Mindsoulness – where mind and soul meet!

My grandfather was a career soldier. He attended the School of War in Turin, Italy and began his military career in the early 1910’s. He survived three wars — a colonial war and two World Wars — managing, in the meantime, to marry and have six children who lived to an old age (one, the youngest, is still alive).

The influence of my grandfather on his family was tremendous to the point that there are three of his grandchildren named after him, including me. According to my father, grandpa Alberto was a man with a big heart. He told me that when he had to punish a soldier, he would send him to the camp jail only telling him to go free a few hours later. Apparently, grandpa would go by the camp prison and seeing the man would ask him, “What are you doing here?” and the response would be “You sent me here because I did this and that,” to which he would always reply, “For heaven’s sake, just get out of there.” He was loved by his soldiers. And he was loved by his family.

Alberto was not a man that would compromise. He was loyal to the King and when the Fascist Party took over, he refused to become a member of that party. This was the end of his career. He had just been promoted colonel and would never be considered for further promotions.

I was never able to meet my grandpa. He died a few years before I was born. He used to visit my father in his office every day as part of his daily routine after he retired. One day, after visiting my dad, he returned home and sat down in his favourite chair to read his newspaper before lunch when a heart attack struck him fatally. My dad was devastated and clung on the romantic idea that being bypassed in his career for political reasons had taken a toll on his health causing his death.

In Canada, we celebrate the lives of our soldiers and veterans on November 11 of each year and we wear a poppy in their memory. The poppy is memorialized in a poem by Dr. John McCrae titled “In Flanders Fields”. McCrae was inspired to write this poem by the sight of the many Canadian soldiers both wounded and dead in the battle of Ypres in Belgium in 1915, and especially to honour a personal friend who had died in that battle. The first verse of this 3-verse poem says:

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.“

Every time November 11 comes my way, I always think of my granddad Alberto and I cannot help but think that even if I have never met him, I have felt his huge presence in my life. They say angels do not exist. I say the opposite is true. Grandpa Alberto has been a steady influence in my life and continues to be.

But angels do not just live in heaven. Saul of Tarsus once said: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” In another poetic promise to modern generations, we read: “for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”(Doctrine and Covenants, Section 84 verse 8)

I have had many angels in my life that have contributed to the person I am today. There are too many to mention all, but some may not even be aware they have been a positive and healing force in my life. The more I think about this, the more I know my parents were two wonderful angels I was sent to. My wonderful wife is one of those angels that was put on my path. And my children were purposely sent to me to enrich my life and make me humble.

In a dream I had a few days ago, I was reminded of the inevitability of death. In that dream, as I was conscious that my life would end shortly, my last few thoughts were for my wife and my desire to let her know how much I love her and that all would be well in the end.

These are difficult times, but we can count on angels around us – not only those who have gone to a better life, but also those who are sharing our path on this earth today. You know who they are: maybe, and hopefully, family or a friend or a teacher or someone who has walked the extra mile to lift you up.

Take a moment to be grateful for them and let them know. They need you to be their angel, too.

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