FEAST OF THE ARCHANGELS: MICHAEL, GABRIEL AND RAPHAEL

The Following is a homily Delivered by my Deacon Friend (Christopher) today. I publish it here on my blog with his permission....

Today, we are celebrating the Feast of the three Archangels who are mentioned by name in Scripture: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. It is quite interesting to know that all three names of the Archangels end with the word “El”, which means “God” in Hebrew. God is inscribed in their names, in their nature. They are His messengers.  They bring God to mankind, they reveal the heavens. There is an intrinsic bond between a priest’s ministry and the mission of angels.

First of all there is Michael. We find him in the Book of Daniel, in the Letter of St Jude and in the Book of Revelation. Two of this Archangel’s roles become obvious in these texts. He defends the cause of God’s oneness against the presumption of the dragon, the serpent. It is the serpent’s continuous attempt to make men believe that God must disappear from the scenario in order to obtain greatness and so we must get rid of Him. So it is the duty of the priest, as a man of God, to make room in the world for God, to counter the denials of him and to defend man’s greatness. Michael’s other role is that of protector of the People of God (cf. Dn 10: 21; 12: 1). Dear friends, we must be the true “guardian angels” of the Church which will be entrusted to us. We have to help the People of God to accept good and reject evil.

Secondly, we have the Archangel Gabriel. We meet him especially in the precious account of the annunciation to Mary (Lk1: 26-38). He is the messenger of the incarnation of God.  He knocks at Mary’s door. The Lord knocks again and again at the door of the human heart. In the Book of Revelation he says to the angel of the Church of Laodicea: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (3: 20). It is our task to knock at people’s hearts in Christ’s name.

Thirdly, there is Raphael. He is presented to us as the Angel to whom is entrusted the task of healing in the Book of Tobit. Raphael heals the relationship between Tobias and Sarah, marked by the curse of death; he heals the wounded union between man and woman. He heals their love. Every priest is entrusted with the duty of guiding men towards the reconciling power of Christ’s love. He must be the “healing angel” who helps them to anchor their love to the sacrament. Secondly, the Book of Tobit continues to speak of the healing of blind eyes. We all know that today we are threatened with blindness to God by various ways. Healing this blindness is entrusted to the priest. One way of healing is through the Sacrament of Reconciliation which in the deepest sense of the word is a sacrament of healing.

So my dear friends,

Let’s remember that just as angels, the priests must lead humanity to God; must knock on the door of their hearts to announce Christ; must heal the wounds of relations between man and woman and save them from sin with reconciliation and forgiveness. Let’s today ask the archangels to pray for us that we might fight bravely the influence of evil, be strengthened by his grace in living out his plan for us, and that we may be healed of our wounded hearts, minds and bodies. Amen.