24 of October is the traditional feast of St. Raphael, archangel. He is one of my favorite angels, since he represents the angel as friend, patron, companion, partner, in other words, someone intimately involved in our life. In that respect, he is much like the angel guardian we all have. I usually think of angels best unconsciously - only to recognize their presence or action after the fact. When I attempt to imagine them, I suppose I think of them like ourselves - only perfect. I do not always imagine wings - but I imagine them always to be male; always strong, always wise, always compassionate and understanding - like an ideal dad or an older brother. Most often I imagine them exactly my own age - which has nothing to do with my chronological age - I always think of myself as being in my 20's - someplace between 22 and 29. Strangely, this was the same age I imagined myself to be when I was a teenager too.
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Anyway. The Archangel's feast day is also the birthday of two of my friends, Fr. Tom and Wayne. Prayers and best wishes to them both.
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteOn one's own age, which has nothing to do with chronological age . . . For some reason, that reminded me of this short bit from my past:
When I was in the third grade, I asked my Religion teacher what age people would be in Heaven.
I asked after reading some Protestant children's books with full-colour illustrations of what Heaven might be like, and Heaven was a place with people of different ages.
Anyway, my teacher said one's "age" in Heaven is up to God.
Love the picture and Archangel Raphael. I daily ask for his intercession. Funny, I too see angels like you do. When I was pregnant with my kids, I took to naming their angels (John and Lawrence) since I saw them as strong and protective, and frequently asked them throughout the day for their intercession to get my children safely through the pregnancy (and beyond!)
ReplyDeleteMonica - I think angels are obedient to moms - so they have to keep the names you gave them - cool - I hope when you see them they are wearing dalmatics too.
ReplyDeleteIf only my kids were obedient to their mom...and occasionally wore dalmatics!
ReplyDeleteWho knows what the angels' names are, but it was more personal to give them a name than say, "Hey you."
I know a Fr. Tom Dome (Santa Paula, CA) whose birthday is October 24th, the same day as my 4th son's birthday. It could not be the same Fr. Tom, could it?
ReplyDeleteThe Fr. Tom I'm referring to is a monk in Iowa.
ReplyDelete