Towards Understanding Angels; How to connect To Your Guardian Angel!

Taken from my sermon/experiential interfaith service for the Kailo Community…

With the advent of cosmology and new physics, as the seemingly disparate worlds of astronomy and theology begin to merge, with the theories on the origins of life and the universe sounding a lot like mysticism, energies that were hidden from ordinary sight or removed from ordinary awareness and gaining credence developing a following again!

My best definitions of the reality and the function of angels goes like this: Angels are celestial beings of light, and Rupert Sheldrake and Matthew Fox call angels, those quanta of energy that reveal to us the intention of God. Their influence on us and among us becomes increasingly available when we intentionally practice opening up our awareness and clearing out our obstacles to “entertain angels” or welcomes those insights, wonders, and inspirations. First, it takes a willingness to reduce our egos, so we make room from the angelic energies to be present to us, or to welcome their presence or messages for us.

Angels come to us in many ways- sometimes subtle and gentle, other times more directly and even forcefully as if to teach a dramatic lesson.

As an agent of the Holy Spirit, angels provide us with their wisdom and can open our hearts to this previously unknown source of joy, comfort, and hope through our prayers, our meditations, our spiritual disciplines and intense practices or spiritual studies. They can also visit us unawares or present themselves during critical or unexpected times- when experiences or events in our lives seem to have no “rhyme or reason” and the importance of what they say or teach doesn’t easily occur or make sense to us.

When I look back on all the experiences I have had or that I have read about concerning angelic visits, angels bring forth intuitive wisdom, they incite moral reform, they encourage forgiveness, and foster the development of virtues, strengths, faith, and humility.

Sometimes, as I have been told by people who have come to see me about things that are spiritual and sometimes religious, that angels appeared to them as a thought, feeling or energy that rescued them! They do not know why they were saved or spared, but they were! The results of those experiences have been incredible and dramatic such as the ability to overcome an addiction or the find release from any imprisoning idea, illness, belief, or relationship.

Similar to the symbolic episode in the Epistles, where Timothy and Paul were put into jail, with no seeming way out, an angel came and broke down the walls, bent the bars, and set them free! Some authors include feelings of being protected or guided to do or say something that would ordinarily be unusual, even astonishing! Angels are said to be present whenever we feel safe, secure, protected; whenever we are grateful to be alive, whenever we feel grateful to be loved.

Angels are those inner experiences or gracious realities that give proof and credence to God’ s inexhaustible care for us. Their presence teaches us a soulful and assuring truth: We are never outside of God’s love and compassion- We are never beyond the reach of the angels…

 

Body Prayer: Connecting With Your Guardian Angel

Background:

Many of you are already acquainted with the concept of a guardian angel… Whether you were taught about in your religious youth, or know about it through popular religious culture, its seems as if everyone has heard the mythic story that each human being has a pair of angels that sit on your shoulders.

One sits cherubic, the other diabolically close to your ears to offer they convincing opinion about what kinds of behavior you should adopt or do… Symbolically, they act as the two voices of conscience, the angelic and the demonic.

When the idea of conscience is viewed through angel eyes, we arrive at the comforting concept of each person having a guardian angel… in fact, in Jewish mysticism, angels are everywhere- that each blade of grass has a cheer leading angel that speaking to each blade and says…Grow!…

Going a little deeper, the idea of having divine accompaniment is a very soothing concept. We can cherish the idea of a protective, loving, and guiding presence that always stays with us, no matter what degree of crisis or challenge we might be facing…That out of God’s compassion for each of us, we have been given angels who remain with us through all of our joys and and through any of our sufferings…

This is the beginning step in the deep understanding of spiritual struggle, cosmic warfare, or simply the battle for one’s soul known as psychomachia… For now, however, the spiritual truth that we have unseen but experiential allies in your soul’s battle for healing and wholeness is an important and foundational one for any of us wishing to embrace a mystical Christianity, or a more inclusive understanding of life’s deeper purpose and ultimate meaning.

So, rather than teaching about the archangels in an elaborate way, or just relating ancient texts, I will invite you into the experience of discovery and into the possibility of making a more conscious connection to the angelic dimension of our lives… and to begin to describe and identify who or what may be your guardian angel, your spirit guide, your Deva, your divine companion…

Please sit, stand or lie comfortably…

After breathing deeply for seven breaths, I ask you to see yourself as standing before a source of light… A light not perceived by your eyes, but one that is felt through your heart…

First I want you to visualize having a set of wings that hold you up in that light… giving you strength, centering you in the that infinite light, and allowing you a freedom for your soul’s true expression…

Then I will ask you to stretch out your arms and hands…

look at your arms and hands and see if you can see something appear in each hand or attached to each arm…

Whatever appears, they are symbolic objects that represent her or him… they are the symbols of meaning and purpose… They will disclose how the angel works on your behalf and how this form of angel serves God’s purpose in our world…

Lastly, I will ask you to turn your attention to your temples, and to the crown of your head… I ask you to see or to visualize a source of energy that forms some shape around your head and that shines or emanates down to your shoulders…

This halo however it forms, whatever its color shape or size, also carries a message and a point of identification with it…

Stay with that complete picture for a while… let your breath be your only sound, but listen… and record carefully what you might hear… It will be your guardian angels speaking with you…