Angels among us...
The fourth Sunday of Advent recalls the annunciation of Christ's birth, the visitation of the Angel Gabriel to Mary, so the fourth candle on the Advent Wreath may be known as the Angel Candle.
Since Victorian times, we have come to envision angels as sweet and cherubic. Wrong! The Angels of Scripture are powerful beings. When those 'shepherds in the fields abiding, watching o'er their flocks by night' saw them, they quite rightly were scared silly! Imagine a host of other-worldly beings in the skies above you, creatures who had the power to
- Execute Divine judgment (Isaiah 37:36 or Daniel 4: 13-17);
- Aid us when we are in deep trouble (Daniel 6 or Acts 12); and
- Bring messages from God (Luke 1: 8-20 or 31-33.
In fact, the word 'angel' -- from the Greek -- means "messenger of God" -- and so the fourth candle reminds us of this as the angels bring Good News to Mary, to those shepherds...and to us today:
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