Ongkingco
Marieta was browsing through her children’s photos. She took a sip of tea, but with her eyes continued viewing the photos, as if trying to catch some important details.
“Here, what can you say about this one, Father?” She hands me a photo.
The photograph didn’t appear to have been developed by some local photo shop. It had smudges on the photo that revealed that it must have been done with an inkjet printer.
“This is a selfie of Jonathan,” I said.
Now, Jonathan was Marieta’s youngest of six children. He was taken by our Lord at a very young age of 10. They had hoped that the therapy would be able to cure him of his cancer, but in the end the disease prevailed.
“And this?” She handed me another photo.
“Also, Jonathan, but in another place,” I replied.
“And this other one?”
“Jonathan…” I was now puzzled about what she wanted me to observe in the photos. They were obviously selfies like any other. It is so common for the youth today to take them wherever and whenever they felt snapping something memorable.
“Have you not yet noticed?” Marieta smiled.
“I have to admit I don’t observe anything peculiar about the photo.” I spread the photos on the table and tried another time. And then I noticed!
“He seems to be hugging the edge of the photo too often and too much.”
“You’re saying, he’s not the center of the photograph?” she added.
“Yeah, that’s what I meant. He could inch a bit more to the center, so that at least he would come out more and better.”
“And you’re probably wondering why he left so much space in the center?”
“Now that you ask, well, I do wonder.”
“Jonathan wanted to leave that space for his angel,” she said.
“A space for his guardian angel?” I said quite moved.
“Yes, an angelic space!”
“But what could have given him that idea? Most young people are more than eager to simply shoot themselves and not something invisible,” I said.
“I believe it all started when he came home excited to have been taught to give his guardian angel a name.”
“But a selfie, that’s pretty cool and unique!” I said.
“Indeed. But we only got to know about this in the later stage of his illness,” she explained.
“Really? You mean, he simply took those selfies without really telling you guys about that space?”
“Yes. Like you, we never wondered why he took selfies with that ‘spacious’ element. It was only when we were taking photos of him in the ICU that he commented that we leave some space for his angel.”
I noticed Marieta’s voice was getting emotional as she recalled those last weeks with Jonathan.
* * *
The existence of angels and devotion to them has been around since the beginning of time. In Exodus we read: “See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides in him. (Ex. 23)”
Throughout history devotion to them has grown and the faithful have been constantly encouraged to turn to their help. We are taught to give them names, converse with them and ask them to guide us in our journey towards heaven. What a wonderful spiritual consolation this is.
* * *
“But you know, Father,” Marieta continued. “After Jonathan passed away, although his selfies had those ‘blank spaces,’ I realized it was actually his heart that constantly shot the image of his angel. It was a camera of faith and love that constantly made him perceive a spiritual selfie in the most ordinary realities.”
“Make me Thine, and the grace to make Thee, mine.”