Finding Angels

A MYSTERY PRIEST  SHOWED UP AT A CRASH SCENE THEN VANISHED in a small Missouri community , he gave hope to a dying girl and STRENGTH and calm to the emergency response team that saved her. Some said he was an angel...until he was found. 

Christians have a very odd way of looking at the world. They get excited when miracles happen from unexplainable circumstances but when it is simply a man or woman who creates the miracle the story doesn't seem near as compelling or exciting. 

Rev. Patrick Dowling, a priest from  Jefferson City Missouri was travelling along Hwy 19 between his work assignments that morning in northern and central Missouri when he came upon the accident. He parked his car and ask the sheriff if he could approach the scene. He absolved and anointed Katie, (the girl in the mangled car) and, at her request, prayed that her leg would not hurt. Then he stepped aside to where some rescue personnel and the pilot were waiting, and prayed the rosary silently.” 

Then, he left the scene just as the helicopter was about to leave. Interestingly, he notes that he gave his name to one of the emergency personnel, but somehow it was seemingly not passed on. 

This story became an instant sensation, he became a miracle worker, a saint, or an angel depending on who was telling the story. But now he has been found. He has a name. He is just a man, a holy man that had reason to do his job. This story doesn't seem as spectacular now  does it? 

That is exactly the wrong way to look at things to me. God gives us grace as Christians our entry ticket in to heaven, all we have to do is ask and he opens the door. Our heaven starts hear and now, as soon as we chose to be Christian. Many seem to wait. They are looking for something greater, waiting to see dead loved ones arise from the grave, waiting for evil to be banished and everyone around them live forever. They refuse everyday happenings as miracles like the one above because they want something more than the here and now. They forget to walk through the door. 

What if Patrick Dowling is more than a priest? What if he is already a Saint or an Angel? What if he has already walked through the door?

I am surrounded by Angels in my heaven on earth. I feel there presence and see them do good works. They may not be the Angels of heaven in the bible. They certainly don't have wings but they do God's work. They accomplish things I couldn't begin too and sometimes in very mysterious ways. 

My mother is one of those Angels. She has answered the call to care and heal many times. She prays and forgives. She has martyred herself for the sake of others more times than I could count. Those that have not opened the door see her as just a woman. They struggle even when she is there to help. Sometimes they don't believe in the miracles she provides. She doesn't seek recognition for her acts but is humble and I am humbled by her. 

My wife is also an Angel. She has given me grace and mercy many times. I have watched as she has saved lives. I have held her when she could not. She is harder on herself than she should be. She wants to be perfect at everything she does and I have found even Angels fall short sometimes but Angels they are anyway and an Angel she is. 

If we as Christians are given grace and an open pass to heaven, why do we wait? Why doesn't our heaven start now? Why can't we see Angels among us? 

I think we can. Most of us chose not too. Heaven has too many barriers. We would have to give up everything we are to get there, at least that's what we believe.  

If our heaven started hear and now. If we believed there are Angels among us. If our God was present in everything we do then Patrick Dowling just might be an Angel. The story seems to sound better when you say it that way. Why don't we want it to be true?