Archangels

Today is the feast day of St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael in the Roman Catholic Church. They are known as the archangels, angels of the highest order.

Gabriel was the name of the angel who appeared to Mary and Zacharias. In the Old Testament, he helped Daniel to understand the future.

Raphael is mentioned only in the Book of Tobit, a book which is only in the Roman Catholic canon. His name references God’s healing power, and he heals Tobit of his blindness and exorcises the demon haunting his daughter-in-law.

Michael is the angel who fights against Satan and will eventually defeat him, according to the Book of Revelation.

The prayer to St. Michael, instituted by Pope Leo XIII in 1886, goes as follows:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do you, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

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Do I believe in angels? Yes. I take it on a leap of faith, as we take most everything we believe in on a daily basis in this world of ours. Every choice in an act of faith, and I choose to believe this. Why? Because I believe the Bible to be supernaturally inspired, and there are dozens of instances of angels interacting with men and women within Scripture.

It’s analogous to a belief in climate change, or evolution, or string theory, or Hawking Creationism-by-Gravitational-Fluctuation, except it has a 2,000 year history of faith and reason behind it. Those twenty centuries of thought also convince me of the Truth of Scripture.

But I don’t believe in cutesy-wootsy Hallmark channel chubby-baby-bunny angels. The angels I believe in fulfill the Will of God to the exclusion of everything else. They are terrifying to behold, reflecting a little bit more of the Holy Face of God than the holiest man ever did or will. St. Michael is indeed, in my imagination, a fearsome warrior with flaming sword who we are blessed to have on our side.