Angels

The Anchoring Star

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:23:09 -0500

Despite my name—the second-century Alexandrian Claudius Ptolemy is perhaps the world's most celebrated astronomer—I've never been all that bright about the stars.

This was always something of a disappointment to my father, who gave me my name because he held the ancient world's stargazers in such high esteem. Especially during our winters down in Florida when I was a kid, he loved to take me out behind our house and show me the constellations.

Horse Sense

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:23:09 -0500

Did you know that four percent of Americans own a horse? Or that wild horses roamed America thousands of years ago, only to become extinct here until they were reintroduced by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century?

Allen and Linda Anderson didn't—at least until they began work on Angel Horses, the latest in their series of anthologies devoted to animals.

Spiritual Athletes

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:23:05 -0500

Strange as it may seem, monks can be very exciting writers. Monastery life has a day-to-day sameness that would drive the ordinary soul to distraction, but monks use this exterior sameness as a tool to cultivate their inner lives.

Monks are spiritual athletes, and a monk who knows how to convey his inner experiences can produce writing as gripping as any adventure story.

The Infant of Prague

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:23:06 -0500

It was our third day in Prague and already we'd visited six churches. My wife, Tib, has a boundless capacity for gilded domes and rococo statuary, but as I limped painfully up the steps to Our Lady of Victory I promised myself this was my last church here in the Czech Republic.

I'd plead the inevitable stair-climbing involved; a year after knee-replacement surgery steps were still agony.

Heaven in a Rose

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:23:00 -0500

Stare into a rose, and what do you see? If the rose happens to be red, odds are you'll say that you see a symbol of love.

If it's white, you might see a symbol of purity and innocence, or perhaps the heavenly and eternal. A pink one, meanwhile, might evoke springtime, childhood and the beauty of young things that grow old all too quickly. One thing, however, is for sure. When you look at a rose, you're bound to think of something.

Heaven's Country

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:20:46 -0500

Legend says that Ireland is the place where heaven reaches a little closer to earth than it does anywhere else, where the divine is uniquely close at hand.

If many of the noisier events of Irish history have unfolded in urban centers like Dublin and Belfast, it is in rural Ireland—in remote, haunting spots with names like Ballina, Inishfree, Skellig Michael and Enniskillen—that the story of Ireland as heaven's country has unfolded, a story that in its way is just as dramatic and surprising as any other in Irish history.

Celebration in the Park

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:20:39 -0500

The bustling city of New York offers a surprising number of quiet, contemplative sites. There's one visited by millions of people every year, but few know its history.

Surrounded by Central Park, more than a dozen lyrical angels dance under the Manhattan sky, gracing a century-old choir rail sculpted in limestone by eminent artist Karl Bitter. The winged figures play horns, flutes and mandolins, while swirling upward in flowing garments toward a commanding pulpit topped by a triumphant trumpet-blowing angel.

Warring Angels

jbloustein — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:03:04 -0600

Angels show up in the most unexpected places.

Any reader of ANGELS ON EARTH magazine knows that. But I’m not talking about the heavenly angels at work in our daily lives. I’m talking about angels on the big screen, on television and in popular fiction. Lately angels have been appearing with more frequency there too.

Glimpse of Heaven

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:20:51 -0500

In December the misty air of Padua is fragrant with fresh-baked Christmas cakes, and holiday lights adorn the arches of the porticoed streets. As they’ve done for generations, people shop in the ancient markets for gifts to honor Gesù bambino, the child Jesus, and gather for prayer at the Nativity scene in the square.

Angel of the Lakes

batch — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:22:56 -0500

The Lake District is a patchwork of pastures, hills and sinewy lakes, of picture-postcard villages and craggy mountains tucked into the county of Cumbria in the northwest corner of England.