Daily Reflections ...

Today we celebrate a trio of angels, actually archangels, in the celestial hierarchy: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. The link to today’s feast day with angels is found right at the end of the reading in verse 51: “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” These words allude to the story of Jacob’s dream at Bethel where he had such a dream (Genesis 28: 12 )

Deep down, I think many of us would like to have contact with an angel in our lives: a heavenly messenger connecting heaven and earth. Yet I am also reminded of the scripture: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).

Perhaps, we are already surrounded by angels and don’t realise it. The elderly lady we visit in hospital to give her communion tells us very long stories of when she was a young girl and her father was the town baker, she would wake very early before school to help stoke up the ovens. Or perhaps, the man you see at church whom you tend to avoid because his social skills are lacking, yet when you listen to him you realise that he has a deep sense of God’s abiding presence and love for us all

May we have eyes and ears and hearts to see the myriad of ‘angels’ that God sends to us each day in our lives.

by Michael Bruynesteyn