mother of God. An angel (probably Gabriel) breaks the life-changing news to Joseph, her espoused, in a dream. At the birth of Jesus, an angel sends shepherds to find a savior […]
Angels, Guardian Angels, Seraphim, Cherubim and Other Holy Spirits
This week my new book, The Catholic Companion to Angels, will be out. In honor of the occasion, for my blog I am posting the introduction to the book: A Catholic women’s group once invited me to give a talk on angels. My first reaction was, Why angels when there are far weightier topics the […]
Angels and Close Calls
This week on the way to church in the dark and rain I almost hit a pedestrian, but I was able to break just in time. The next day I was preparing to give a workshop far away on the west side when I just happened to glanced at the schedule and saw that it […]
