The Holy Spirit is indeed God working within us through different ways. As Donal Dorr puts it in writing “the Holy Spirit is the God who works secretly in the human heart and who inspires and touches the deepest parts of the human spirit (p.62).” Five channels were briefly discussed in the reading materials among which are the web of life and angels. I chose to reflect on how an angel has touched my life.
I am a big fan of angels, not only when I was a kid but even up to now that I am a grown-up. It also helped that back in Ateneo, we used to celebrate our annual school fair during the Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. It is an annual event that was looked forward to not only by students, but by parents and teachers as well. I am a fan because I believe that in my everyday journey, I get to experience being touched by an angel or angels for that matter, be it in small or big ways.
My son who constantly inspires me especially in difficult times will be my angel forever. My husband, who is afraid of doctors and hospitals, for some weird reason, convinced me to go to the hospital that night, 3 weeks after giving birth, was my saving angel. If not for his persistence, I may not be writing this presentation. I had hemorrhagic fever and I was already bleeding inside. My platelet was down to 50 when the normal range should be between 170 to 240. My students, who affirmed my decision to change my course back in college from Dentistry to Education, will be my angels forever. My brother who welcomed my family into their home, provided for our needs, free of any charge, for the first nine months of stay here in Australia, is another angel. People who continue to pray for us even if we don’t ask, are of course angels in our lives!
Who are the newest angels in my life? A new acquaintance telling me tips on how to be a better casual teacher; the teacher who gave me the bookstore where I can purchase books or materials that I can use when I do my casual work; the partner teacher who made sure that I was on the right track right after she learned that I was new in school and in Australia; a new acquaintance helping me get more casual teaching jobs; and the childcare who accepts casual childcare when I have a casual work are the newest angels in my life. Of course, there are a lot of angels in my life sometimes I don’t get to realize it until after my encounter with them.
When I was much younger I thought I needed to have an extraordinary experience for me to say that I have been touched by an angel. That I needed to see an image of a winged creature all dressed in white just like what we see in the movies or in the cartoons. But it all changed when I realized, through a poem by Cindy Turner in a card that was given to me by one of my best buddies in college that we can see angels in each person that I meet. Let me share it with you.
There have been angels in my life.
While they haven't arrived with a blast of trumpets
or a rustle of wings,
I've known them just the same.
They performed their acts in human guise,
sometimes borrowing the faces of family and friends,
sometimes posing as well-meaning strangers.
You have known them, too,
when just the right word was needed,
when a tiny act of kindness made a great difference...
Or perhaps you heard a voice
whispering in the night of sorrow,
the words not quite clear
but the meaning unmistakable..."There is hope... There is hope."
Donal Dorr points out that these “angelic presences represent a channel for inspiration from the Holy Spirit (p.67)” I cannot help but agree that when people around us, family or even strangers, makes an unexpected act of kindness, the Holy Spirit is at work. And yes, I agree that “we have to pay more attention to guardian angels and other spiritual powers (p.67)”
I am actually challenged at this point because many people have been used by God to serve as an angel to me. I don’t know if one way or another, I have been an angel to them as well --to my family or even strangers, to people who needed to hear the right word or needed the right inspiration. I don’t know but I can tell you that I am trying.
I hope that this one is a better version than the first one. I was actually inspired because I got the results of my first assessment and it yielded good results. Hope I'm on a lucky streak.
