THEOLOGY
September is the Month of Angels. The Feast of the Guardian Angels is on October. Musician’s Day is on November. Coincidence?
September’s angel devotion paves way to October’s Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels, which paves way to St. Cecilia’s/Musician’s Day (on November 22)
Section A: Let’s first see what might be difficult to grasp about angels
(i) In Thomistic angelology, every angel is its own species: Unlike humans or animals, every single angel has a completely unique essence. They are as different from one another as a tree is from a cow; but of course, it takes a keen eye to notice!
(ii) You think angels like you? The Book of Enoch mentions on the joy angels feel when evil suffers. [We note that the Bible only explicitly talks on the other side of the morality coin, i.e. angels rejoicing over repentance].
So what? So, the guardian angels of even slightly evil people are most likely just clock-punchers.
(iii) Islam gives us the inner faith of the angels. It mentions on the heavenly Kaaba (aka al-Bayt al-Maʿmūr or the Frequented House), which is visited by a group of 70000 angels every day to worship and perform circumambulation, never returning to it again as a new group replaces them — this continues until the Day of Judgment (illustrating the vast quantity of angels in existence).
But since the human brain has a negativity bias that prioritizes scanning for threats (and hence doomscrolling in the digital age), we might as well lean on the Book of Enoch — which gives us the inner psychology of fallen angels.
We can take in such moments from the non-mainstream text because the Bible doesn’t focus on this (as it was meant strictly for salvation).
Now, in Enoch’s text, we got to read that the fallen angels didn’t like it one bit when their offspring suffered. This… is a very interesting note. Why? From this, we can gather that, for the evilest of people (those of the left-hand path), you should call out their hypocrisy when they go against you (rather than calling out their actions — as they are probably irredeemable/perfectly heartless).
(iv) Physical or Soul-terrifying appearances: Even when angels don’t physically appear with things like multiple wings, one may still lose his/her strength or be simply terrified. For example, when Gabriel appeared to mother Mary, he had to tell her to not be afraid due to (maybe) a je ne sais quoi.
But note that when angels appear without any supernatural markers, they can also decide to hide their nature. Hebrews 13:2 points on some people entertaining angels unawares. As such, in this way, you would obvious be not afraid (in exchange of obstructed information 😊).
(v) Post-Biblical devotional traditions are not Catholic-exclusive, they exist even in YouTube: The Chaplet of St. Raphael and the Chaplet of St. Gabriel Saint are traditional Catholic prayer devotions — but we’re going to discuss the more famous angelic chaplet by beginning with a story.
Michael, appearing one day to Antonia d’Astonac (a Portuguese Carmelite nun), told her that he wished to be honoured by 9 salutations corresponding to 9 choirs of angels. It’s known as the Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel, and it of course has rewarding promises. Now modern man, if you are looking to get something from the internet 😊, there’s also the Archangel Mantra (to connect with Archangels Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Uriel).
Section B: Musician’s Day and the Power of Three in Music
St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians because tradition says she sang in her heart to God while worldly music played at her wedding. But her day, on the month of November, proceeds fresh with memories of months of angels. So let’s take this as our base.
People have found that the power of three (whether in ternary division or threefold repetition) in music is so good on the tongue since it stems from the Seraphim — when the Seraphim claim “Holy, Holy, Holy”.
The following are examples of songs with this exquisite pattern.
(i) Brit Spears’ story of Lucky
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Ariana Grande once imitated Spears’ voice/singing pattern like merely having a flu case, not knowing Spears does Seraphim stuff sometimes! Here is a sample from Lucky.
[Verse 1]
Early morning, she wakes up
Knock, knock, knock on the door.
It’s time for make-up, perfect smile
It’s you-they’re all-waiting for.
They go
“Isn’t she lo-o-o-vely, this Hollywood girl?”
(ii) Daryl Coley & Patti Labelle’s Will You Be There
The reason why we choose this version of the song, instead of Jennifer Hudson’s or other renditions, is because Daryl exaggerated on the highlighted Seraphim part, like how MJ did in the original song.
[Verse 1]
Hold me,
Like the River Jordan.
And I will say to thee…
You are my friend.
Carry me!
Like you are my brother,
Love me like a mother
Will you be the-e-e-re?
(iii) Chiké and Simi’s Running (to you)
In terms of introducing a topic, this is a sister song of All of Me by John Legend. The following contains the highlighted Seraphim part.
[Verse 1]
Anybody wey wan fight you
Make them come, they already know
I’ll be right beside you, like the wall of Jericho.
They don’t know, they don’t know;
They don’t know what’s going on.
Muna gi so, Muna gi so, Muna gi so, my baby boo.
(iv) Pete and Rado’s Mazoea
This is another African song, like the previous entry. It’s a sort of love song, but the lyrics can be understood even by English speakers — with a caveat. The term ‘mama’ here doesn’t mean momma, but mamacita, okay?
[Prelude]
Mama! (Ah)
Mamaaa (Ah! Ah! Ah!)
(v) Toni’s Un-break My Heart
Let’s start with Toni’s He Wasn’t Man Enough. Comments from YouTube say the song is the definition of ‘Girl, bye’; some others say Toni emptied her chest on that one; some others say (after analyzing the title) that the real shade is on the lyric line ‘I think he’s just the man for you’; yet… some others say more.
The reason we didn’t jump into Un-break My Heart was to give the softest introduction of what kind of person Toni is. Haha. Having done so, the following contains the highlighted Seraphim part from her power ballad. [P.S. The ballad is maxxed when you listen to YouTuber Constantine Isslamow’s cover, with him plucking his bass guitar strings].
[Verse 2]
Take back that sad word goodbye,
Bring back the joy to my life
Don’t leave me here with these tears,
Come and kiss this pain away.
I can’t forget, the day you left…
Time is so unki-i-i-nd
And life is so cruel without you here beside me-
(vi) MC’s My All
Foodies say you have to pair everything with rice since it balances the saltiness and/or sweetness of many other types of food.
That’s why…
That’s why people in the 90s had it all!
How? Am I high?
See, in the 90s, Toni was the Queen of the Low and Mellow, while we had Mariah Carey as the Queen of the High notes!
BUT, or rather, YET, MC could also sing low; and she has many songs on the three structure (Always Be My Baby and others). However, we take the low song My All as an example for the three structure.
[Verse 1]
I am thinking of you…
In my sleepless so-li-tude tonight.
If it’s wrong to love you…
Then my heart just won’t let me be right.
1(Coz I’ve drowned in you)
2(And I won’t pull through)
3(Without you by my s-i-i-i-i-i-de.)
Sources:
Google Images and Reddit for the pictures.
