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Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs died Monday at the age of 27, stunning the baseball world and leading to the postponement of the team's game against the Texas Rangers. Police responded to a report of an unconscious man in a hotel room in Southlake, Texas, and pronounced Skaggs dead at the scene. No foul play is suspected and an investigation is ongoing, police said. A Southlake police spokesperson said it "is not suspected" that Skaggs took his own life, according to the Los Angeles Times. "It is with great sorrow that we report Tyler Skaggs passed away earlier today...

Tyler Skaggs, Los Angeles Angels pitcher, passed away this morning, the team announced. Skaggs was in Texas, where the Angels were scheduled to begin their four game series against the Texas Rangers today. Tonight’s game between the Rangers and Angels has been canceled. This is tragic news for the Angels and the MLB community. Skaggs, 27, was a Southern California native who was born in Woodland Hills and graduated from Santa Monica High School. He was originally drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but returned home to the Angels in a trade in the 2013-14 offseason. He has spent parts of...

Tyler Skaggs, a 27-year-old starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, died in Texas on Monday, the team said. Skaggs was discovered unconscious and unresponsive in his hotel room at around 2:18 p.m., according to the Southlake Police Department in Texas He was pronounced dead at the scene. “Tyler has, and always will be, an important part of the Angels Family,” read a statement from the team. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Carli and his entire family during this devastating time.”

Tonight’s game has been cancelled. This is utterly gut wrenching news. Stay tuned for more details...

The fifth inning was delayed while officials dealt with the swarm of bees, which sent a pitcher warming up in the Rangers bullpen running for cover and emptied out seats beyond left field. Angels pitcher Hansel Robles was spotted in the dugout with a towel wrapped around his head and neck, swatting bees away with another towel. It’s not the first time bees have delayed a game at Angel Stadium – swarms also put a stop to the play against the Toronto Blue Jays in 2016 and the Seattle Mariners in 2013.

On the Role of the Angels at the Second Coming Msgr. Charles Pope • February 11, 2019 • Gustave Doré (1868) This is the last in a series of five posts on the role of the angels in our lives and in creation. The content of these posts comes from a series I have been teaching at the Institute of Catholic Culture on the mission of the angels. Angels are ministering spirits mystically present and active throughout creation, in the events of Scripture, in the liturgy, and in our lives. The fundamental source for these reflections is Jean Cardinal Danielou’s...

The Angels and Our Death Msgr. Charles Pope • February 10, 2019 • This is the fourth in a series of five posts on the angels and their role in our lives. The content of these posts comes from a series I have been teaching at the Institute of Catholic Culture on the mission of the angels. Angels are ministering spirits mystically present and active throughout creation, in the events of Scripture, in the liturgy, and in our lives. The fundamental source for these reflections is Jean Cardinal Danielou’s book The Angels and Their Mission: According to the Fathers of...

On the Role of Our Guardian Angels Msgr. Charles Pope • February 7, 2019 • Angel Fighting for the Soul – Alexey Tyranov This is the third in a series of five posts on the angels and their role in our lives. The content of these posts comes from a series I have been teaching at the Institute of Catholic Culture on the mission of the angels. Angels are ministering spirits mystically present and active throughout creation, in the events of Scripture, in the liturgy, and in our lives. The fundamental source for these reflections is Jean Cardinal Danielou’s book...

The Role of the Angels in Every Liturgy Msgr. Charles Pope • February 5, 2019 • Ghent Altarpiece – Jan van Eyck (1429) This is the second in a series of five posts on the angels and their role in our lives. The content of these posts comes from a series I have been teaching at the Institute of Catholic Culture on the mission of the angels. Angels are ministering spirits mystically present and active throughout creation, in the events of Scripture, in the liturgy, and in our lives. The fundamental source for these reflections is Jean Cardinal Danielou’s book...

The Mystical Role of the Angels in Baptism Msgr. Charles Pope • February 5, 2019 • In recent weeks I have been teaching series at the Institute of Catholic Culture on the mission of the angels. Angels are ministering spirits mystically present and active throughout creation, in the events of Scripture, in the liturgy, and in our lives. Over the next few days my posts will summarize the talks I presented. The fundamental source for these reflections is Jean Cardinal Danielou’s book The Angels and Their Mission: According to the Fathers of the Church. The references to the Fathers in...

Eli Grba, the first player to throw a pitch for the Angels, died Monday night in Florence, Ala., after a three-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 84. Grba, a bespectacled pitcher with a penchant for partying and a competitive spirit, was known as the Original Angel. With the opening selection of MLB’s first expansion draft in December 1960, Angels general manager Fred Haney made Grba the first addition to the Angels’ inaugural roster. “I’m a trivia question until I die,” Grba said in a 2011 television interview. “I’m the first guy that’s ever been drafted — and the first...

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling...

Don’t Name Your Guardian Angel Msgr. Charles Pope • October 2, 2018 • Guardian Angel Protecting Child, Domenico Fetti (1615-18)The Feast of the Guardian Angels, celebrated on Tuesday, seems an appropriate time to point out that the common practice of naming one’s guardian angel should be avoided.A document authored by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2001 states, “The practice of assigning names to the holy angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael, whose names are contained in Holy Scripture” (Directory on Popular Piety in the Liturgy:...

Franciscan Media Image: Detail | The Guardian Angel | Marcantonio Franceschini Feast of the Guardian Angels Saint of the Day for October 2  The Story of the Feast of the Guardian Angels Perhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet guardian angels are not only for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer, and to present their souls to God at death.The concept of an angel assigned to guide and...

Of the Angels and of the Mysterious Providence of God Msgr. Charles Pope • October 1, 2018 • Angels Accompanying Tobit, Francesco Botticini (1470)God most often works through His angels; He mediates His presence through them. Why is this? He is of course all-powerful and therefore does not need the mediation of the angels, but He does seem to will it. It is common in both Scripture and doctrinal traditions to ascribe to the angels the work of mediating God’s presence and messages.Scriptures assert this. At times, such as when Jacob wrestles with God, it is not clear whether...

October 2, 2018 Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels Reading 1 Jb 3:1-3, 11-17, 20-23 Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.Job spoke out and said: Perish the day on which I was born,the night when they said, "The child is a boy!" Why did I not perish at birth,come forth from the womb and expire?Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth,like babes that have never seen the light?Wherefore did the knees receive me?or why did I suck at the breasts? For then I should have lain down and been tranquil;had I slept, I...

White Greater Double ALTHOUGH THE SOLEMNITY of the 27th of September celebrates the praises of all the nine glorious choirs, yet the piety of the faithful, in the latter ages, desired to have a special day consecrated to the Guardian Angels. Several churches having taken the initiative, and kept the Feast under various rites and on different days, Paul V (1608) authorized its celebration ad libitum. Clement X (1670) established it by precept as a Feast of double rite on the 2nd of October, the first free day after Michaelmas, on which it thus remains in some way dependent....

Franciscan Media Image: Detail | East window behind the altar | St. Michael’s Church, Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland | Frederick Settle Barff Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael Saint of the Day for September 29  Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael’s Story Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named.Michael appears in Daniel’s vision as “the great prince” who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God’s armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the...

On 9 Jun Mike Trout went 0-5 against Minnesota and was batting .299. Eight days and eight games later he’s batting .335. This is unbelievable. If he keeps this hitting up we might see the first .400 hitter since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.

"We Truly Don't Know What It Is" --Mystery Milky-Way Spectrum of Light Observed 'Not Produced By Any Known Emission' April 17, 2018   "We use special telescopes to catch X-ray light in the sky, and while looking at these X-rays, the telescopes noticed an unexpected feature and captured a spectrum of light, which is not produced by any known atomic emission," said University of Miami astrophysicist Nico Cappelluti. "This emission line is now called the 3.5 kiloelectron volt (keV). One interpretation of this emission line is that it's produced by the decay of dark matter." "This 3.5 keV emission line is...