Saturday Ramblins, Vol. 1, No. 6 (June 20, 1998)

Angels are a separate creation, purely spiritual beings who are already living in the presence of God. Angels are, literally, messengers. Throughout the Old and New Testaments and in the sacred writings of many world religions, angels come from heaven (in the Judeo-Christian tradition, in human form), providing the direct link between heaven and earth.

Recently, PapaJon wrote about the better angels of our nature. Using an idea presented in the writings of C. S. Lewis, PapaJon indicated that the choices we make, the little turnings within ourselves in sharing the love of Christ freely, are not only an outward sign of our love for Christ, but also a movement towards the angelic part of our nature.

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article titled "Angels on the Ground." It made direct reference to the picture of an angel face which is painted on the sidewalk at or near the place of a violent death. It had a secondary reference to the people who go into neighborhoods ravaged by violence to pray for the victim(s), the perpetrator(s) of these crimes and their families. Each of these ministers have made that choice — shown that sign toward that better angel of his or her nature. Any of us could probably list a number of occasions wherein we, or someone we know, said to someone else, "You're an angel." Someone grabs a straying child's hand to keep him or her from danger. A coworker volunteers to help with a last minute project. Friends and neighbors jump in to help when sickness or injury make it impossible for us to take care of our daily responsibilities. Someone offers much needed respite-care for a home-bound relative so the primary care-giver can have an afternoon off.

If we tie the literal definition, angels as messengers, to the philosophy that when we make loving choices in our actions, those inner turnings disclose the better angels of our nature, it suggests the idea that, as angels are links between heaven and earth, so too our spiritual natures can be links between earth and heaven.

Putting aside the long-standing dispute about whether or not animals go to heaven and/or have souls, it is a theological truth that our beloved pets and we humans are not truly angels, nor will they or we ever be. Yet time and time again, over the centuries, people like our Angel Friends, have seen loved ones who have gone before during times of crisis, referring to people and animals as angels.

This continuous phenomena raises, in my mind anyway, a significant question: Do angels take the outward appearance of our beloved dead to bring us messages from God? I don't know, but I certainly believe it is possible. It is, I believe, why so many of us see those who have died in times of stress, confusion and discouragement. Why would an angel not appear as one beloved by the recipient?

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