An angel statue is pictured at a grave during dusk at a cemetery in the western Austrian village of Absam Oct. 30. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says our guardian angels “always look upon the face of my heavenly Father” (18:10). (CNS photo/Dominic Ebenbichler, Reuters)
By Father Timothy Gollob
Special to The Texas Catholic
The world is alive with the sound of music. We know that some of these words were sung in a popular musical, but for the people of past centuries these words would be predicated of the angelic swarm of messengers which were sent from the Creator to bring messages of peace, of hope and of victory to we humans.
October is the month in which we celebrate all Guardian Angels. These special ambassadors of the Creator have been imaged by artists as mighty beings with wings, power and a message for each of us. They accompany, protect and inspire us.
On Sept. 29, we called upon three of these holy couriers of God to be with us in a very special way. We call them the Holy Archangels. Michael is the mighty protector and the defender of the poor and of the oppressed. Gabriel is the harbinger of the good news that holy rabbis and prophets would soon be walking among us. Raphael is the healing angel, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf and solace to the dying and hope to the distressed in pandemic times.
As we imagine these fellow creatures to be a special source of blessing to the world from God, it is our duty to imitate their mission as our own special personal vocation.
Therefore, we are to defend those in need with the sword of righteousness and the cutting edge of truth. We are to be the ones who heal divisions and hurts and pain by preaching by word and example love and concern for all our sisters and brothers in need. We are to announce the Good News that God is alive and well in every child that is born and in every young person who has bright and shiny eyes as they look on this world with a new vision and with uncompromising hopes to share.
These angelic works can be summed up in the Biblical account of the miracle at Bethlehem when angels were heard on high,singing promises of renewal to a group of shepherds who had ears to hear, eyes to see and the courage to set out to discover the truth of a Savior.
Angels are still with us. As Francis X. Tolbert wrote many years ago in The Dallas Morning News in an essay on the front page which he was happy to repeat Christmas after Christmas. “Turn any rock and there will be heard the rustling of angelic wings.”
Listen to those angels in the caroling of choirs and in the chatter of birds and in the cacophony of tree frogs and in the roaring winds of storms. These are the sounds of music bringing new life and truth to our wounded and tired world.
Father Timothy Gollob is a retired priest of the Diocese of Dallas, who served as pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Oak Cliff for more than 50 years.
