|
| Messengers of Comfort |
Angels are messengers, first and foremost, and one of the most important messages they bring is that of comfort. Just as in the old Christmas carol, they come bearing “tidings of comfort and joy,” no matter what the situation. Indeed, from life’s darkest moments to times of discouragement or disappointment, angels are here to help you pull through and support you.
The comfort of angels is reported over and over again in legends and stories, from ancient times to the present day. You are welcome to read our stories and if you like, you can share one of your own.
The Comfort of Hope
There is a lovely medieval legend about the comfort an angel brought to an older couple who longed for a child. Their names were Joachim and Anna, and they lived in Nazareth in Galilee. Although they could be considered wealthy because they had many flocks of sheep, the one thing they had longed for more than anything else was a child.
Joachim was a good, religious man and gave away a third of what he possessed as offerings to the temple. But one day as he approached the temple with his gift, the high priest refused to take it. The priest told him that Joachim’s continued childlessness must be a sign of God’s disfavor, and so he couldn’t accept an offering from Joachim.
Full of grief and feeling ashamed, Joachim felt he couldn’t go home and face his wife. So he wandered off into the fields where his shepherds were tending his flocks, and stayed there for forty days. While there he thought and prayed, asking what he had done to deserve such disgrace.
As he prayed, he felt the touch of a hand on his head, and when he looked up, there was an angel standing before him. The angel told him to be of good cheer and to go home at once to his wife. The angel then told him the great news that God would grant his wish for a child. Joachim rejoiced and with a thankful heart started back home.
Now, meanwhile, his wife Anna had been keeping her sorrow over her childlessness to herself. She had gone into her garden, wandering among the flowers, and wept bitterly. She prayed for comfort. Likewise, an angel appeared to Anna and told her that her prayer had been heard. The angel told her to go and meet her husband, who was hurrying to her, and she would find him at the entrance to the Golden Gate.
There, Joachim and Anna met each other and embraced with joy. They felt the touch of an angel’s hand on their heads, and their hearts were filled with peace and comfort. And soon after, their desire for a child was fulfilled. They named their child Mary.
“The Comforting Angel”
When Ann Lee was a child, she thought she was an angel, and would often stand in front of mirrors, checking to see if her wings had sprouted yet. She was born on February 29, 1736 in Manchester England, the second of eight children, and was sent to work in a cotton factory when still a child, then cutting velvet for hats, and later worked as a cook in an infirmary. As a child, she was serious for her age, and would lie in bed at night seeing beautiful colors and angelic scenes that brought her comfort, but was sad because she knew in the morning they would disappear when her mother arose and opened the windows.
She was wed against her will to an alcoholic blacksmith. They had four children, all of whom died. She then met the leaders of a small group of radical Quakers. Ann soon played an important role in their beliefs, and the group became known as “Shakers,” because they worshipped in charismatic fashion, with ecstatic dancing, or “shaking,” and speaking in tongues.
Persecuted for her beliefs, Ann was thrown in prison, and endured physical attacks from enraged mobs. Finally, with a small band of fellow believers, she set sail for America. The captain of their ship objected to their form of worship, and while they were at sea a storm arose. A plank was dislodged and the water poured in faster than it could be pumped out. The captain turned as pale as a corpse and said they would all perish before the morning.
However, Ann had seen two angels standing by the mast, who assured her that no one would perish and they would all arrive safely in America. So Ann told this to the captain, and she and her companions helped the sailors at the pumps. Suddenly, with the next great wave, the ship was struck with such violence that the plank was forced back into place, and the ship was saved.
The small band arrived in New York City, knowing no one and with nowhere to stay. However, Ann led her followers through the streets as though she knew where she was going, until she suddenly stopped at a certain house and knocked at the door. She told the occupants that an angel had led her right to their door to receive shelter and food. And the people took the little group in, and indeed provided them with lodging and helped them to establish themselves.
But things were not easy for the small group of Shakers. They eventually found a place in upstate New York, but with the start of the Revolutionary War, were under suspicion because they were pacifists and would not take oaths. Ann found herself in jail once again. But while there, she was visited by an angel, who sang to her and kept her spirits up. She later sang that same song for her followers, when she was freed. She called it “The Comforting Angel.” And so, throughout her life, Ann Lee experienced the comfort of angels firsthand.
Angels and the Puritan
The young Cotton Mather, growing up in the 1600s in Boston, had a lot to live up to. His father Increase Mather was the most prominent Puritan clergyman in New England, the president of Harvard College and ambassador to the King of England. Six of his uncles were ministers, as were his two grandfathers, who were in the first generation of American Puritans.
Cotton was a devout child and blessed with a fine mind. He mastered several languages and also had an interest in medicine. He entered Harvard at age 11, the youngest student in its history. But there he was persecuted by the other students for his youth, and he developed a stutter, which caused the other students to mock him and continue to harass him. Cotton felt that if his stuttering was a problem in becoming a minister, perhaps he could turn to medicine.
He was afflicted with bouts of anxiety and feelings of unworthiness. But he managed to go on to study theology and medicine for his master’s degree and worked with his father in his parish. After much soul searching, at 22, he became the youngest pastor in New England. That was also the time he first became acquainted with his angel.
Now, Puritans were more likely to believe in devils appearing than in angels. But, unusually, his father wrote about angels, and said that they were serviceable to believers and answered prayers, provided protection from enemies, and relieved people of wants and difficulties.
Cotton had been troubled in his mind, praying and fasting, and he noted in his diary “a strange and memorable thing.” An angel appeared before him, “whose face shone like the noonday sun. His features were those of a man, and beardless; his head encircled by a splendid tiara; on his shoulders were wings; his garments were white and shining; his robe reached to his ankles; and about his loins was a belt not unlike the girdles of the peoples of the East.”
The angel said he was sent to bring a clear answer to Cotton’s prayers. Among other things, the angel declared that Cotton’s fate “should be to find full expression for what in him was best” and spoke of the “influence his reason should have, and of the books he would write and publish, not only in America but in Europe.” Cotton was amazed and confided his fear to his diary that this may have been a “devil,” but he soon was assured by other visits that this was indeed an angel.
He grew to learn that, as he said, “the Angels of Heaven are at work for me, and I have my own Angel, who is a better Friend unto me, than any I have upon Earth.” For, indeed, he grew in strength as a minister and was awarded a Doctor of Divinity by the University of Glasgow. His interest in medicine led him to institute the first inoculation of small pox against much superstitious opposition at the time, and he was elected to the Royal Society of London, the most prestigious scientific institution of the day. And he wrote over 382 treatises published in his lifetime – history, sermons, biography, fables, theological and scientific treatises, and verse. His angel guided him well.
Comfort in Despair
A young man named Adam was involved in a tense custody battle for his daughter. He strongly felt that if her mother were awarded custody, it would not be in his daughter’s best interests.
One night he was particularly worried and had been going over and over in his mind the possible results of the hearing. Adam grew more and more emotional and, sitting on his living room floor, he finally just prayed that everything would work out and that his daughter would benefit from whatever decision was made by the court. He just wanted what was best for her.
He found himself weeping, hunched over on the floor. Suddenly, he felt a touch on his face, and he sensed a voice saying “It’s okay…it’s alright…everything will be alright.” He saw a large hand that seemed to come from above his head, and it lightly touched his face, that way a father would touch an infant. Adam described it as the most comforting and reassuring feeling he had ever known. He felt the love and understanding in its touch.
Adam was relieved and at ease, and two days later he was awarded custody of his daughter. Life didn’t become easy, but he had the memory of the angel’s touch to reassure him and help him do his best to raise his daughter.
|
|
Add a Comment
|
|
|
|
|
|
Post Office
Bingo
Prayer
Feng Shui
Love
Market
Angel
Money Saver
Gift Shoppe
