HELP FROM ON HIGH
Our feast in honor of the archangels, and again in a few days our
memorial of the guardian angels celebrate the providence and the goodness of
God, our Father.
Archangels are
called to proclaim important messages. Their names help us understand the
special tasks each of them have. Michael means "Who is like God?" Gabriel's
is the strength of God. Raphael's is God's Remedy. (homily by St. Gregory the
Great, the second reading, Liturgy of the Hours.)
Today we honor
three archangels to whom proper names are given. As we just read from St.
Gregory, their names correspond to their missions. Michael is "the great
prince, guardian of God's people." (Dan 12:1) He is the heavenly spirit
who watches over the Israelites. Michael is the one who enter into a dispute
with Satan over the body of Moses. In the Apocalypse he is the leader of the
angelic hosts in the battle with the dragon and the fallen angels. In our
liturgy Michael "is protector of the Church and the angel who escorts the
souls of the departed into heaven."
Gabriel in the Book
of Daniel is an interpreting angel (Dan 8:16-26 and 9:21-27.) In the Gospel of
Luke he announces the birth of John the Baptist and announces to Mary the
conception, birth and mission of Jesus.
Raphael in the Book
of Tobit is the guardian of a journey (Ch. 5 - 6); he is the healer of Tobit's
blindness (11:1-15), and he is the expeller of demons (6:15-17 & 8:1-3)
from Tobiah's marriage bed.
Our feast in honor
of the archangels, and again in a few days our memorial of the guardian angels
celebrate the providence and the goodness of God, our Father.
In the Preface of
the Mass for today we pray: "Father... to praise you without end in your
Archangels and Angels. For the honor we pay the angelic creatures in whom you
delight redounds to your own surpassing glory, and by their great dignity and
splendor you show how infinitely great you are, to be exalted above all things,
through Christ our Lord." AMEN!