St. Michael, St. Gabriel, & St. Raphael, archangels
Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels. The following is from americancatholic.org’s “saint of the day”:
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 fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honoring Michael and the angels in the fifth century.
Gabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel's visions, announcing Michael's role in God's plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah.
Raphael's activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit's son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah's marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit's blindness and the restoration of the family fortune.
The memorials of Gabriel (March 24) and Raphael (October 24) were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their feasts to Michael's.
Comment:
Each of these archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God's protection, communication and guidance in ways which defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly.
Quote:
"The question of how many angels could dance on the point of a pin no longer is absurd in molecular physics, with its discovery of how broad that point actually is, and what part invisible electronic 'messengers' play in the dance of life" (Lewis Mumford).
posted by Fr Greg @ 9:04 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Well for the purists among us, it will always be Michaelmas.
:)
The Angelic World is a place inhabited by living creatures-- but more than that, it constitutes the very relationship between the world and God."
--Peter Lamborn Wilson
Several weeks my daughter's soccer team has gone into overtime with the win decided by the outcome of a shoot-out. Yesterday was the 3rd game in which this happened. The first time, the 5 girls kicking in the shoot-out went onto the field and kneeled in a circle. No parent or coach was with them, and one of the parents asked, "Are they praying or something?" The same happened in the next shoot-out with five girls (some the same, others new). Yesterday- once again- the girls were on their knees in the middle of the soccer field, and when they came off the field a parent asked what they were doing. One of the girls answered, "We were saying the Hail Mary, what did you think we were doing?" Like- dah!
The referee made a point of telling the parents that he thought it was a nice thing to see, especially in CYO. I thought so too.
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