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Glimpse of God for the week of June 14, 2026

Angels in disguise.

So, as a follow up on last week’s Glimpse; Angels of God, I wanted to reflect further on how we are not only Angels of God, but through humility, Angels in disguise, messengers of God, instruments of His presence and how He chooses to reveal it through us. When I think of Angels in disguise, I do not mean to indicate anything deceptive on anyone’s part, but rather one who desires to bring God’s message to others with a hidden humility, it is a disguise that is worn by one who is selfless, other centered and loving.  Although God’s Angels are perfect, I believe that we, sinners striving to become saints, although not perfect, are pleasing to God, chosen, and called by God to spread the good news of His eternal, unconditional and selfless love as we experienced it in and through His Son Jesus Christ and through our baptism, as we were immersed into His passion, death, and resurrection. In light of Jesus’ love for us and through our personal encounters with Him through our prayer life, in the Sacraments of the Church and each other, we continually strive to become better people as we exude the presence, light, and love of Christ to all those we encounter.

When I think of a disguise, I usually think of something that is worn to conceal one’s identity.  I believe that people wear disguises for many reasons, but for the purpose of this glimpse, the disguise is to bring about God’s message to another in a spirit of selfless humility and love, and not out of ego, self-centeredness, or selfishness.

I believe that there are many people who are Angels in disguise or God’s messengers to us and we to others; messenger of what you might ask? Messengers of hope, peace, joy, mercy, compassion, understanding, empathy, and perseverance. These Angels appear to us in many forms, as many forms as there are people in my life and in your life.

 Throughout our life, whether we are living through a pandemic, as we did in the past with covid 19, a terminal illness, a broken relationship, financial stresses, unemployment, aging or family discord, it is during those times, whether they be short or long, that God has sent and continues to send, His Angels in disguise. These Angels are His messengers, and they are sent to us to remind us that He is always with us, that He loves and adores us, that we are His beloved children, that we are never alone, and that that we are conquerors and will not be conquered, victors and not victims.

When I think of Angels in disguise, I think of all those people in my life that have managed to keep hopelessness, discouragement, and despair at a distance, have placed faith over fear and have always been the light of Christ by their genuineness, authenticity, and selflessness. Knowingly or unknowingly, they are Angels in disguise because they continue to be God’s messengers of hope, peace, joy, courage, perseverance, trust, understanding, reconciliation, and support.

These wonderful people do not bring God’s message with an ego or an ID badge, but rather with a hidden humility.  A humility that speaks from the heart.  It is this humility that allows them to serve one another as God invites them to.  One might be an angel in disguise and on a given day are called to serve as compassion, another day as empathy, another as understanding.  I think that we can all identify our Angels in disguise, those who have lifted us up when we have fallen, those who have reached out to us when we have caused them injury and those who have invited us to walk with them in silence, and consolation.

We are always being challenged to emerge from our tombs so that we can experience new life. As we strive to live our new normal each day, to step outside the tomb of fear, anxiety, and worry, we do so in faith, trust, and courage, not just for ourselves, but for those we love and encounter each day.  Our new life can be in the form of healing and reconciliation, or a renewed sense of courage and hope, or an abiding peace and a sense of true happiness, whatever our new life is, I believe that it brings us to a wholeness that God intends for us and that we have opened our mind, heart, spirit, and soul to receive. Consciously or unconsciously, we have been and continue to be; Angels in disguise. Parents have been Angels to their children as well as children to their parents, Church leaders to their congregations as well as the congregations to their leaders, teachers to their students, and students to their teachers, siblings, friends, and neighbors to each other. We have been and continue to encourage and support each other, but we cannot do that if we are not inspired by God to do so.  As God’s messengers, our angel’s in disguise may come in the form of words, actions, prayers, or silence, and in all of those disguises, God’s message is not just brought to the recipient, it has taken root in the messenger as well. If you are wondering who your Angel is or has been, look to where, when, and how you have managed to take each step into a new day, hopeful, trusting, surrendering, and believing that God is guiding you, and pray to recognize your source of inspiration and  hank God. The Angel is God’s messenger, and you are His messenger, the Angel’s wings are your hands in prayer, and the message is the one of hope in the resurrection. We are all living our Good Friday experience as we carry our cross and enter our tomb of illness, unemployment, broken relationships, family discord, aging, or whatever is trying to take our peace from us, but we can emerge from our tomb a renewed people, a transformed people, a resurrection people, if we choose to. Spiritual and personal transformation awaits us as we seek to see the good during the difficult and challenging.

This week as you walk with your Angel in disguise, listen to God’s message of love. Love for you that has given you your inner strength, courage, self-determination, and perseverance. Love that speaks volumes as He reminds you that you are His beloved child, loved unconditionally, and His best creation, and nothing, can ever take that identity away. As you reflect on your Angels in disguise and who you have been an angel in disguise to, seek God’s grace to continue to seek His Angels and message and to be His angel and messenger. For a daily reflection, look at who have been your messengers, your Angels in disguise, how you have become a better person because of them, and how you have also helped them become a better person. 

As you reflect on your Angels in disguise, can you say a prayer of gratitude for them as you realize that as they walk with you on this holy ground, they make it less rocky and more smooth by taking each step with you? steps that are walked together as they grasp your hand in theirs to calm any fears and remind you that you are not alone, steps taken behind you as they have your back and  will be there if you begin to waver, fall, or run away, and steps taken ahead of you to calmly lead you in the uncharted territory that lies ahead, all in Jesus’ name. 

SUNDAY – “M” Who has been your Angel in disguise of mercy, mentorship, mystery (mystery - although we don’t understand, we trust)? to you today, and were your wings spread out (easy to be an Angel to), or drawn by your side (challenging to be an Angel to but you were anyway)? Thank God for His Angels and their message and ask Him for the grace to recognize with greater clarity, trust and courage, your call to be His Angel of mercy, mentorship, and mystery to others. 

Monday – “E” Who has been your Angel in disguise of empathy, encouragement? to you today, and were your wings spread out (easy to be an Angel to),

or drawn by your side (challenging to be an Angel to but you were anyway)? Thank God for His Angels and their message and ask Him for the grace to recognize with greater clarity, trust and courage, your call to be His Angel of empathy, endurance, and encouragement to others. 

TUESDAY – “S” Who has been your Angel in disguise of sympathy, selflessness, sacrificial love? to you today, and were your wings spread out (easy to be an Angel to), or drawn by your side (challenging to be an Angel to but you were anyway)? Thank God for His Angels and their message and ask Him for the grace to recognize with greater clarity, trust and courage, your call to be His Angel of sympathy, selflessness and sacrificial love to others. 

WEDNESDAY – “S” Who has been your Angel in disguise of support, strength, self-determination? to you today, and were your wings spread out (easy to be an Angel to), or drawn by your side (challenging to be an Angel to but you were anyway)? Thank God for His Angels and their message and ask Him for the grace to recognize with greater clarity, trust and courage, your call to be His Angel of support, strength and self-determination to others.  

THURSDAY – “A” Who has been your Angel in disguise of appreciation, authenticity, acceptance? to you today, and were your wings spread out (easy to be an Angel to), or drawn by your side (challenging to be an Angel to but you were anyway)? Thank God for His Angels and their message and ask Him for the grace to recognize with greater clarity, trust and courage, your call to be His Angel of appreciation, authenticity, and acceptance to others. 

FRIDAY – “G” Who has been your Angel in disguise of Godliness, genuineness, goodness? To you today, and were your wings spread out (easy to be an Angel to), or drawn by your side (challenging to be an Angel to you, but you were anyway)? Thank God for His Angels and their message and ask Him for the grace to recognize, with greater clarity trust and courage, your call to be His Angel of Godliness, genuineness, and goodness to others.

 SATURDAY – “E’ Who has been your Angel in disguise of empowerment, edification, energy? to you today, and were your wings spread out (easy to be an Angel to), or drawn by your side (challenging to be an Angel to but you were anyway)? Thank God for His Angels and their message and ask Him for the grace to recognize with greater clarity, trust and courage, your call to be His Angel of empowerment, edification, and energy to others.

Glimpse of God for the week of June 7, 2026

Angels of God

This week’s Glimpse of God is about the Archangel Gabriel and how I believe that God often sends angels into our lives. Although Merriam Webster defines an angel as one who is a spiritual being serving as a divine messenger, another definition is one who is very good, kind, or beautiful. Now we probably cannot say that the Archangel Gabriel appeared to us to let us know that we are going to conceive the Messiah (Mary) or his cousin (Zechariah), or when to leave our home so that we would not be killed (Joseph), or to follow the star and be the first to behold the savior (The Shepherds). Gabriel delivered God’s message to those for whom it was intended, those that God chosen beforehand to fulfill their role in salvation history. In Sacred Scripture, God used His angels to bring His message directly to the recipient. Today, He uses us to do the same. (now you might not consider yourself or your neighbor to be an angel, but I believe that we all have been and continue to be angels of mercy, compassion, understanding, reconciliation, and peace to others. Every time that we choose to be God’s messenger of peace and proclaim love in place of hatred, pardon in the face of injury, faith in the existence of doubt, hope in the depth of despair, and understanding in the misery of judgment, we are an angel. Even though our message might not be as earth shattering as Gabriel’s was to Zechariah, Mary, or Joseph, it is none the less a message from God to a specific person for a specific reason. His message is not useless or in vain but serves a purpose in fulfilling His plan and building His kingdom here on earth.  Now we could all agree that having an angel appear to us would be an unforgettable, life changing experience, but even as they faced the real presence of God’s messenger, Gabriel had the same problem that we have today, and that is God’s message wasn’t accepted immediately, at first Zechariah doubted but came to believe in faith, Mary questioned but surrendered in love, and Joseph feared but walked in hope. The Archangel was sent to three faith-filled, faithful, pious, God loving and fearing believers, to deliver the message of God and each response to the message was received differently. God knew the heart of each person and in His great love for them and theirs for Him, chose to reveal Himself in and through Gabriel’s message and their response. Gabriel’s message and God plan for them allowed them to be open, genuine, and honest which allowed them to be their best self, the person that He created them to be so that they could live up to their potential.

God knows that even when He invites us to be proclaim His message of love, truth, peace, and compassion in a world that contradicts His message, or to act in a better way or when He calls us to our truth to turn away from our sin, we often respond out of fear, uncertainty, doubt, anger, and sometimes despair. Even in our weakest moments and bad choices, He knows our heart better than we do. He knows that our love for Him is real, deep, and undivided. He wasn’t angry, He did not turn away or change His mind then, and He won’t do that with us either now.

So as we begin a new week, remember that you are called to be God’s messenger and that He has entrusted you, a sinner striving to become a saint, with His message. Today you might be called to be an angel of mercy, tomorrow an angel of peace, only God knows what He wants you to do

and be, so be open and allow the honesty of Zechariah to fill you with hope, the YES of Mary to inspire you, and the courage of Joseph to strengthen you. Look to the  Archangel Gabriel to be your light. 

SUNDAY – “G” God centered

As I believe that you and I are very God centered in our best times and a little off center during our worse times.  I have learned that in the midst of life and the “stuff” it throws at you, being God centered is not easy, yet with God’s grace it is very possible.  Sometimes when life surrounds you with “stuff” not all good and not all bad, we can lose sight of God and get stuck in the midst of the thick, challenging, not God centered “stuff”. I believe that it is in and during those times that we are given a Glimpse of God through another, and in our self, as we recognize our ability to overcome the difficult, face the challenge and stand with our head held high knowing that we are not alone. God’s offers His glimpse through His gifts of affirmation, inner peace, a sense of joy, renewed strength, and spiritual transformation. For today, look in the mirror and seek to see how God centered you are and how God has gifted you with the grace to stay focused and centered during the “stuff” that you’ve had to cope with.

MONDAY – “A” authentic

Don’t look at others as better than you or desire to be someone else because of their wealth, power, friendships, or social status. God created you as the special person that you are. God formed you in the womb and called you by name. You are blessed with special talents and gifts that the next person may not have, and they are also blessed with talents and gifts that you may not have, but together we all create a canvas of unique, diverse, and colorful facets of God’s presence that can help us see Him more clearly in each other. 

For today, acknowledge with humility your authenticity and genuineness and thank God for them.  In a world where it seems more of a cross to be and stay God centered and authentic, God says that the cross is what draws us together, makes us stronger, gives us inner strength and conviction, makes us a better glimpse and reflection of His presence, and allows us to be true to our self, so as to be able to rest with a clear conscience. The cross comes to us in varied and many forms, but I believe that the greatest cross that we carry, that which will transfigure us so that we will become a greater reflection of God’s presence to others, is the one that calls us to be transformed from within. The cross of confession, conversion, and transformation is the one that we carry within and is only known to our God and not for others to see. Illness, physical challenges, unemployment, and other crosses can draw attention to our self, but when we truly seek to be God centered, our cross is the one that we hold within and at the core of our center; that is our heart, mind, and soul.  

TUESDAY – “B” breath of life

You are the life and breath of God in and through your words, prayers, and attitudes. What does that mean to you? Are your words uplifting and encouraging or discouraging and disheartening? Do others hear God through your conversations or are your words filled with gossip and swords? Is the power of God’s word your strength and do you share your strength with others?  Your prayers, your words of consolation, encouragement, strength, are of God and given to you to speak, share and spread. For today, listen to your words; those spoken silently in prayer, those spoken silently about others, those spoken verbally for all to hear, and those you regret saying, and ask for the grace of God so that you may be His breath of life by your humility, by your personal and spiritual transformation, and in and through your words.          

WEDNESDAY – "R" Reconciling

The Church offers us the Sacrament of Reconciliation when we need to clear our heart, mind, souls and spirit of actions of omission and commission that have harmed our relationship with God and others. The gift of God’s gift of peace is available to all those who seek it. God wants all people to experience HIs healing touch, His freedom, His strength, and His peace, so that they can live in the light of His love for them and His desire for their genuine and true happiness. I believe that this is what all priests want to offer to those who approach the sacrament. Not just mere words, but through their lived experience. They desire to extend what they, as weak, sinful instruments of God, have experienced, yet we are all capable and able to extend God’s peace to others, and we do not need to be ordained to do that. Although the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the best way to experience God’s healing if you are carrying the heavy burden of wounded ness and hurt. God wants you to be healed and whole, but it is also through each other, as His followers, that we can experience God’s healing and wholeness. If you are struggling and want to grow in your faith, trust, and hope, open your hands and heart and God will fill you with what you need to be the best person that you can be, person that He has created you to be and have the potential to become. Always remember that God’s love is unconditional, His compassion is unending, our sins can never be greater than His love for us, and that we are His beloved sons and daughters, His greatest creation.

For today, try to reconcile with one person that you have been either estranged from or keep your distance from because of a past injury or deep hurt. If you find it too difficult to reach out to that person or if they are deceased, pray to God for the grace to forgive in your heart, and that grace will lead you to a profound experience of peace, reconciliation, healing, and wholeness, throughout your body, mind, soul, and spirit.  

THURSDAY – "I" Instrumental 

For today let us look at and pray with a deeper fervor the prayer of Saint Francis. Let us strive each day to be more of God’s instrument of peace and be His peacemakers in a world that does not seem to know, desire, or seek true and lasting peace, which can only be experienced in and through God, His beloved Son Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and Mary our Blessed Mother.

So where and when there is hatred may you sow love, where there is injury may you extend pardon, where there is doubt may you be a seed of faith, even when you think you have only the faith the size of a mustard seed, where there is despair, may you represent hope, where there is darkness, may you be God’s ray of light and warmth, and where there is sadness, may you bring joy. May you not seek consolation but choose to console another, may you not want so hard to be understood but may you humbly choose to understand another, and may you not look for love but offer your love to those who do not know love. God is love and when you choose to offer it to another, then you already have what you seek.

FRIDAY – “E” embracing

As we conclude the prayer of Saint Francis, embrace the final words and allow them to penetrate the very core of your being. You cannot give what you do not have. God supplies where you feel that you fall short. When you truly desire to give, God meets your desire and gives in plenty. When you offer consolation, understanding and love, it is not that God doesn’t want you to have these gifts, He is telling you that you already possess them and that with His grace and through your prayer life, they will continue to grow.

As the prayer of Saint Francis concludes, this is the promise that God made through Jesus His Son. For today, May you know, be assured that as you give from the heart, you will receive, as you pardon from your heart and not in lip service, you will be pardoned. and in your dying, as a child of God and follower of Jesus, you will receive everlasting life. 

SATURDAY - “L” = learned

Being learned as a Christian is about knowing the will of God and how we can live that out in our life. Being learned in life is not only about book knowledge, but the knowledge and language of the heart and how we can reach out to others and build them up and not tear them down.

How learned are you? Do you recognize how God has given you the desire to learn about His will for you, how you are living it out and how you are being His light to others? Do you need to have a Bachelors, Masters, or a Doctorate degree from a University to be considered learned about the will of God?

No, what you need and already have is a blank page so that God can write His plan and His will for you, where the only book you need is the Bible, the only writing tool you need is your free will, and the only test is the one where you challenge yourself to be more Christ centered today than you were yesterday.

For today, let us take an extra step in love to learn more about someone else. It takes a lot to want to become learned and to gain knowledge of a broad variety of topics and issues. When someone is learned they have taken the time to gain knowledge of a variety of topics so that they can share their knowledge with others and relate to more people. Go and be the best Scholar God knows you can be!!!