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Email a FriendPosted by Debbie on Monday, Dec 12, 2011 4:24 PM (EDT):
This looks wonderful.
Fellowship of the Angels
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Reviews on Monday, December 12, 2011 1:42 PM
At just the moment we begin harking to the herald angels, Mike Aquilina has released a delightful volume of daily meditations on them.
Handsomely bound, with a faux leather cover and a ribbon to keep your place, the book offers a simple daily reading about the angels from the Church Fathers, followed by suggested colloquies to make with God and with the angels.
In his introduction to the work, Aquilina notes the change in the angels’ mission between the Old Testament and the New.
In the Old Testament, they are like “glorified babysitters,” and when human beings see them, they are terrified.
In the New Testament, they are servants of Jesus Christ and of all who are one with Christ. Therefore, when St. John encounters an angel in the book of Revelation, while his instinct is to bow down, the angel lifts him up to stand as his equal:
This is what Christ has accomplished: the holy communion of heaven and earth, all united in him, all united in worship.
What a neat meditation as Christmas approaches!
Aquilina goes on, however, to point out that the first generation of Christians had a very lively devotion to the angels and were very aware of their presence—something he believes we should imitate:
To ignore them, after all they do for us, is at least rude, but also daft. Why would we choose not to enter into a close friendship and “working relationship” with these creatures who are dear to God and far closer to us than our nearest kin?
I have never met Mike Aquilina, and received no compensation for writing this (apart from receiving a free review copy). However, I have a high opinion of him both because of his work spreading the teaching of the early Fathers, and because we’re internet pen-pals thanks to a mutual friend.
Taking shameless advantage of having his personal email address, I asked him how his own relationship with the angels came about, and he kindly shared two details.
He attributes his personal devotion to his mother, who taught it by example (by “momming,” as he puts it), and later to the influence of a spiritual director he had as a young man.
Then he added:
If I could emphasize anything, it’s the importance of the guardian angels in family life, in guiding our conversations with spouse and kids. We should learn to greet our own guardian angels (silently, in the heart) and those of the people we love. Make it a habit. I really don’t know how people make marriage and child-rearing work apart from this. The theology of the body is great, but we shouldn’t forget the theology of the spirits!
It’s a lovely book: handsome in appearance, filled with worthwhile morsels from the Fathers about the angels, and a welcome antidote to some of the New Age blather about angels that never seems to peak!
Comments
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Posted by LMJ on Wednesday, Dec 14, 2011 11:42 AM (EDT):
Thank you for posting book suggestions like these! Besides being great for our own benefit, these kinds of books make great gifts for the young men and women that we have sponsored for confirmation, as well as for our godchildren.
Another great book about angels (both the holy and the fallen) is called “Angels and Demons—What Do We Really Know About Them?” by Peter Kreeft. Kreeft’s book is in a Q&A format, citing Scripture, the CCC, and other Church sources to support his answers to common questions about angels and demons.
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