September 29 2017 – Friday - Archangels – Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel – Revelation 12:7-12

       Today, we celebrate the feast day of the three archangels – Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael.  We’ve been celebrating the feast day of these three archangels together since 1970, when their feast days were combined together in the revised Roman calendar after the Second Vatican Council. 

       Our reading from the book of Revelation today depicts the Archangel Michael defeating Satan and the powers of evil. With the defeat of Satan, salvation and power have come, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed – Jesus the Christ.  Michael and the other angels are messengers of God’s loving and merciful relationship with us.  They are bearers of Good News to us.   They help us conquer evil and sin in our lives. We respond to this message of Good News by responding to God in faith. Indeed, sometimes our lives may seem like we are in the middle of a war that is fought by the angels who are on the side of God as they battle the demons and the evil spirits who seem intent on getting us.  Michael is seen as the Archangel leading us in battle against those evil forces, so he is the patron saint of police officers, soldiers, paratroopers, and fighter pilots. 

      A belief in angels has gone beyond Christianity, as it is popular in our secular world today to believe in angels, to have a belief in the divine messages that they deliver to us.  May we give thanks for the angels and archangels today.  In our preface before starting the Eucharistic prayer in the mass, we proclaim that we join the angels and archangels in their song of praise to the Lord.  May we truly feel the praise that we proclaim to the Lord in connection with these heavenly spirits. 

9/29/2015 – The Archangels – Michael, Raphael, Gabriel

      Every year on September 29, we celebrate the feast day of the three Archangels – Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael.  We’ve been celebrating the feast day of these three archangels together since 1970, when their feast days were combined together in the revised Roman calendar after the Second Vatican Council. 

     In a homily he gave, Pope Gregory the Great clarified that the word “angel” denoted a function rather than a nature.  Gregory noted that the holy spirits of heaven have always been spirits, but they are called angels when they serve the function as messengers of God, when they deliver some sort of message for him.  Angels are those who deliver message of lesser importance, while Archangels are those spirits who proclaim messages of supreme importance, such as when the Archangel Gabriel visited the Blessed Virgin Mary, to tell her that she was with child, that she would deliver the Son of God.

      Back in the 1980s, there seemed to be a lot of interest in angels, so much so that many in popular culture who were not even professed Christians believed in angels and believed in the divine messages that they brought to our human world. Apart from those popular beliefs, we celebrate the Archangels in our Catholic faith today.  In our preface before starting the Eucharistic prayer in the mass, we proclaim that we join the angels and archangels in their song of praise to the Lord.  Let us join in their song of praise.

9/29/2014 – Monday - Archangels – Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel – Rev 12:7-12, Ps 137; John 1:47-51

       Today, we celebrate the feast day of the three archangels – Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael.  We’ve been celebrating the feast day of these three archangels together since 1970, when their feast days were combined together in the revised Roman calendar after the Second Vatican Council. 

       Our reading from the book of Revelation today depicts the Archangel Michael defeating Satan and the powers of evil. With the defeat of Satan, salvation and power have come, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Anointed – Jesus the Christ.  Michael and the other angels are messengers of God’s loving and merciful relationship with us.  They are bearers of Good News to Us and they help us conquer evil and sin in our lives. We respond to this message of Good News by reach back to God in faith and trust and surrender. Yes, indeed, sometimes our lives may seem like we are in the middle of a war that is fought by the angels who are on the side of God as they battle the demons and the evil spirits who seem intent on getting us.  Michael is seen as the Archangel leading us in battle against those evil forces, so he is the patron saint of police officers, soldiers, paratroopers, and fighter pilots. 

       Once a second grader in our first communion class asked me about angels and archangels and the difference between them – quite an intelligent question.  Pope Gregory the Great clarified that the word “angel” denoted a function rather than a nature.   He asserted that the holy spirits of heaven have always been spirits, but they are called angels when they serve the function as messengers of God, when they deliver a message for him.   Angels are those who deliver message of lesser importance, while Archangels are those spirits who proclaim messages of supreme importance, such as when the Archangel Gabriel visited the Blessed Virgin Mary, to tell her that she was with child, that she would deliver the Son of God.

       The belief in angels has gone beyond Christianity, as it is popular in our secular world today to believe in angels, to have a belief in the divine messages that they deliver to us.  May we give thanks for the angels and archangels today.  In our preface before starting the Eucharistic prayer in the mass, we proclaim that we join the angels and archangels in their song of praise to the Lord.  May we truly feel the praise that we proclaim to the Lord in connection with these heavenly spirits.