St. Michael and All Angels

September 29 St. Michael and All Angels

Dudley the Angel in The Bishop’s Wife

“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”—Psalm 91:11.

September 29: The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels is remembered.

The next-to-the-last day of September is always the Feast Day of St. Michael and All Angels. Above my desk in my home office, a carved stone hanging by my window bears a painted picture of St. Michael with his sword. Michael is almost the first thing I see when I lift my eyes from my computer. St. Michael lives in stained glass, overcoming evil outside my church’s chapel. I give thanks for St. Michaels in my life—and for angels who have been by my side in troublesome times, lending me the courage to go on.

Clarence the Angel in It’s a Wonderful Life

I think of some of our favorite fictional angels. There is Angel Second Class Clarence Odbody, played by Henry Travers in the timeless Frank Capra Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Clarence saves George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, from bankruptcy and suicide.

Whenever I hear a bell ring, I wonder if an angel has just earned his wings!

Then there is my all-time favorite movie angel, the suave angel named Dudley, played to the essence by Cary Grant in the Samuel Goldwyn Christmas classic, The Bishop’s Wife (1947). Dudley comes to save the life and marriage of Bishop Henry Brougham, played by David Niven. Loretta Young plays his wife, Julia.

Whenever I visit my Bishop’s office, I always look around to see where Dudley is.

As I engage in spiritual direction with people, I listen to hear if they speak about “angels” in their lives—people they encounter over time, or who stand by them or guide them through challenging situations or around impossible obstacles. Angels are life-changing and life-giving. They are messengers, truth-tellers, who see God in us and, as the angel, Gabriel did to Mary, proclaim that God is in us—when we never had a clue.

Give thanks for the angels in your life. Then, repay them by being a Dudley or Clarence or Michael—or another angel to someone else you meet. This is called paying it forward.

 Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

The Lens Through Which We See

 The Lens Through Which We See

“If you wear glasses, you likely often forget that they’re even there! Only when you take the lenses off do you realize how much your capacity to see is informed by the lens through which you are seeing, or as Richard Rohr often says, ‘How we see is what we see.’”—Cynthia Bourgeault in The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of the Trinity (CAC, 2004), disc 2.

Here, Cynthia uses an analogy to teach us about the Trinity, but we can also apply it to everyday life. If you or the spiritual friends you meet wear glasses, try this exercise:

Take off your glasses. Try to see at a distance or read a passage of text. Perhaps you will “see” or realize that what you “see” depends on the lenses of your glasses. Our lens, or how we see the world, is often filtered by our work, family, or position.

We might experience a need for prestige, a desire for money, control, or power, a longing to be in the spotlight or successful, or we could be obsessed with beauty, clothes, food, another person, alcohol, drugs, or other addictions. We must wear sunglasses when the world or the sun is too bright. Sometimes, if we are depressed or grieving, we indeed may see the world through dark glasses.

Meditation, prayer, and meeting with spiritual friends can help us find the prescription of the lenses we use to view our family, friends, enemies, and the world. We learn to take those glasses off and are led inward to see the light, the Christ in ourselves, and the Christ in our neighbor.

We begin to see ourselves, the world, and others through the lens of the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

How We Love

Gerald May: How We Love

“In speaking of love, narcissism says, ‘I need you to love me.’ Erotic love says, ‘I need you.’ Filial love says, ‘I love you because I understand you.’ Agape—if it could speak—might say, ‘I am you in Love.’” —Gerald G. May in Will and Spirit (HarperOne, 1982), p. 167.

In Will and Spirit, Gerald May discusses types of love: narcissistic (self-love), Me-Me; erotic (romantic) love, Me-You; filial (compassionate) love, I-Thou; and agape (divine, unconditional) love. May believes erotic and filial love can act as “primary education leading to agape love.” Our confusion comes when we expect unconditional love from human beings and conditional love from God—and look for unconditional love from the image of God.

May points out that those who believe they are as holy as God commit perhaps the greatest sin. Willful self-determination is a template for human evil, just like willful vengeance. Willfulness always leads to separateness. 

If we can move toward forgiveness for some past wrong, our fundamental capacity for love will not be injured. But if we hold on to resentment, it will become increasingly difficult to love or feel lovable. Our sense of separateness increases, and we become more afraid of anything resembling belonging, surrender, or union.

It is not so much the nature of evil forces that we experience, but our response to them, that can make a difference in our lives. When faced with a difficult situation, we must not deaden ourselves to reality, cop out, or react quickly with our own plan, while forgetting to call on the active power of God. We are called to remember the importance of a situation and the need for action, but to factor in our total dependence on the unconditional love of God. Then our hearts can be open to God working in us—and at some deep level of our awareness, we can relax and be at peace.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/