A Year With the Angels

by Mike Aquilina

<!--[if gte mso 9]> 800x600 <![endif]--> In his previous release, you were invited to a year-long retreat with the Church Fathers; now, Mike Aquilina presents a new volume of contemplations and prayers about those most mysterious of all created beings: the Angels. Drawing again from the deep well of the Fathers' wisdom, Aquilina has compiled a year's worth of reflections on the Nine Choirs of Angels. A Year With the Angels invites you to discover the authority and strength of the Heavenly Host. Angels embody virtues, graces, and knowledge of the Truth because they stand before the very Throne of God. Among the Angels' responsibilities are governing the universe and the movements of nature, defending creation from the attacks of the devil, and acting as messengers of God to mankind. This year, learn to appreciate our unique relationship with the Angels - especially those assigned to protect us during our sojourn on earth. What better protectors and intercessors could we ask for than the first of all creatures who have beheld the face of God from their very beginning?

Genres: Catholic, Devotional, Religion

388 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2011

About the author

Mike Aquilina is author or editor of more than thirty books, including The Fathers of the Church, The Mass of the Early Christians, and A Year with the Church Fathers. He has co-hosted eight series that air on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). He has co-authored books with Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., and theologian Scott Hahn. He is past editor of New Covenant magazine and The Pittsburgh Catholic newspaper. He appears weekly on Sirius Radio's "Sonrise Morning Show." Mike and his wife, Terri, have six children, who are the subject of his book Love in the Little Things.

In 2011 Mike was a featured presenter of the U.S. Bishops' Diocesan Educational/Catechetical Leadership Institute. He also wrote the USCCB's theological reflection for Catechetical Sunday in 2011.

His reviews, essays and journalism have appeared in many journals, including First Things, Touchstone, Crisis, Our Sunday Visitor, National Catholic Register, and Catholic Heritage. He contributed work on early Christianity to the Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought.

Mike is a also poet whose works have appeared in U.S. literary journals and have been translated into Polish and Spanish. He shared songwriting credits with Grammy Award-winner Dion DiMucci on the forthcoming album "Tank Full of Blues."

Reviews

[booklady · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my daily reader this year. I loved Mike Aquilina’s book on the Church Fathers which I did a few years back, so I was confident of the scholarship and ever since my Consecration to All the Holy Angels (January 23, 2021) I keep trying to read and learn more about our Heavenly Guides and Spiritual Brethren. This book definitely fits that requirement! I frequently read ahead of the day’s meditation if the next one caught my eye and sometimes, I read more than two or three. But being notoriously bad about dailies, I also neglected it at other times and had to play catch-up. Even so, I take on a daily meditation book every year to challenge myself to be better and I highly recommend this one whether or not you are an Angel aficionado, because the Angels are never about themselves; they are always ALL about God and anything you do to learn more about them will strengthen your love of and relationship with Him. May ALL the Holy Angels bless you and yours always! ^j^

GREAT book! (Yes, I read ahead and finished it early.)

[Joseph R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following the successful format of A Year with the Church Fathers, Aquilina offers daily meditations that center around angels. He uses the same structure: each page has a title with a brief explanation and then a longer citation from the Church Fathers (no medieval or modern stuff, so very much like the first book), followed by a reflection question and a prayer, both following on the theme of the text. Many of the reflections are about the presence and the help that the angels offer to us--they are aids and guardians in our earthly life. Other texts look to them as examples for good behavior, consistent effort, or hope for the glorious life in Heaven. This book has been helpful to remind me constantly of the presence and the power of angels.

The book has a nice leather cover, gold foil edges, and a ribbon attached to keep your place as you make progress. The paper is high quality and each right-hand page has an unobtrusive water mark in the corner of a statue of an angel. It looks good on your shelf and feels good in your hands. The book is a handsome volume.

Highly recommended.

[Julie Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daily reading.

Received this as a review copy. As Tom and I are slowly working our way through Aquilina's "A Year with the Church Fathers" I knew this would be an interesting book, if nothing else. Also, I am quite attached to my guardian angel so this is a natural tie-in (so to speak). You can hardly go wrong in one of Aquilina's books, as I have learned through long experience.

I was quite stunned to learn something very new about angels by the third day. Am interested to see what other revelations await me.

UPDATE
This has turned into a daily morning read, right after reading the day's Mass readings. It not only reminds me of my guardian angel's presence, but complements the scripture nicely to reinforce that the world is a bigger place than we can see.

[Andy Lind · Rating 3 out of 5]

The binding is beautiful, the pages are lovely, and the words of wisdom will be referred back to time-and-time again, but like most daily devotional books, some of the meditations in it are longer than others and some of the prayers in here are as short as five words. I seriously wish an editor would come up with a daily devotional book where all of the meditations were the same length.

[Terry Fenwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every book written by Mike Aquilina is "One of His Best!"

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully bound, which is the only reason this gets a 2 instead of a 1. The Church Fathers and the book’s author seem to focus on using fear to control lay folks. Where is God’s unconditional love in that? No wonder people are leaving Christianity in droves. Not to mention that a lot of the ideas in this book strain credulity. Where do the Fathers get off claiming they know all about Heaven and the afterlife? Even Jesus had very little to say about it. And finally, why weren’t the writings of the Church Mothers included?