An Advent Calendar for my Friends: December 8

Thayer, Abbott Handerson: Angel, c.1889;
Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 x 28 1/8 inches (92 x 71.5 cm);
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA

The Angel of Sisterhood

by Anselm Grün

The Bible speaks again and again of philadelphia, the love between brothers or sisters. It was a heartening experience for the early Christians that they were not only able to experience their biological siblings as brothers and sisters, but that suddenly their whole community was turned into a community of brothers and sisters. The Angel of Sisterhood wants to show you how many brothers and sisters you will have if you only approach them as a brother or sister.

The basic experience of the first Christians was that all members of their Christian congregation had become their brothers and sisters. The reason for this was that all of them had the same Father. Because all of us may pray to the same Father in heaven, we are before and under this Father all brothers and sisters. Jesus calls everyone who does the will of God “brother and sister” (Mk 3, 35: “For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”). If we seek the propinquity of His example and gather around Jesus Christ and are – like He is – ready to do the will of the Father, then we are brothers and sisters in Christ, then a new family is created in which all are equal. Jesus forbids the disciples to call themselves “Rabbi”: “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren” (Mt 23,8). The Angel of Sisterhood shall show us that we are all equal, that no one may put herself above the others. How often do we place ourselves not only in our social position above others, but also with our prejudices. We feel we are better than others, we elevate ourselves above them. We are fixated on the negative aspects of their personalities and don’t notice how we project our own faults on other people. This mechanism of projecting our own faults on others, and thus placing ourselves above them, is very common. We keep the others at a distance that way, and we protect ourselves from having to face the truth about ourselves that way. Who recognizes the truth about herself, stops looking for their mistakes in others. A person like this will truly be a brother or sister for every human being. Because they will recognize themselves in everyone of them.

To have a sister is very different from having a brother. I am lucky to have three sisters and three brothers in my family. There was the eldest sister who often took the place of the mother during my childhood. There is the Angel of Sisterhood who cares for us like a mother. But it is not the great mother who smothers us, but it is a sisterly caring which succours us. She does not stand above us, but she is at our side. She is tender and understanding. She fulfils needs that a mother cannot meet. There are sisters of your own age, companions on your way. With brothers with whom you go through thick and thin. With sisters you have intense conversations. You strike a chord in yourself that is not reached by brothers. And then there is the younger sister which is for good reason often called by certain English names. The Angel of Sisterhood brings me in contact with my anima, with my emotionality and my spirituality. Angels have always been brothers and sisters to us. Helmut Hark, Protestant priest and therapist, talks about an erotic love story between our soul and the angel as our spiritual companion. Looking at angels in art books, we often discover an erotic vibrancy in them. They strike a chord in our souls that is usually only brought to life by a person we love. The erotic power of the angel has a healing effect on us.

The experience of a sister can bring us in touch with out inner angel. The sister can become an angel herself, who strikes the tender chords of our souls and makes them sing, who brings our spiritual energies to life and has a healing effect on our broken heart. Therefore I wish that you may have many meetings with many Angels of Sisterhood. And I wish that you may become an inspiring and life-giving Angel of Sisterhood for others.

© by Anselm Grün, 50 Engel für das Jahr, 1997;
translation by JunoMagic.