Angels

In a recent “Listen Well” offering, author, playwright and essayist Margaret Dulaney referenced the Irish mystic, Lorna Byrne.  Unfamiliar with Lorna Byrne, I did some research which quickly grabbed my attention.  I purchased her first book Angels in My Hair (©2008) and read the 300 pages over two months in small pieces.  The ‘about the author’ snippet…

“Lorna Byrne has been seeing and talking to angels since she was a baby.  Now, having raised her family, she talks openly for the first time about what she has seen and learned.  She lives quietly in rural Ireland.”

Interesting book.  If I were to say it is a ‘great’ book, it would not be because of the quality of its prose and structure, nor even because of its subject matter.  I say it is a ‘great’ book because it has given me pause to question my belief in angels.

Like Lorna Byrne, I was raised a Roman Catholic.  Unlike Lorna Byrne, I do not believe I have physically seen or communicated directly with an angel.  Like all Catholic children, I was taught to believe in angels.  I have prayed the prayer to my Guardian Angel my entire life since learning it as a young child.

Because I say the prayer, does that mean I believe in angels?  I tell everyone that I do.  Angels play pivotal roles in two of my novels, The Hamsa and Tobit and the Hoodoo Man, although I suspect not all readers recognize it.  Yet as I read Mrs. Byrne’s memoir, I questioned myself, “Do I really believe in angels in a literal sense?”

In her final paragraph, Mrs. Byrne writes,

“… there is hope in all circumstances… It also reminded me that we all have souls and they are perfect – no matter what we have done – that our bodies might die, but our souls don’t and that we all have wings of some kind or another, even if we fail to recognize them in ourselves or others.  We are all, in fact, angels.”

I reflected on doubting Thomas.  Must my literal belief in angels or anything for that matter be contingent upon physical proof?  Lorna Byrne sees angels and talks with them.  The angels I see may not have wings or brilliant white robes, but they are no less angels than what she sees.  The angels who speak to me communicate with me in ways that supersede human language.  They may not always use words, but I hear them nonetheless.

Lorna Byrne concludes the volume I have with “Twelve Ways to Connect with Your Guardian Angel.”  I consider the first to be the most important…

“Suspend Your Disbelief… acknowledge the fact that there is an angel by your side.  If you find this hard to do just suspend your cynicism for a short time and imagine.  Have a little faith and be open to the possibility that there is someone beside you who never leaves even for one se3cond, someone waiting and wanting to help you.  Even if you are afraid to do it, acknowledge your guardian angel and welcome it in.”

So, I ask myself again, “Do I REALLY believe in angels in a literal sense?”  YES, I DO.

Twelve Ways to Connect with Your Guardian Angel
by
Lorna Byrne

1. Suspend Your Disbelief
2. Ask Your Guardian Angel for Help
3. Don’t Forget to Listen to Your Guardian Angel
4. Allow Your Guardian Angel to Be your Teacher
5. Ask Your Guardian Angel for a Sign
6. Don’t Try Too Hard
7. Keep Asking
8. Seek Your Guardian Angel’s Help in Good Times and Bad
9. Ask Your Guardian Angel to Send a Special Angel to Help with a Particular Task
10. Don’t Be Afraid
11. Remember to Say “Thank You”
12. Ask Your Guardian Angel Its Name