BETTER ANGELS

I'm not a very religious person, but I believe that we are besieged by both angelic and evil persons, fighting each other for the hearts of mankind. (Better Angels vs. Worse Angels.)

Sometimes it seems to me that the evil guys are winning (just look at our current politicians).  But then I see, hear, or meet angelic persons.  These are people who exhibit their "Better Angels" for all to see. 

Shakespeare started the phrase "Better Angels." Check out this quote from around 1600:

Sonnet 144 

"The better angel is a man right fair,

The worser spirit a woman colored ill."

(whatever that means)  

The phrase was expanded a bit to "Our Better Angels" by Dickens in 1841 for his novel "Barnaby Ridge," which I haven't read, but clarifies things for me.

"So do the shadows of our own desires stand between us and our better angels, and thus their brightness is eclipsed."

Abraham Lincoln used the shorter phrase in the close of his 1861 Inaugural Address.

"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

In 1946, Jimmie Stewart starred in the movie: It's a Wonderful Life and in 2014, Rob Morrow played in a film adaptation of Debbie Macomber's story, Mr. Miracle.

Both movies showed how trainee angels come to Earth to show humans how to cope with their problems.

I found one such angel in the human body of the Reverend Stanley Janaites. Although a Catholic priest, Stan did not mind breaking all parish rules. He even had a "lady friend."  Everyone considered him a "mensch" of the highest level.

Father Janaites ministered to the patients and staff of an 'asylum' in Sykesville, Maryland for many years and everyone loved him.

He could write and recite poetry, tell jokes, act as Santa at Christmas time, and commiserate in the time of grief. He enjoyed helping people learn how to live a meaningful life.

Unfortunately, he died at the age of 69.  All who heard about his passing were devastated.  Poems were written about him and newspaper obituaries about him appeared around the State of Maryland.  

A high-level superior wrote a paean to Stanley, comparing him to a Saint, even though he had tweaked the noses of his "handlers."

But nobody could "handle" Father Janaites.  He just continued his daily activity of loving and helping his neighbors, regardless of the rules.

I only knew Stanley for three years, but within that time I observed his overwhelming love for everybody.  It almost made me become religious.

I figure that Stanley was one of those trainee angels working on getting their wings.  I think he succeeded.

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Go, and be good to your neighbor!