Angels, Benozzo Gozzoli

NOTHING is sadder than the sight of a young child in a face mask. You can see them in our area, standing waiting for the bus, their parents sometimes beside them without masks themselves. The children’s faces are obliterated and they all look like sinister surgeons at the operating table, their identities erased, their breath restricted and their minds — that’s the worst part. Their minds are conditioned to fear. They are walking mannequins, a new species cut off from nature. We are living in a science fiction movie and can’t get out.

No words are adequate to describe this depressing phenomenon. Every time I see it, I am shocked and brought down. I have no patience for those who say, “Children can get used to anything” or “They’ll be fine” or “It doesn’t really bother him.” The parents of these children will each and every one of them face God someday, possibly very soon. And they will have no mask to hide their own faces. It doesn’t matter how much they feel for their children. He will most certainly exact justice for His little ones. Many of these parents will be “drowned in the depth of the sea.”

But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:6)

Stealing the innocence of the souls God has entrusted to their care, they have no excuse.

The guardian angels await divine justice too. I know it’s not cool or popular to talk about these supernatural beings who are so much more sensitive than we are, but they too must be saddened to see the faces of those they tenderly love erased. They themselves have been cheated and deprived of what rightfully belongs to them — the facial expressions of children. How can we know a child without his face? How can they?

God had, from the beginning, allotted to pure spirits their labors; to some, that of seeking the general good of mankind; to others, that of watching each over one soul.*

Of these latter I was one. On the advent of a soul whom God alone saw in the future, my ministry was to commence. At what time, in what place, under what auspices was she to appear ? I knew not.

Without having seen her, I loved her already, and my affection did not cease to grow in proportion as the wished-for term drew near.

When an infant was born on earth, I flew to the throne of God, and, like each one of my brothers, I hastened to say to Him, ” Will it be I, Lord, who shall have the honor of guiding it on its pilgrimage? 

[Memoirs of a Guardian Angel, M. L Abbé G. Chardon; 1871]

Whenever you see a child in a mask, say a prayer to his guardian angel.

 At all times, and in every place, they are ready to help us, and to provide for our wants. They walk with us in all our ways; going out and coming in, they follow us still, anxiously considering whether we live piously and purely in the midst of a wicked world. They assist those who labor; they guard those who rest; they encourage those who light; they crown those who conquer; they rejoice with the joyful, and sympathize with the suffering. When we do well, the angels are glad, but the devils are sad. When we sin, the devils rejoice, but the angels are cheated of their joy.

— St. Augustine

Fill your heart and mind with prayer for the children of the world. There is nothing better you can do. Mere human beings, we cannot fight this incalculable evil on our own.

— Comments —

Helena writes from Canada:

You wrote a beautiful piece today.

I realized a while back that children, with masks, seem to have an attraction to me. This is not vanity on my part.

It is simply that I do not, and have never, worn a mask in public. I will put one on just as I stand before cashiers, simply to keep them calm, as a courtesy gesture, if you will, but immediately take it off when I leave their booths.

No-one has bothered me. I am the only one in the various locations – mall, grocery store, hardware store – with no mask. I tell the patrol police that I am unable to wear a mask. I don’t elaborate, I don’t go into medical records, I don’t promise to bring a doctor’s notice of exemption.

Once, when a young security guard was especially irritating, I told him that this whole thing is illegal, and that I would get my lawyer on the store he’s patrolling. I don’t have a lawyer, but I could get one in a flash, I’m sure. It was my scare tactic. It worked. I’m sure he told the area’s patrol office, since once in a while, some security guard will give me a brief smile (of encouragement?).

Almost every day, I notice a young child noticing me, curious, interested, and not at all intimidated. I have a full face!

I usually wave, and I always smile. They wave back, and smile back – I can see their eyes crinkling above their strapped faces.

I don’t know what will happen. All I hope is that they remember that they saw a full face, with a full smile, and a friendly (complicit) wave. They don’t say anything, and their busy, anxious, brain-washed, and dare I say callously inattentive parents, don’t see this tiny transaction. “Just between you and me” I try to tell them. I hope they remember this much later on, when they realize what they had to go through, and start to understand the deceptions, that someone with a full face gave them a full smile.

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