Tag Archives: Guardian angel

2022-09-12 · 4:00 am

Maternal warriors who sing: Hannah, Anne, Mary Immaculate. What’s in a name?

Above is an icon of Saint Anne with Immaculate Mary, her infant daughter, who is already by vocation Mother of God, respected as such by the Holy Angels.

Anne in Hebrew is Hannah, חַנָּה‎. Most translate this name as grace, favor. That’s appropriate, since Saint Gabriel’s greeting to Mary so as to announce to her that she is to be the Virgin Mother of God, was this: “Rejoice, you who perfectly continue to stand perfectly transformed in grace since the instant…” [in context, that Mary’s vocation to be the virgin Mother of God was received, that is, at the first instant of her conception].

I first heard this explanation – grace, favor – of the name Hannah when I was slogging through the propaedeutic year of languages at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. But with me being freaky pedantic, I sought philological extravaganzas and, the next day, raised my hand to ask Sister Timothy Elliot, our professor, whether or not there was another possibility for the name Hannah, say, perhaps “womb”, indeed, “mercy.” She thought for a second and, eyes bright, said yes. Emboldened, I added a few philological notes, and she waxed poetic on that philology for a minute, confirming my findings.

Anyway, you’ll remember that Hannah is the prophet Samuel’s mother. She was granted the mercy of being a mother by God Most High, and she brought her little son to the temple to grow up there. “Here I am, Lord. I come to do your will.” Hannah sang about her experience, a hymn of praise and thanksgiving which, we can be quite sure, had been memorized and sung by another Hannah more than a thousand years later, the mother of Immaculate Mary. And surely Mary heard this, memorized this, carried this, sang this, the song of a Maternal warrior:

  • “My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy like the Lord, there is none besides thee; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low, he also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world. “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones; but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness; for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king, and exalt the power of his anointed.” (1 Samuel 2:1-10)

Sound familiar? Let’s see how Immaculate Mary, The Warrior Woman of Genesis 3:15, recast this for her own circumstances as Virgin Mother of God, Jesus being the fulfillment of the new priesthood which Samuel, son of Hannah, put into motion back in his day:

  • “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.” (Luke 1:46-55)

To sing with such humility, truth, reverence, praise, with a military edge, demands of any singer, Hannah/Anne/Mary, an experience of suffering.

And that brings us to Mary’s name, Miryam, מִרְיָם, “bitterness” and “sea”. We recall once again the Lamentations:

  • “Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?” (Lamentations 1:12)

Back to Miryam, Mary. When I lived atop the cave of Elijah atop Mount Carmel for a month, I would sometimes look over the sea. I wondered out loud to my guardian angel what it is that Elijah saw coming out of the sea as a sign that the terrible drought of years was now over, you know, upon his praying seven times. The Hebrew is ambiguous, simply mentioning that his servant reported to Elijah that a small cloud (laden with rain) was seen arising from the sea, a cloud like a man’s hand/foot. הִנֵּה־עָ֛ב קְטַנָּ֥ה כְּכַף־אִ֖ישׁ עֹלָ֣ה מִיָּ֑ם

Forget translations, which often say “hand”. I think not. I think it was a small cloud laden with rain looking like a man’s foot. Why’s that? Because the cloud laden with rain as salvation for Israel is arising out of the bitter sea, that is Miryam, Mary. The first image of salvation we see in the Sacred Scriptures is in Genesis 3:15, whereby salvation is being brought by the initiative of the Savior to reach out His heel to crush the head of the great serpent, the ancient dragon, Satan, with that Redeemer/Savior Himself being crushed as indeed we saw with the crucifixion of Jesus, Son of Miryam, Mary, that Bitterness immense as the Sea under the Cross.

The moment I had asked my guardian angel about that cloud laden with rain back in the Book of Kings, a small cloud laden with rain immediately formed directly in front of me, over the sea, directly in front of Elijah’s cave. That’s the picture I took of that cloud above. Yikes!

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2022-06-10 · 11:00 am

Outlaws, 1%ers, bodyguards, angels

That’s the logo of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club. A bit more completely presented, some of the ideology comes to the fore:

Whatever. Look. If someone wants to come back to the Lord Jesus in true repentance, I’m going to rejoice. I’ll take no offense. We’re not against each other. The enemy is Satan. Period.

Meanwhile, there were times in my life that I’ve at least temporarily had a number of bodyguards, all of them extremely capable people who would lay down their lives for me (actually for Jesus) and I for them (actually for Jesus). One of those highly skilled people himself had a bodyguard, who passed away a while back. Here’s a picture of that bodyguard of my bodyguard. Obviously, he is a 1%er Outlaw.

Now, if you think that’s a bit scary or whatever, you know, that a priest would have body guards, you gotta know that – no insult to them – they got nuthin’ on guardian angels. Guardian angels are all about God’s justice, and see God, as Jesus says, in the face. God has their six, as it were. And guardian angels got ours.

Have we today already asked our angel guardians to help us with walking in God’s presence and praying always? They’ll rejoice to help us do this for us who were all of us “tax collectors and sinners” and would still be such with God’s good grace. Did I just make an analogy with some Outlaws and Guardian Angels? I guess I did. By the way, the archrivals of the Outlaws are the Hells Angels. Just sayin’.

  • “But Father George! Father George! I’m still flabbergasted about the 1%ers! They’re tax collectors and sinners and… splutter splutter… they’re violent!”

Oh, really? Take a look at Him whom we will all of us together look upon at the Last Judgment, Him whom we have all pierced with our sin:

Who’s the tax collector and sinner? The one who converts or the one who is aloof from also looking into Mary’s eyes?

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2021-02-21 · 5:30 am

The real temptation Satan presented to Jesus. NOT what you think.

The Gospel for the First Sunday of Advent (Novus Ordo) last night at the Vigil Mass, 20 February 2021, is Mark’s super short account of Jesus tempted by Satan in the desert immediately after the Baptism. Unlike the lengthy accounts offered by Matthew and Luke, Mark simply says that Jesus was tempted by Satan. That’s it. While the first readings were read and the psalm was chanted so beautifully, I asked my guardian angel what I should speak about during the homily. It’s like I could almost hear my rib cage explode as he ripped my heart out and stomped on it while I beheld what I was being instructed to speak about. It’s not that I saw anything. It’s not that I heard any words. It’s that of a sudden – wham! – I understood that short account and what the real temptation of Jesus was. Oh my God, my Lord and my God.

The temptations to which Jesus was subjected in the desert and then repeated quite exactly on Calvary by the ones Satan was possessing are mere distractions, very clever. While Jesus is busy with that Satan would offer Jesus the temptation which Satan had in mind even before he approached Jesus years before in the desert. Soooo clever.

We get some clues about this in all the accounts of the temptations presented to Jesus in the desert, such as Luke saying that Satan then departed but with a plan in mind that would involve a more opportune time, more opportune because there will be an added element. It’s that added element that was so crushing to me.

Let’s see if I can preach coherently today. I’ll publish the recording if the homily isn’t too disjointed. But I have to tell you, I’m still devastated about what happened the instant I asked my guardian angel to tell me what to say.

Now it’s time to feed the dogs, run up to church to set up for Adoration and Confessions from 6:00-7:00 AM, then run up to Graham County for more Adoration and Confessions and Mass, then run back for Confessions and Mass here in Cherokee County, then rush off for the rest of the day on Communion Calls and possibly other Sacraments all over God’s good creation among Jesus’ little flock. I probably won’t be back until late. But if the homily in Robbinsville early this morning turns out well, I’ll see if I can’t publish that before the second Mass.

UPSHOT: It’s good to ask your guardian angel to help you out. He will. And if you recognize that, as I did, it’s not because anyone is special, it’s because were so very much know-nothings that we must ask for help. God provides with the angels. He does. Ask.

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2021-01-05 · 10:00 am

Karma perimeter breach at the rectory. Razer-wire fence sitting humor. ;-)

It’s not always the case, but the other night Laudie-dog and Shadow-dog were both inside with me. But then, at zero-dark-thirty (as always), one of the local thugs knocked quietly on the outer walls of the rectory, surely not to get my attention, but to see if he could get the attention of the dogs. I’m sure the dogs would have been shot yet again with a pellet gun had they been outside. Shadow-dog has now been shot some eight times plus a 9mm to his dog house since he adopted me by way of the Police Department, while Laudie-dog has been shot twice since I’ve had her and once more before she adopted me.

Laudie-dog is a Rhodesian Ridge Back Lion Dog, but Shadow-dog is so huge that he can hardly use Laudie-dog as a pillow just below my bed. So sweet!

Anyway, something must have spooked the thug, maybe someone driving by out front, and he ran in the direction of the drug-house through the creek-side of the back yard of the rectory. Of course, maybe he was smacked by a feather of my guardian angel to get him running full speed. :-)

On the creek-side of the back perimeter of the property there’s four-foot high goat-wire fence, plain as day for all to see, even at night if my flood-lights are on; the lights are about as bright as the sun as pretty much everyone in town informs me. This guy seems to have run full speed right into the goat wire. I’m not sure what that makes him… The neighbor pointed out the destruction to me the next day, calling me up all upset. Together we noted the dynamics of how the fence was violently stretched out of shape blown out from the rectory side of the fencing. The goat wire is attached to the chain-link fence on the one side, but just stands loose and is lightly wrapped around a tree on the far side by the creek (not attached at all).

I can only imagine the scene of this guy running into that fence, flipping him head over heels, having him hit his head hard on the cement driveway of the neighbor. Ouch! Karma? Not so sure about that. How about irony. No, there’s got to be something more personal. Let’s see… my Guardian Angel! Yes, I think that’s it.

I immediately smashed into the ground a couple of what we Minnesotans call snow-fence posts along the fence line as a temporary measure. These were from the once-upon-a-time hermitage, after which I gave them to yet another neighbor. He’s re-envisioned his garden for next Summer and just gave them back to me.

That’s just temporary. The goat wire will be tied up much more sturdily, and I’ll be adding some more lengths of goat wire fencing on the creek side with the help of yet more posts. Meanwhile, the back yard neighbor – really nice guy – gave me quite a lot of barbed wire to add to the top. Heheheh. Of course, any good thievery tools will be able to cut down all the fencing within seconds. I don’t put my trust in fences. I just want to do what I can to protect the dogs. This is also to protect the neighbor at the back. The creek is a kind of highway for the druggies and home-invaders. My neighbors, especially those with little kids, don’t like all the heroin needles and ruffians around the back doors of their homes. The little goat-wire fence helps to dissuade the dark side from making this their avoid-the-police path.

Meanwhile, a funny story about fences and priests:

Some tough church ladies told me a funny story down in Australia as I was installed as the new pastor in that outback parish. I was in Australia to teach in the new country seminary, and the bishop had me doubling up the work by having me do up some trouble-shooting, having me also follow an all-too-weak priest who was doing way too much fence sitting. His fence sitting upset the tough church ladies, and so they hauled him aside and told him the truth of the matter in no uncertain terms, no fence sitters they:

  • “You can’t be sitting on the fence these days, Father, because these days we make fences out of razer-wire.”

Perfect. I love that. Church ladies are always tough.

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2020-09-10 · 10:09 am

It happened to me, but it didn’t: angels to the rescue

I don’t know what happened here at our local grocery store parking lot. That’s police tape wrapped around it. That would be an indication that all is not well here in Andrews, NC. But I won’t conjecture about it.

[[ Update: Apparently the engine was being worked on by a family member and another family member didn’t make much of it, and then the engine started on fire while he was driving. He got out safely. Total loss, of course. Yikes! ]]

But I am reminded of vehicles I’ve been given to drive by “nice” enemies over the decades, vehicles which reeked of gasoline fumes, enough to knock you out altogether. It’s the good ol’ boys whose club I wasn’t in, who faked being nice to me. But – Hey! – I had no money, so I happily received these as “gifts.” A friend of some of those enemies but not so much my enemy told me to pop the hood after I had just then returned from an errand. He opened the hood…

  • “Get out! Now!” he said with ashen face, stepping back, stunned at what he saw.
  • “What is it?” I asked, concerned because of his behavior.
  • “The gas line’s been slashed,” he said. “Gas is spilling over the hot manifold. It’s impossible that your vehicle isn’t on fire. It’s a miracle.”
  • “Not to worry,” said I, trying to reassure this long-hall semi-truck driver and mechanic that all was well: “I’m sure there’s a firewall. I could’ve just pulled over and gotten out.”
  • “In this vehicle that won’t give you more than a few seconds,” said he, “and then the inside compartment would be filled with flames. You gotta really good guardian angel.”

I was all smiles, as my guardian angel is, in fact, good, like all other guardian angels, reflecting God’s glory and doing God’s will with prompt eagerness. My first thought was that I fell far short of that prompt eagerness and wanted to do better for the greater glory of God, and was being given some overtime for this end.

The same enemies gave me another vehicle more recently, this time with a hole in the gas tank. “Just don’t fill it up,” they said. “Only put in a little at a time,” they said.

Meanwhile, I was about to pass out because of the fumes. I gave that vehicle away, warning the guy I gave it to about the problem.

  • “Not a big deal,” he said, “I can fix that right quick.”
  • “But the fumes will about knock you out,” said I, “stop smoking and driving at the same time.”

He laughed. He dealt with it in a way I couldn’t and is still driving that vehicle to this day. Good on him.

I could continue about vehicles I’ve been given with no brake pads, others with cut brake lines, others where the outer-tie-steering-rod-end was cut through with a hack saw except just a little bit, about slashed tires, about certain, um, devices, etc., on and on.

Much more recently, Sassy the Subaru has had unending problems, some of them entirely deadly, which seem entirely extrinsic to the Subaru itself, not the fault of the Subaru, but because of an external intervention… But I better not speak of that too loudly. These were bad enough that when I realized what was happening, I pulled over immediately and got the vehicle towed to get some emergency repairs – taking many hours – again and again. It is what it is. I’ve learned to be patient, actually, taking it all in stride.

I’ve learned that what’s important in life is to get to heaven, which has a set time for all of us, and that our guardian angels are going to make sure that it’s at that time set by Almighty God and not by someone else. My sights are set on heaven, so I don’t much care how things work out on earth. It’s all good.

Still, I do have a fire extinguisher with me in the passenger-door-compartment. I’m mocked for that. But I’m good with the mockery. I’ve already had to use it. I also have a first-aid kit. :-) 

P.S. As I reflect on the decades, I recall so very many telling me, stunned about close calls of all kinds, that ” You’re protected,” and “You have a good guardian angel.” Yes, it’s all a bit frightful, actually.

I’m sure we all have dozens of stories to tell about our guardian angels. It’s good to thank them regardless of whether or not we recognize their activity.

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2019-01-22 · 8:37 am

Shadow-dog Guard-dog Surveilling

img_20190120_163529481~271126176617804490..jpg

Yesterday, just down the street, multiple law enforcement agencies were at one of the many smallish assisted living homes for hours on end. There looks to have been a drug dog as well. And then the Parole Officer’s vehicle arrived. Yikes! I have no idea what was going on there, but I’m guessing that there may have been some home invasion activity. I mean, what better place to get prescription pain killers from defenseless elderly people?

Meanwhile, in my own neighborhood, copper junk was found strewn about, obviously someone cutting across yards with a haphazard armful of copper rubbish stolen so as to sell at the various junk yards, which pay top-dollar for copper.

Meanwhile, Shadow-dog is playing Guard-dog. He’s sitting on the back steps entrance into the house looking out into the back neighborhood and streets for anything suspicious. I thought he might be wanting to come in – as it’s really cold out – but no.

I tried to distract him by making all sorts of noise, but no. He did look at me once for a nanosecond as if to say, complaining: “Oh, keep quiet! Don’t you see I’m trying to protect you?” I mean, if you could have seen the look. He was very much at attention. A picture hardly conveys this. He’s not just sitting there. It’s like the whole city could vaporize in front of him so much explosive energy does he have. Very, very impressive.

  • “Goooood Shaaaadooow-daaawwwg!”
  • “Oh, keep quiet!”

And then, an analogy:

  • “Angel of God, my Guardian dear, to…”
  • “Just say the Angelus!”

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2018-03-19 · 9:00 pm

Ask your Guardian Angel to help you make a good confession. I did. He did.

confession sacrament

Recently I asked my guardian angel to smack me down and let me know if there was any sin in my life which I had left un-confessed for whatever reason, or confessed in a bit of an ambiguous manner, or with WAY TOO MANY excuses in my own mind or even as verbalized to a confessor.

I want to go to heaven. I don’t want to go to hell. Heck, I don’t even want to go to purgatory, not even for the tiniest moment. I want to rush to heaven and thank Jesus, the Eternal Word of the Father, for being my Savior, He having become, after all, the Divine Son of the Immaculate Conception, His dear mama and ours.

Here’s the deal: when you ask your guardian angel something like this he will take you seriously and he will do it. Long story short: he did. Stuff came to mind from decades ago, as a kid, even as a little little kid. That I remember pretty much everything makes any of my obfuscations in the distant past and then never quite totally suppressed quite evil and bad. Having said that…

There is no greater rejoicing in heaven before the angels of the Lord than when a donkey like me runs to the mercy of our Lord.

My penance: A Memorare:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

So, have you ever asked your angel to do something like that?

I think smacking me down is an extreme sport in which my guardian angel delights.

Hint: when your guardian angel smacks you down you’re supposed to say, ever so politely, and mean it:

“Thank you, Guardian Angel.”

The mercy of the Lord is most wonderful to receive in confession.

What was it like to be smacked down by my Guardian Angel? Good question.

The revelation of whatever sin from so many decades ago was so incredibly clear, but not as a memory. It was an event, as in dying, and, in that first nanosecond after death, being confronted with that sin as a present possession, and all of eternity in hell yawning wide before me. It was like a lightning bolt. Clear as clear as clear can be. Angels are like that. All this, but still being held by my Guardian Angel. After all, the point in this kind of smacking down isn’t for the guardian angel to wipe out his charge, but to get him to confession safely and then off to heaven.

guardian angel

Thank you, Guardian Angel!

Dear reader, at this point you are supposed to be saying, “Hey! If that donkey priest Father George can be brave enough to ask his guardian angel something like that, then I can do that too. I want to go to heaven too. My guardian angel wants me to go to heaven too. Dear Guardian Angel, if there’s anything which I had left un-confessed for whatever reason, or confessed in a bit of an ambiguous manner, or with WAY TOO MANY excuses in my own mind or even as verbalized to a confessor, can you please smack me down and get me to confession and then, when the Lord wants, to heaven? Please!”

Hah. I tricked you into saying all that to your guardian angel.

You won’t regret it. Just say, Amen.

“Amen.”

;-)

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2018-02-15 · 8:35 pm

Road danger: lefting rights brakecheck

road danger pass on right 1

It seems that this guy is trying his best to ditch another guy. This guy is passing on the right in a right turn lane only at about 90 miles an hour in a 45 mile an hour zone. Whatever. As expected, the other guy who is chasing him also passes on the right in the same way, except he’s not so nice, cutting me off because, hey, I’m some other guy on the road, a common condition of humanity:

road danger pass on right 2

You can see the guy he’s chasing up ahead. But this guy was going so fast that he crossed the solid double white lines. Not having knocked me off the road, he decides that it would be a good idea to brake-check me to a dead stop, screeching tires and all, because, well, you know, just because:

road danger brake check

And then he squeals away. Happy day. As it happens, and it always happens, there was a slow vehicle up ahead of both of them with double yellow no-passing lines for miles and miles. Hurry up and wait! There was a long line of cars ahead and behind.

I said the “Angel of God, my guardian dear…” prayer again for good measure. Being close to one’s guardian angel is always a good idea. Our guardian angels see the face of God right now. Jesus told us this.

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