Angelology

As often as I dream of demons and things of dark emotions and shapes, I dream of Angels. There is no part of my existence that denies a presence. There is no “despite my studies in blank subject or blank topic.” The more I discover the more I cannot deny. As better said than I, here are some quotes from GodandScience.org :

Robert Jastrow (agnostic): “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”

Frank Tipler (Professor of Mathematical Physics): “When I began my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was a convinced atheist. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would be writing a book purporting to show that the central claims of Judeo-Christian theology are in fact true, that these claims are straightforward deductions of the laws of physics as we now understand them. I have been forced into these conclusions by the inexorable logic of my own special branch of physics.”

Wernher von Braun (Pioneer rocket engineer) “I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.”

The last one by Braun is my favorite. I have stared at quotes like these in my physics class when I was 15. Rather than listening I would just stare at the quote not understanding what it meant at all. I asked the teacher and he simply said “There is a purpose behind every cube.” Had I been 16 I would have said “You cannot show religious preference in the classroom.” Had I been 20 I would have asked “At what point in your research did you realize this?” But I was 15 and I said nothing and nodded with fake understanding as I did with everything else. But I had filed it away, and would not have known how obsessed I would become.

So beyond my understanding of God and of evil I believe in a presence that exists higher than man and lower than God (not despite, but due to my studies). Like there is the animal between man and rock there are angels between man and God. As Dr. Kenneth Gangel coined, there is a certain Angelmania occurring today through females with bright wings. On the contrary, they have often been manifested in human form, as a mature man that you could not separate from other humans. I’ve come across the New Testament’s doctrine for how every being is born with a guardian angel, but this can be argued as the Church does not clearly “define it as an article of faith” but rather as “the mind of the church” (St. Jerome).

What am I trying to say? Prayers are endless and meaningful. There is no heightened acute strength due to prayers focused on one entity. I do not feel my prayers to a guardian angel slackens the thanks and repentence I send toward God, nor do my prayers toward Mary disregard my focus and ultimate goal towards God. Prayers are powers beyond imagination beyond our will and intellect, it is a spiritual combination, endless and infinite.
I feel the help and I feel a little lighter when I end my prayers with a gratitude for my guardian angel. Sometimes I’ll say it in a sing-song voice that has helped me memorize it like a beautiful poem. Would not the creator feel thanks if one has appraised his creation and thankfulness of the creation’s purpose? I imagine the Poet and the poem. The love of the audience may do greatness to both. Humans are not as powerless as we may seem.

Prayer to Your Guardian Angel

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,
Rule and guide.

Angele Dei,
qui custos est mei,
Me tibi commissum pietate superna;
Hac nocte,
Hodie illumina,
custodi, rege, et guberna.