Dancing with Angels

[Sam Oliver]

Throughout history, angels have been known as guiding spirits. They have been called "Messengers of God." Angels have been seen as encouraging souls whose purpose is to lead us through transformative events in our lives.

Often, these guiding spirits are embraced so that a sense of comfort can be felt in the midst of despair. A dying patient and family members who believe in the presence of angels report feeling blessed by God.

Angels are extensions of God's consciousness to most traditional religions. They come to us in various ways, shapes, sizes, and expressions. What a person believes to be true is true for that person.

When a person is dying, we can work with their angels in the following ways:

1. Believe the Patient.

Spiritual creativity is often the only level of independence that a dying person has at the end of life.

2. Encourage Inner Exploration.

If given enough time and a nonjudgemental attitude, dying patients feel more and more comfortable with those who care for them and begin to share the inner dynamics of their life with those around them. A nonjudgemental sharing of lives creates a pathway into inner exploration. As such, a sense of safety is felt and the journey into the depths of one's soul is encouraged.

3. Allow the Patients to follow their Soul.

When we trust in the Wisdom that created our dying patient's life, we are trusting in the Wisdom that created all living things.

When a dying patient begins to trust you as his or her caregiver, you become a midwife, a fellow soul, an angel on a person's path of dying into life. As a patient is dying, he or she generally becomes more soul than body.

As a person let's go of his or her identification with physical matter, what really begins to matter are the things in life that isn't matter. The relationship created between you and a patient in this kind of transformative experience of dying connects us to the eternal realm. Here, we are invited to dance with the angels.

[Judy Licon]

I have had many patients tell me that they can see someone in the room that I cannot see. I accept my responsibility as an instrument of God's plan, and encourage the patient to share with me anything that they want. I believe that we are also God's Angels, visible, outward vessels of his inner, spiritual grace. I may not be able to see my patient's angel but, I can touch the patient, hold his hand, and provide tactile validation of the presence of a spiritual being.

[Sam Oliver]

Thank You Sue for sharing these comments.

[Sue Brazo, RN]

Oh, Sam! Over the years I have read much about the dying as well as being involved as a nurse at the bedside of many dying patients. Recently I just finished reading a book written by a Hospice physician, John Lerma. Perhaps you have read his book. This book is different because all of the stories that he shares were selected because there are angels in every one of the experiences. I highly recommend it to everyone I talk with concerning the spirituality of "dying". To gently emphasize what you have just written, may I please present here the introduction to Dr. Lerma's book? I don't think I am violating any copyright issues as long as I credit the author with his own words ..... they are too profound not to share with your beautiful spiritual insights.
Per Dr. Lerma: In the last days of life, the terminally ill retreat within themselves as a way of preparing to release their soul. they tend to relive events in the distant past with varying feelings and often need help in obtaining closure. This is important to the timely release of the soul. During this time, the patient may stare intently at corners in the room, or have brief conversations with unseen spirits of deceased family members or brilliantly lit angelic beings. It is these spiritual beings that bring comfort and peace, and aid the patient in resolving unsettled emotional, interpersonal, and spiritual issues, with the ultimate goal of a peaceful transition to the afterlife. One may be quick to judge and openly discuss the patient's hallucinatory and delirious behavior, not realizing that these negative assertions dissuade the patient from openly discussing his or her spiritual experiences ( which, ironically, only ends up prolonging the patient;s suffering). To foster peace, family or friends should attempt at creating a secure and loving environment, free of criticism. This action allows the patient to describe his or her comforting visions as well as redemptive experiences, withthe ultimate effect being the liberation of their emotional, interpersonal, and spiritual pain.
A strong desire to go homeis expressed, even when the patient is at home. He or she may start speaking of needing to "catch the train," "catch the bus," or "fly home." These phrases are metaphors for the final and most sacred journey to heaven. The patient may reach upward as if attempting to feel the intangible. Many patients describe this reaching as an attempt to hold hands with their deceased loved ones or caress an angel's wings. At this point, the spiritual beings are summoning the patient to walk towards them and into the light.
Further on, Dr. Lerma continues: With the understanding that the hearing nerve most often survives the caustic processes of dying, family and friends, especially the patient will find that brushing their loved one's hair lightly, moisturizing their dry lips and parched mouth, and providing soft verbal reassurances that all the family and friends are united in love and in prayer, will bring him or her a sense of closure and peace. Continued encouragement to follow God's angels, as well as the patient's loved ones, will assure a peaceful transition to the heavenly realm.

During this time period, the patient has usually attained mind, body, and spirit closure, and is left feeling elated and exhilarated. Within minutes of departure from this world, one might notice one last tear and smile. this last tear is often termed epihora. Family and friends who have been intimately involved in relieving the patient's total body pain are sustained by an immense feeling of reassurance that their loved one was carried on the wings of angels to God's heavenly kingdom. ...... end of Dr. Lerma's written words in his introduction to his book.

I have to agree with all that you have said, Sam, especially about dying connecting us to the eternal realm. From my own experiences they have been some of the most sacred and proundly spiritual encounters that are truly transcendent in nature. it's a connection one never wants to forget ..... and I don't think we are meant to forget, because our hearts and souls won't let us ...... it is one of God's most gentle ways of saying "I am always with you."

May many angels surround all who find themselves sharing in this spiritual moment of connecting to the eternal realm.

Sue