Killed by an Angel?

I've already written about how Thelma, my warrior tabby of blessèd memory, bestowed one last gift, a picture of which you can see here. She was one of three wonderful fur angels but I must confess I miss her the most.

She was my gardening companion. This spring I noticed my heart aching as I started clearing out winter plant debris. I wept a bit while greeting daffodils, snowdrops, and grape hyacinths without my tabby in tow.

We had another grand ritual, Thelma and I. Proclaiming, "go forth and kill something for mommy," I'd fling open the front door with a great flourish. Thelma would return with a carcass which, as anyone who has been possessed by cats knows, is a sign of great love and devotion. I recalled this yesterday while watching squirrels and cursing the birds dive-bombing my windows.

I could ─ and occasionally do ─ burst into tears from missing my tabby, like when I opened my front door this morning to find this:

Feast of the Guardian Angels

I could not let the day end without commenting on today's celebration, the Feast of the Guardian Angels.

During the 4th century, St. Basil declared, "That there is an angel for each one of the faithful no one will contradict." Since this feast day didn't make it onto the Church calendar until the 17th century, apparently a critical mass [so to speak] of faithful had their doubts. Perhaps they presciently envisioned the future schlock concocted by greeting card and figurine artistes?

Back in 2006, I was asked to weigh in on the [very weird if you ask me and someone did] practice of having children give their guardian angels names. Here's the unedited version of what I wrote in that Faith & Family Magazine column:

"I'd suggest not encouraging kids to concoct names for their guardian angels. Guardian angels are not our pets. It's way more likely that we are theirs. Anyway, their guardian angels probably already have names that might be discerned, perhaps while running a very high fever or at some point during eternal life."

The part about "running a very high fever" was edited out before publication.

Touched by an Archangel

My thing for the Archangel Gabriel, whose feast day we celebrate today, began over a decade ago during an iconography workshop with Vladislav Andrejev.

I'd already painted an icon of Michael the Archangel and the traditional Byzantine image for Gabriel is essential the same, only the colors are flipped. Gabriel has a green outer garment and red inner garment. Michael's outer garment is red and his inner garment is green.

Maybe I developed this affection for Gabriel because of the spiritual and temporal transitions I was experiencing at the time. Or maybe because several layers into the experience, I realized the board was cracked down the center?

Vladislav offered me the option of starting with a new board, but not after wondering if I might also be a little torn (cracked). I opted to keep the board and continue painting. That icon is in my office where I can see it every day.

Five other iconic images of the God's holy messenger decorate my office. I use the ones in this post as desktop image on various computers. I wore a Gabriel medal while writing my book about church communications. I kept wearing it after that book was published.

I'm always hoping to God that the Angel of the Annunciation will deliver some wisdom from God to me.