“Jesus answered them: . . .
‘I have told you all this
so that you may find peace in me.
In the world you will have trouble,
but be brave:
I have conquered the world.’ ”
(John 16: 31, 33, The Jerusalem Bible)

God’s ragtag angel-army of light,
fallen volunteers, recon units
camouflaged on city back streets,
tucked in corners of buildings,

moves among us,
wings folded beneath blankets
draped over shoulders,
dragging the sidewalks behind,

a path cleared for all who stumble
in the shadows, darkness spread
by the Sovereignties and Powers,
Satan’s spirit army

commanding the space between
the surface of the earth and the heaven
where God lives, having cast out
these evil spirits who,

the ancients believed, were among
the elemental principles of the world,
thought to move the stars,
the universe, desiring to enslave

the human race to themselves
in sin, pummeling the world
with swirling, surging waters;
conflagrations of fire storms

exploding forests, homes;
viral spikes shredding lungs;
falsehoods drooling from lips
of minor sycophant demons.

Take Heart!

God’s ragtag angels report to Jesus
who, beneath their rags, arms them
with Truth buckled round their waist,
Integrity for a breastplate,

the swift sandals of the gospel of
Peace, the shield of Faith,
the helmet of Salvation from God,
the Spirit’s Word of God for a sword.

You may recognize these angels
feeding strays hungry and thirsty
from the street; holding the hand
of the dying after all else has been done;

stepping up to take the place of
fallen brothers and sisters, dying heroes,
to rescue evacuees outside the gate,

laying down their weapon
to take a weary mother’s baby
in their arms; waiting each afternoon

for the school bus bringing a child home;
revealing themselves, a moment’s hope
for the least of these.

Note:

Some lines echo The Armor of God passage from Ephesians 6: 10-17, The Jerusalem Bible.