Amidst the Angels

One of our sisters, who works at a local hospice, invited the staff to the Mount for some prayer together. She set it up in our new gathering space--this is what it looked like: very intimate, conducive to a prayer group--really quite lovely. This hospice is just starting out so it was an important and special experience for them as a new staff.

This is a nice end-of-the-week time: our prayer has brought us amidst the angels, with Michael, Gabriel and Raphael's feast yesterday and the Guardian Angels this Saturday.

Here's one of Mary Oliver's takes on these heavenly companions:

About Angels and About Trees

Where do angels
fly in the firmament,
and how many can dance
on the head of a pin?

Well, I don't care
about that pin dance,
what I know is that
they rest, sometimes,
in the tops of the trees

and you can see them,
or almost see them,
or, anyway, think: what a
wonderful idea.

I have lost as you and
others have possibly lost a
beloved one,
and wonder, where are they now?

The trees, anyway, are
miraculous, full of
angels (ideas); even
empty they are a
good place to look, to put
the heart at rest--all those
leaves breathing the air, so

peaceful and diligent, and certainly
ready to be
the resting place of
strange, winged creatures
that we, in this world, have loved.