Operation Desert Beacon
The squad flew into a stealth mode across the desert sky. They still had no visibility of their land objective, a small undetected group that crossed the villages on foot. The traveling group was appropriately named “The Ark” because they carried with them the most precious cargo, and the flight squad knew how important this was to the whole success of their mission.
The general, from his command post, got in touch with his flight commander, “Any sign from The Ark?”
“Negative, sir. It seems the enemy is operating some device that blocks the Ark from our view, we know the Ark is in the local area, but we need to pinpoint them to engage the Beacon, sir”.
The general knew the enemy well, after all, the enemy’s leader used to be one of the best soldiers before he betrayed his army. One of the foe’s most effective strategies was to block the view from those who search for a way. Many men had been lost by this tactic from the enemy, but this trick had not been effective against flying squads. Until now. The enemy was clearly ramping up his attack to prevent the flight squad from finding the Ark and follow them safely with a guiding beacon. Once the beacon was engaged, the second group, codename “3 M” would follow the beacon and find The Ark Team.
The general noticed his knuckles cracked from the tension on his right fist. Nothing compared to the tension in his soul… He had been entrusted with the Ark Team’s safety, and now his Flyers could not find it! “Have you located the 3M Team? “
“Affirmative, sir. They received the first message and are traveling westbound, but unless we engage the Beacon soon, they may get lost or return to their point of origin, sir”.
The 3M Team was also traveling by land, it was basically a small group of international observers who had been invited by the general’s commanding officer to witness a major achievement against the enemy. The flight squad’s plan was for 3M to rendezvous with the Ark Team at a location that the enemy could not affect, and the best way to guide the 3M to the Ark was by the use of the Beacon, but currently the enemy blocked the Ark from view, so without finding the Ark, the mission would fail. The enemy was clever, went directly to the source… That’s when the general had an idea: search for the source of light that his flight squad could see, and find the Ark!
“Flight commander, respond! ” commanded the general in an excited voice.
“Yes, sir?”, answered his officer.
“I want you to adjust your sights and search for a specific signature. Look for a sign that matches our own type, set your sights as if you are trying to return to the Home Base, do you understand?”
“But sir, if our flight squad does that, we will lose our stealth mode. We may be detected by the enemy and the civilians on the ground”, the general answered instantly in a thoughtful voice.
“I understand, I will take full responsibility, but we need to find the Ark Team”.
The flight commander got his squad in a very precise delta formation above a shepherds field and changed his sights to look for the home signal. The idea made little sense, to look for a sign of Heaven in a small town on Earth was useless, no human had the sanctity that he and his flight squad were looking for, but then he saw Her. As only the eyes of an angel can see from above, Mary was shining like the first rays of dawn on the edge of town, nearing Bethlehem.
“We have located the Ark Team, general”, informed the angel.
“No, my friend”, answered the general, “you have found our Queen, now engage the beacon and lead the 3M Team to the rendezvous point”.
“Yes, sir! “
The beacon, like many heavenly things, was a really simple process. The angel commander drew the tip of his sword near the edge of the night sky and pricked a small hole in our reality to show eternity through it. The light from heaven glared through a puncture no larger than the eye of a needle, but the 3M Team below saw this as a star above Bethlehem. Down on the ground, King Balthazar, with his heavy Tuareg accent hailed to his two friends,” There is the sign, my brothers!”, and the three wise men on the 3M Team corrected their course towards Bethlehem.
Simultaneously, since angels are not constrained by time or space, the whole flight squad became visible in the night sky, and a group of surprised shepherds was addressed by the angel closest to the ground. “Rejoice, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior”, and the happy shepherds left their flocks to visit the newborn King in Bethlehem.
“She has a beautiful soul! “, whispered the commander to his general. Both angels knelt, invisible, before the Mother of God holding our Savior on her lap. The Magi finally arrived to worship the King of kings and offered their gifts to the Blessed Mother.
General Michael whispered to his fellow angel, “Our friend Gabriel had met her before, he recognized her from every other human, because of that beautiful soul you also admired. That’s when I thought we could find the Ark Team by searching for her. She is actually our Ark and our Beacon since she always will point us to our King”.
Angels are not subject to our time, so for Michael and his friend, the adoration before the infant Jesus felt like a joyful eternity.
