Recently I received the following e-mail: “I was stunned by the picture of the angel by your shoulder on your website’s home page. My mother was critically ill with cancer in 1970. I was 16 at the time. Very early one morning my mother awoke in her rented hospital bed in our family room, as she often did because of pain. As she sat up in bed, she heard a voice whisper very loudly over her shoulder from behind, “Your faith has made you whole.” She always felt an angel had leaned over, as in your picture, to tell her those words. She made a gradual recovery, against all odds. Thank you for that picture. It was very moving to me.”
Her story moved me just as the picture on my website moved her. The picture is a collage by my friend Pat Bega who, in response to the e-mail, told me that the angel is Gabriel—painted by Fra Angelico—appearing to Mary to ask if she would be willing to be the mother of Jesus. Knowing this endows the collage with even more meaning for me. I have been aware of the presence of angels for most of my life, but the thought of an angel asking if I would be the mother of Jesus moves me profoundly. And my answer is a resounding yes. To me, Jesus is a personification of Divine Love, and I pray that Divine Love be born anew in my heart every day of my life. Thank you to the writer of the e-mail. Thank you, Pat. How busy the angels are, whispering in all our ears.
Listen.