“I shall do everything for Heaven, my true home. There I shall find my Mother in all the splendor of her glory. I shall delight with her in the joy of Jesus himself in perfect safety.”
— Saint Bernadette Soubirous 37
February 12
Angel Facts and Fiction
Fact: “Angels” are mentioned 273 times in some editions of the Bible. Only three angels are named in Catholic Bibles. They are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael and are also called archangels. Michael’s name means “Who is like God.” His name appears most often. “Gabriel” means “God is my strength.” Gabriel, the herald of Good News in the New Testament, announces the coming of a Savior. Raphael’s name means “God has healed.” Raphael appears only in the Book of Tobit. What’s an example of angel fiction? Believing that angels know the future of those they guard or the future of the world. Only God is all-knowing.38
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angels praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:13–14)
February 13
Angels in the Snow
On a snowy winter night in Chicago in the late 1870s, two boys went to the rectory of Holy Family Church to ask a priest to visit their dying grandmother. Father Arnold Damien, S.J., immediately accompanied the boys to a chilly apartment building where they thanked him and left. After anointing and giving the dying woman the Eucharist, Father Damien praised her faithful grandsons. “Father,” she whispered weakly, “I had two grandsons, but they died many years ago. They were altar boys at Holy Family Church.” Suspecting that his young visitors were angels, the pastor commissioned statues of altar boys to stand as sentinels in the church sanctuary.39
Are they not all ministering spirits sent to serve, for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)
February 14
Saint Valentine (died 269)
Champion for Love
Although three different Saint Valentines were once celebrated together on this date, it’s the third-century bishop of Terni, Italy, who became our patron saint of love. According to tradition, Valentine illegally officiated at the marriage of Christian couples. Emperor Claudius had banned marriage, believing that unmarried men made better soldiers for his army. Valentine also became known for healing. When he healed the sick child of a wealthy family in Rome, the news spread like wild fire. Because Roman authorities couldn’t tolerate Christian heroes, the elderly Valentine was arrested, jailed, and sentenced to death. He wrote a last loving note to Terni, signing it “your Valentine.”40
O God, let my words, work, and prayers serve as valentines, carrying a message of love to others. Let the angels, your holy messengers, help carry and deliver my valentines.
February 15
An Entrance for Angels
We all do it: “Why?” we ask. “Why is this happening?” “Why did this happen to me?” Maybe we should look at it in a very different way. English writer Mary Cholmondeley (1859–1925) suggested that our sorrows allow us to live more fully. “If you had not undergone an agonized awakening, all the great realities of life — love, hatred, temptation, enthusiasm — would have remained for you merely words to string on light conversation. But the sword that pierced your heart forced an entrance for angels, who had been knocking where there was no door — until then.”41
Can I allow heartbreak to become an entrance for angels? Help me, Lord, to admit your angels to sustain me throughout the great realities of my life and to show me the deeper reality of your providential love for me.
February 16
Let Us Honor the Angels
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) elevated devotion to the angels to new heights in the Church. Preaching on Psalm 91:11, “For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways,” Bernard said, “The angels are not only with you, but for you. They are with you to protect you, they are with you to help you. Nevertheless, although it is He who gives His angels charge over us, yet it is they who with such love obey his bidding, and assist us in all our needs, which are so great. Let us therefore cultivate a pious and grateful spirit towards our noble guardians; let us love and honor them as much as we can and as is fitting.”42
“Yes, holy angel, God has given you charge of me. Take my hand and bring me to the path that leads to salvation. Protect me during the night and keep me safe. Intercede for me with the Lord; ask him to make me love him more and more, and to enable me to give him the service his goodness deserves. Amen.”
— Saint Macarius of Egypt43
February 17
My Angel without Wings
Ordinary people sometimes act as angels, bringing healing messages from God. Mary William shared her story, “I have a lot of friends and a lot of good friends, too. But when my marriage was in trouble, when I was so depressed, not one of my close and good friends noticed it. I thought God had abandoned me, too, and I was becoming angry with God, when I felt comforting hands upon my shoulders. They belonged to a man named Norman, ‘my angel without wings.’ It seemed like God was saying, ‘I am extending my hands to touch you, why are you shying away?’ Norman talked to me first and then invited my husband and me for tea, and we talked all afternoon. I found out more about my husband than I did in our 15 years of marriage. It was this angel’s gentle touch that opened my heart for healing.”44
“How consoling it is to know that near us is a spirit who, from the cradle to the tomb, does not leave us even for an instant.… And this heavenly spirit guides and protects us like a friend, a brother,” wrote Padre Pio to a spiritual daughter.45
February 18
Blessed Fra Angelico (1395–1455)
Painted by an Angel
His parents named him Guido, and he received the name Giovanni when he joined the Dominican order. But the brothers who knew him best called him Fra Angelico, as the whole world does today. He was Angelico because of his kindness to others, his simplicity and holiness, and because the frescos he painted on the monastery walls looked as if angels painted them. C. S. Lewis said that the angels that appeared in Fra Angelico’s brush strokes “carry in their face and gesture the peace and authority of heaven.”46
Fra Angelico’s art was his prayer and his life. He said that “anyone who creates works involving Christ ought always to reside with Christ.” Is my work a prayer? 47
February 19
Angels Awaken Us
Angels are always there for us, in every need and in every opportunity. As gifts of God they bless us at every moment. “Angels awaken us to the wonder and mystery of being God’s creatures.