PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD
"Blessed be the Lord, my Rock! My shield, in Whom I
trust" (Ps 144:1b-2).
We read in today's
Letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians: "Draw your strength from the Lord and
from His mighty power" (Eph 6:10). Good and evil abound in the Old and New
Testaments. On September 29, we honored Saint Michael and the Archangels. St.
Michael is often portrayed as leading the forces of God's heavenly Kingdom. The
Church teaches that he is also a model of a spiritual warrior who battles evil
within.
St. Michael the Archangel also accompanies souls at the time of death.
What a protector! In all of these roles, he is the guardian of the Catholic
Church. In 1886, Pope Leo XIII introduced the Prayer to Saint Michael, which
invokes his intercession: "Saint Michael, Archangel,
defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the
devil." May we be grateful for all the angels, celestial or otherwise, on
our journey!
In our response today
we pray: "Blessed be the Lord, my Rock! My shield, in Whom I trust"
(Ps 144:1b-2). We move and will pass, doing our best at each moment, but
without the impossible seriousness of being the redeemer of all evils and the
savior of humankind. We are not that. We are a puff of wind and a passing
shadow. That is the happiest definition of our humble life. Thank you for it,
God.