The other day, Trudy Piche was near the Mînî Thnî (Morley) turnoff on the Trans-Canada Hwy, when she noticed an intriguing cloud formation over the rodeo grounds. A keen-eyed Stoney Nakoda nature photographer, she just had to stop, get out of her vehicle, take the accompanying photo, and share it with us.
Well, as soon as I looked at the cloud, I saw in it a guardian angel-like figure, arms outstretched wide to express the Creator’s watch-care over the community. With Trudy’s permission, I’m sharing with you this week the message it brought me: We are each other’s guardian angels by proxy, to bring the beauty of the Creator’s love to each other for the wellbeing of all.
Interestingly, as I was considering how to explain that, something came up at lunch with my wife Mary Anna. We’ve had the long tradition of Mary Anna reading aloud to me from one of our inspirational books. That day, we began a look back at Jesuit spirituality writer Max Oliva’s 2016 book, Becoming a Person of Mercy. And I thought, yes, we become guardian angels to each other in this world by practicing works of mercy!
As Oliva explains, “the works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbour in his or her spiritual and bodily necessities.” Within his Catholic tradition, there are two kinds of works of mercy: spiritual and corporal. The spiritual works include forgiving injuries, bearing wrongs patiently, and comforting the afflicted. The carnal works include feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and clothing the naked. The classic model he draws from is Jesus.
And my understanding of Jesus’ message in this regard? The Creator is love, and as the Creator is, so are we in this world. That is, we are guardian angels by proxy, commissioned with the message of mercy in word and deed, beyond racial and cultural differences, beyond politics and memories of past wrongs, to bring wellbeing to all.
Thank you, Trudy, for your very inspiring photo of a guardian angel in the clouds.
© 2024 Warren Harbeck
