One of the characteristics of young children, in particular, is their openness to concepts and ideas, as well as a capacity for being awe-struck. In Monday’s assembly, I asked the boys to remember an experience that caused them to exclaim, ‘Wow!’ Examples ranged from the horticultural to the gastronomic, from the relatively mundane trip to the High Street to the jaw-dropping pronouncement from one Year 2 that at the weekend he had ‘been taken to south London!’ The Head, a native Battersea-boy, is pleased he survived to tell the tale! One of the themes of the last few assemblies has been to encourage boys to think about - in simple terms - the relationship between physics and philosophy, and that there is a reality to both the visible and invisible world. In a different life, at Ampleforth, I used to assist in the teaching of A Level History of Art and it always used to amaze me how sixth-formers could be presented with a painting or sculpture and, at first response, take so little in. It was as if they had to be taught how to see again and to use language to express something intelligent about a work of art. I hope all our boys will deliver an appreciation of painting and sculpture - one of the marks of a civilised mind - and so we must train them to observe the world around them, closely distinguishing the humdrum from the truly spectacular. Listening is just as important, which is why the children, in both houses, each week sing traditional hymns from the Catholic and Anglican traditions, prose that is some of the most beautiful in English literature. Understanding every word is not the purpose but rather setting down markers that might form the first staging post on a journey into the sublime.
Yesterday was the Feast of the Guardian Angels and earlier in the week we celebrated the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Children throughout the ages have been fascinated by angels and seem to have no problem accepting their existence. Children know and understand that some of the most important things in life cannot be seen with the eye. The wind is invisible, so is the smell coming from the stove in the kitchen, the germs that make them sick or the gravity that brings them down to the ground when jumping in the air. Thoughts too cannot be seen, or emotions or love. But they are all real. The Catholic catechism teaches that angels are pure spirits, without any bodily form, possessing an intelligence far beyond human comprehension. Fra Angelico’s famous fresco of The Annunciation, painted in the Convent of San Marco in Florence, presents Gabriel in the form of a human, albeit with wings. In like manner, St Michael is often depicted in full battle armour defeating the great dragon and casting him down to hell. It remains custom at the end of every Traditional Latin (Low) Mass for the faithful to recite a prayer to St Michael: Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. One of the most beautiful traditions, one that children find deeply reassuring, is that almighty God, at the beginning of every human life, assigned a Guardian Angel to protect that person throughout their life. There are many accounts down the ages of Guardian Angels saving ’their human’ from peril of one sort or another.
As a child, I was taught this prayer and I offer it now for the protection of all the children who are pupils at St Anthony’s:
Angel of God,
My Guardian dear,
To whom God’s love commits me here,
Ever this day be at my side,
To light and guard,
Rule and guide. Amen.
