Angels in our midst
A group of angels appeared in the sky to bring forth greetings of glad tidings... of a Divine Master born into the world! Thus says the Bible stories of Christ’s birth. Messengers of glad tidings, healing and guidance these Angels were, and continue to be through time. They are present in all religions and cited or experience through the ages, in manuscript illuminations, stained glass windows and the works of master painters of the world.
More than a decade back, there was resurgence in the interest on Angels — these heavenly beings that aid, guide and help us. A whole slew of stories of personal encounters also saw the rise of books, games, talk shows about angels.
I have a personal favorite Angel. I am a die-hard St. Michael fan. In the Jewish and Christian traditions, Michael was believed to be one of the seven Archangels responsible for various epochs of history. Michael’s special role is suggested by a passage from the Bible’s Apocalypse of St. John (12:7): “And there was a war in heaven, Michael and the angels fought against the dragon... and the dragon was cast down into the Earth... having great wrath, because he knows that he has but so short a time.” Opposing the materialistic spirit, Michael’s warrior energy fights, hinders and frustrates whatever negative energies that prevent Spirit from coming into the world. Michael is said to help open paths to Spirit that men and women might walk forward in free will and Light, comprehending the spiritual world and see Spirit in all things.
And for close to a decade in my life, I met bi-monthly with my spiritual studies group, which we named Michaelics to give tribute to the Archangel assigned to our age. It was a time of great learning towards wholeness with kindred souls as we trained ourselves, studied and learned to see and work with Spirit in our lives. We each have moved on, living what we learned. I haven’t seen them for so long until I was reminded of St. Michael in one “Michael-filled” night right after Ondoy. In an event, I saw two of my Michaelics friends Gilda Fernando and Mariel Tolentino. I had also connected via text with Benilda Santos the day previous to that. That same night after the event, I went with my friend Kat Holigores to see their Angel Brigade at work, and being greeted by a St. Michael statue at their little altar. Here was a second group of Angels at work, like-minded souls called together in a time of need just to manifest energies of love. (Yes, actually, so many Pinoys were manifesting this full force all over Metro Manila as relief efforts were underway.)
The Angel Brigade is the brainchild of Tisha Cruz-Bautista who, after Ondoy, felt she had to do something in order to help those who were affected by it. Originally, she and her friends, Ariel and Judith Roda, plus Marga Baula, thought of putting up a makeshift center that would service the communities of those living in the Fort area (mainly for the staff and families of the staff that worked for households residing in the Fort). But, the idea mushroomed as The Angel Brigade Center (ABC) soon became an epicenter for donation drop offs, volunteers to come to sort and repack goods into bags and a deployment center where private vehicles and trucks would come to pick up goods and then go off to where they were needed. I remember when ECHOstore’s Cordilleran communities called desperately for SOS... and we in turn called the Angel Brigade for help. They quickly and efficiently transported food and clothes to our NGO partners.
When asked to describe other aspects of ABC, co-founder Ariel Roda says that its main thrust is “to get a group of volunteers to man a relief op and distribute. It has since then become a network of dedicated volunteers and remains a non-sectoral/political/denominational venue for all of this.”
Tisha says, “The whole thing was an awakening, and once you’re awake you can’t go back to sleep. I thought of Angel Brigade because angels help us — and they are faceless, nameless; they help when they’re needed and they move on when they’re not. It was on the feast day of the guardian angels when we formed the group. We feel we are meant to do the work of angels as we are each other’s keepers.” Tisha continues, “I remember when one of our volunteers brought relief goods to a center where there were abused and abandoned children. When they opened the cartons of chocolate milk, one eight-year-old girl was crying saying that she couldn’t imagine how people can be so nice. At the end of the day, it is really within us to be kind and to recognize kindness as an obligation. The Angel Brigade is really a discovery of who we are supposed to be not necessarily who we are. We need to help people without expecting anything in return, to take care of the environment around us because at the end of the day we are here because of what we’ve done.”
Kat says, “We have seen an explosion in compassion from people, strangers who have become friends and have been selfless in their efforts to do the right thing. On our Facebook group page we are up to 800 members since we put it up. We are now in the process of maintaining this spirit of volunteerism and to also create funds to keep the center running.”
Good works continue as the Angel Brigade put up their Angel Auctions, which was a charitable type of ukay ukay where people donated clothes, the proceeds of which bought more relief goods and medicines for victims and is helping to keep the center running. They had a photo competition wherein volunteers sent in photos symbolizing hope during the rescue and relief efforts. These are being sold as Christmas cards. They have plans to keep the Angel Brigade going and to keep their main messages fresh: that we can all be angels to everyone around us, and that volunteerism should be a part of our consciousness and not just when the need arises.
They are still open to receiving goods, volunteers to help sort and repack with deployment and distributions happening on Sundays. Their next step is working towards manifesting their collective dream of helping victims of the typhoon rebuild their lives and their livelihood by providing them an area where they can be trained in vocational skills that they hope will help them earn sustainable income and give them a sense of pride and self worth.
The Angel Brigade is only one of many other such groupings coming together now. Collaborative efforts such as these allow Spirit to flow into the world; allows the Higher Consciousness to manifest in all. It is the change that is slowly transforming not only lives but our world towards the hoped for “heaven here on earth.” Angels do continue to walk our world. We need only make the choice to join them. We each have to find that part of us aligned with the Angels to ground “Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all Mankind!”
(Angel Brigade is now located at the Isdanco Foundation, 120 Jupiter St., Bel-Air Village, Makati City; 897-0383, 0917-8970383 and 0918-8970383. On Facebook: Angel Brigade; Twitter: Angel Brigade; or e-mail angelbrigadecenter@gmail.com)
