Angels may leave us, but God does not

In the New Testament, there are three very distinctive places where we are told that the angel of the Lord comes so significantly into the lives of the individuals concerned, does something so clear and specific, and changes the directions of their lives henceforth.

In the twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we see how the angel of the Lord comes to Peter who was held in chains in the prison, and how he was so dramatically freed.  The other personality who encountered an angel was Mary at her annunciation, where the angel Gabriel revealed to Mary that she was the chosen one to be the Mother of God.  Closely connected with this event was the appearance of the angels to the shepherds watching their flock in the fields by night to break the news of the birth of the Lord.  In these three episodes of the appearance of the divine messengers, what is very significant is that we are told that the angels left after they had done their appointed tasks. 

We don’t often say very much about the fact that the angels left them, do we?  That the angels made their appearance at the time and place that they did is much easier to ponder on.  But perhaps it is also important and even significant see the impact on the people involved what the departure of the angels had on their lives. 

 Firstly, I think we need to see the significance of how God doesn’t spoon-feed his people.  That the angel left Mary after the annunciation meant that she had to work out many things without what would be called very clear and specific instructions.  How does handle the bringing up of a divine child who decides to stay on in the temple unannounced at the age of twelve?  What does one do to ensure that one doesn’t make mistakes in the development of this child to adulthood?  Would that there be a clear road map for one to follow that is as clear as the angel Gabriel’s words at the annunciation.  Yet, we know that the angel did leave Mary, but God did not. 

If I got a dollar each time a recently baptized person (from the RCIA process) lamented that their baptism was so special but a year or two down the road, it just seems so flat and uninteresting, and so challenging, I would have with me a sizeable fortune.  Undoubtedly, unless one has the sensitivity of a tree bark, ceremony and ritual like that of a baptismal rite that is incorporated into the Easter Vigil Mass will touch and move a person to a greater or lesser degree.  Great as these moments are, like the angel at the annunciation, these moments will also ‘leave’ us.  It is at those crucial but also silent moments of our faith lives that require of us to exercise the tenacity of our faith.  These moments, trying though they may be, require us to look back in thanksgiving, and at the same time, to look to the future with our belief firmly held, and to also remember that God never intends to spoon-feed us at every step of life’s journey, simply because no spoon-fed person really matures.

Secondly, when we truly have had an encounter with the Lord (or his angel), we cannot but become co-messengers of the Good News for others who have yet to know this Good News.  Mary, Paul, the shepherds and undoubtedly, the Magi, became transmitters of the goodness of God.  They knew that in their hearts, this message was too good to be kept to themselves.  They had to make sure that others, through them, became the recipients of the Good News of salvation and the Good News of the Lord.  This was their mission.  That the angel left them meant for them that they now had to become the new harbingers of great joy to others whom they encountered.  Paul went to the missions, Mary visited her aged cousin Elizabeth, and the Magi went back by a different route.  Their lives were dramatically changed, and I daresay, challenged as well.  If angels stay with us all through our lives, we may never move our lives into action.

Thirdly, a true encounter with God that shapes and changes our lives has to lead us to become centered in prayer for the rest of our lives.  Prayer connects us to God, and it gives us the energy to fuel and sustain our belief in and love of God.  Mystics do not often get consolations in prayer, but yet, most true mystics remain faithful and committed to their prayer disciplines.  Many of these mystics only had to have one very real encounter in prayer, which gave them an unshakeable and unmistakable belief in the love of God.  What St John of the Cross considers the dark night of the soul is where there is an absence of consolation that plunges one deeper into the mystical pure love of God.  Some may use the term ‘dark night’ to mean a spiritual crisis in one’s journey toward a union with God, but it is something that even saintly folk like Therese of Lisieux and Mother Teresa of Calcutta encountered.  It was for them a purification of the senses that brought them to a purer love of God. 

Why am I writing about this strange topic?  It may have something to do with the fact that a second stem cell donor has been found for me, and I will be going into a ‘dark night’ as the transplant requires me to be in the hospital for anywhere between five to eight weeks, where I will not be able to step out of the room the entire time.  Medically, this is required to prevent me from getting any infections from the ‘outside’ world as my immunity will be greatly compromised as my bone marrow begin to accept the donor’s stem cells.  Spiritually, this is a time where I will be entering my own ‘dark night’ where it may feel as if the angel too has left. 

But it doesn’t at all mean that God has left.