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Season of angels
Whether messengers or guardians, these heavenly hosts are part of the Christian story, both scriptural and personal
By Anna Weaver
Hawaii Catholic Herald
“See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.” (Exodus 23:20)
“The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.’” (Luke 2:10)
During a season where angels abound on Christmas trees, in holiday decor and in the retelling of Christ’s birth, you’re more likely to have these heavenly hosts on your mind.
The word angel in Hebrew (malakh) and Greek (aggelos) means “messenger.” Angels are referenced in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible (295 times to be exact, according to the New American Bible Revised edition). The archangels Michael, Gabriel and Rafael get their own feast day on Sept. 29, also known as Michaelmas. Catholics celebrate the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels on Oct. 2.
You might have grown up saying the Guardian Angel prayer: “Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.”
But have you experienced angels in your own life? These five local Catholics say they have. Here are their stories.
Angel named Agnes
When I was very young, my mom told me I had a guardian angel, and every night I said the guardian angel prayer. I can’t remember if I was told her name, or I picked it. But her name was Agnes, and I believed she protected me … and I still do. When I got married four decades ago, I gained an Aunt Agnes who I hit it off with. I told her I had a guardian angel named Agnes, and she was pleased. I also still have my childhood plate with the guardian angel prayer on it, and it’s hanging in our guest room.
—Fern Gavelek, St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii island
Sent to comfort me
Strapped on a hospital gurney, waiting for the plastic surgeon to tend to a small wound on the lower left side of my nostril, and given enough anesthetic to numb the site, I closed my eyes.
That’s when I saw that to the right of the plastic surgeon and to the left of the surgical nurse stood an angel, at least 8-feet-tall, with huge wings and a rope around his waist. Opening my eyes, he was gone. Closing my eyes, he reappeared again. I kept opening and closing my eyes the whole procedure to see if the angel was still there. He was.
I was not alarmed; I have a relationship with God. I felt the angel was sent to comfort me.
On a follow-up appointment, I asked the doctor if other patients had ever had a spiritual experience while in surgery, and he said no.
I believe we each have a guardian angel we can call on. And frankly, it was a delightful experience that mine was made visible and ever so present. I have not seen him again.
—Lynn Seth, St. John Vianney Parish in Kailua, Oahu
Cell phone chirping
I believe my mother, Helen, has been reaching out to our family supernaturally since she passed away at age 88 on Nov. 12, and now is our guardian angel.
Before she died, my Madre was very hard of hearing. She would often be right next to her cellphone and not hear it ringing. It would make a bird chirping or whistling sound when she missed a call and a message was left.
So after she died, I went back to my parents’ house so my dad, Jesus, wouldn’t be alone. When I got there, he was taking his afternoon nap, so I started straightening up the living room. From there, I heard the familiar bird chirping/whistling sound of Madre’s cellphone and headed to the kitchen table where I knew she kept it.
I found her cellphone in its usual place and went to look at the home screen to see who had called and left a message. In my mind, I was thinking someone had gotten the news that she had passed away and was calling to offer condolences.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that her cell was totally dead. Immediately I understood this was a sign that she was okay because I had been asking her for one in my prayers. I chuckled out loud, “Is that you Madre?” and I knew it was.
After telling my sister about the cellphone incident, my 88-year-old father who has never carried a mobile device asked us both why Madre’s cellphone kept chirping like that too. Apparently, he had been hearing her dead phone chirp too. Then the evening after spending the whole day at my parents’ house doing some heavy cleaning, my sister heard this same cell phone chirping after she got back home. Her husband’s phone makes that sound but he was off-island and his phone wasn’t at home. My sister’s phone didn’t show any activity either.
—Pamela J. Santos Bermudes, St. Joseph Parish in Waipahu, Oahu
Hospice visits
I believe an angel saved my son when he fell off a bridge into Niagara Falls as a child. I think for him to get out, he certainly had his angel guiding him to get out of the water and crawl up the hill and let someone know he was dropped into the falls. He’s alive because his guardian angel guided him out of the water.
Hospice patients or those who are sick, toward their death, they do see family and spirits. Sometimes they’re bad spirits. Once I had come to bless a patient who had family in the room. I heard a family member scream and say, “There’s a spirit in here!” I felt something next to me, myself. The patient said, “That’s the one that beat me up!”
I told him and the family, “I’m here on behalf of the Lord to bless your place. But if you don’t have faith in the Lord that he will take care of you, and send any bad spirits out, then it will not work.” So, I blessed the place and they didn’t have the spirit again.
But others have seen a family presence or a radiant light. Others have said they wanted to go toward that light. Their loved ones will call that it’s time to come, and the patients will either be ready or not ready.
There was a 30-something woman on a ventilator in hospice, and her family was there to be with her while she was taken off the ventilator. Some of them were a little afraid, and I comforted them. When we took her off the ventilator, she lived six months more, and everyone thought that was a miracle.
At a hospice in Ewa Beach, I’ve been in a room where the people there thought there was a little boy calling them.
People near the end of life have told us they’ve seen the light or beautiful stars. Some say they literally see an angel there or God with all these people around them. And then they go peacefully. One person was very much attuned to a rainbow right outside and that person died right afterward.
So, yes, truly, there are angels in our midst. You’ve probably been touched somehow with something happening that you know was God’s presence or God’s angels helping you get out of the situation that you’re in.
—Sister of St. Francis Pat Schofield, chaplain for St. Francis Healthcare System in Hawaii since February 2006
Angels wore white
Yes, I have experienced/seen the presence of angels. Their presence was especially prominent to me during my husband’s bout with metastatic lung cancer. He lived one year and nine days after his diagnosis on Feb. 7, 2007. Between this time and his weekly treatments, he expressed his desire to join the Catholic Church, which he did after going through RCIA. We had been married for 20 years and all this time, he accompanied me to Sunday Mass religiously. I attributed his change in faith to the power of the Holy Spirit.
As he became Catholic, he learned to pray the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet, which we prayed together nightly. We both knew his prognosis was not good so we both tried to find joyful things to do and talk about every day.
As his cancer progressed, Jay was more or less bedridden but his mind was very sharp. At night after we prayed and all was calm, I would suddenly see a choir of angels over my side of the bed. The angels wore white and seemed to be floating over Jay like they were protecting him. Then at times, I would see a dove perched on the ceiling that swooped down on us. It was kind of startling and gave me a very weird feeling so that I had to pull the covers over me. I felt like perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me because I was seeing “things.” I finally told my brother about the angels and he responded that they appeared to be watching over Jay so the devil would not get hold of him.
The visions continued, and by then I was always aware that they could appear any time. The swooping dove was particularly endearing to me because I knew the Holy Spirit was helping me, guiding me in making decisions. At times when I was running errands or just driving around, the clouds in the skies would show me lots of angel wings.
Jay had a lot of questions as a new convert. At some point I told him about what I had read happens as a person is on their way to see God. I said that during transition, if he saw a light, he shouldn’t be afraid because that light would be God. Before he died, I asked him if he was seeing the light and he made a sound and twitched his facial muscle. I cried a joyful cry because I knew where he was headed. This was the most humbling experience as God made me realize he used me to lead Jay back to him.
After Jay died, I visited his gravesite daily for over a year. I took a stool, an umbrella and my phone with me to take pictures of angels in case they came by. Sure enough, those angel wings appeared right after I sat down. It was like they were communicating with me. I have taken lots of angel cloud pictures.
I continue to watch the skies for my angels. They remind me I’m not alone and give me a feeling of safety and love. May we be aware that angels are all around us.
—Thelma L. Tiambeng-Bright, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Dallas, and a frequent visiting parishioner at St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Kailua-Kona
Stories have been condensed and edited for length and style.
