Homily for Thursday, 2 October 2014– Memorial of the Guardian Angels

Thursday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Job 19:21-27; Psalm 27:7-8a, 8b-9abc, 13-14; Matthew 18:1-5, 10

This second feast of angels in just a few days, that of the Guardian Angels, may again raise in us these kinds of questions: Who are angels? What is the purpose of angels? Are angels real or are they mythical creatures to which some people hold an outdated or childish belief (have any of us been asked this question)? And why do we have two celebrations of angels in the Church just days apart, first the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, and then today the Guardian Angels?

The word “angel” means messenger, and so the angels are God’s messengers. We might find Jesus’ reference to angels in our Gospel reading today to be interesting. Jesus responds to his own disciples’ question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” by placing a child from the crowd among them. The most humble; those who trust God as a child trusts her or his parents are “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus says. But then Jesus leaves his disciples with this saying: children’s “angels in heaven always look on the face of my heavenly Father.”

Are not the angels in this way like two-way messengers for those who trust in God as a child does its parents and all those who care for her or him; for the humble? On the one hand, guardian angels act as messengers from us to God; as intercessors for us to God. On the other hand, these angels reflect God’s glory to us who trust in God. We will pray to God at the beginning of our Eucharistic Prayer today: “For the honor we pay the angelic creatures… redounds to your own surpassing glory, and by their great dignity and splendor you show how infinitely great you are.”

And so these guardian angels; these two-way messengers both show our dignity as God’s creatures before God and reflect to us God’s greatness. Our belief in angels, then, is not some outdated belief. And not only are there the big-name Archangels like Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael for the bigger jobs, but each of us has a guardian angel for the smaller everyday task of bringing our humble prayers to God and showing us God’s greatness and care for us. Jesus asks us to trust in God’s greatness and care for each of us in the way children do; children whose “angels in heaven always look on the face of [our] heavenly Father.” 

Homily for Monday, 29 September 2014– Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael

Monday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: Revelation 12:7-12ab; Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 4-5; John 1:47-51

Who are angels? What is their purpose? Today we celebrate the feast of three of the most important angels, or archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. But are not angels somewhat mysterious creatures to us? None of us has ever seen an angel; they are spiritual beings.

We might be familiar with the prayer to St. Michael, based loosely on our first reading today from the Book of Revelation:

St. Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle.

Be our defense against the wickedness

and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him,

we humbly pray, and do thou,

O Prince of the heavenly hosts,

by the power of God,

thrust into hell Satan,

and all the evil spirits,

who prowl about the world

seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

The Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are rarely mentioned in Scripture. Michael is named five times: three times in Daniel, once in Revelation, and once in the Letter of Jude. Gabriel is named four times, twice each in Daniel and the Gospel of Luke. Raphael is named a whopping twenty-eight times, all in the Book of Tobit!

But what is the purpose of angels, and specifically of these three Archangels? By the well-known prayer to St. Michael and his mention in books of the Bible written in times of crisis (these “apocalyptic” books project struggles against occupying powers, Babylon in Daniel; Rome in Revelation, on a cosmic scale: heaven versus hell; God versus Satan), we can associate Michael with defense in times of crisis and battle. Is anyone here named Michael here? If your name is Michael, you may be interested to know that your name is a rhetorical question in Hebrew: “Who is like God”? Of course we know the answer to this question, or do we? No one is like God except God, we could answer. But then all of us are created in God’s image and likeness. All of us in this sense are like God. And yet Jesus Christ alone is at once fully human and fully God. “Who is like God?” Michael stands in place of God, in our defense against Satan or any force that could degrade our God-given dignity; our being in God’s image and likeness.

Gabriel is associated both with crises and battles, like Michael, and with the Incarnation, Jesus becoming human in Mary’s womb. Gabriel means “God is my strength.” How does St. Gabriel give us God’s strength; the strength to say “yes” to God as Mary did to bring our Savior into the world?

Raphael heals the cataracts from Tobit’s eyes in the Book of Tobit. His name means “God has healed.” St. Raphael shows us the healing power of God.

The word “angel” itself means “messenger of God.” A messenger is important, but never more important than the message. For us, God is the message, pointed to by the angels. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, like us in all but sin, is God’s message in human flesh, pointed to by St. Gabriel. We celebrate Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, along with all the angels, as God’s messengers. In special ways they show us God’s strength, God’s healing, and who is like God.