Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels

Information about Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael[1]

Readings for the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael[2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible

Commentary:

Reading 1: Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

This reading from Daniel (of the genre of eschatological prophetic visions) describes the throne of God who sits in judgment. Approaching this throne comes “One like a son of man”, to us a clear reference to Jesus who took that title upon himself in fulfillment of scripture.

Or: Revelation 12:7-12ab

This selection from the Book of Revelations is of that same eschatological prophetic genre as the first option from Daniel. Here St. John envisions the battle for heaven, joined by the forces of God by St. Michael who is victorious.

The vision makes clear that those who were thought to be from God but who opposed the “anointed one”, Christ, were influenced by Satan and in the Devil’s defeat, by the blood of the Lamb, God’s victory is assured and the truth will prevail.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 4-5
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.

This song of praise gives thanksgiving for the visible support of God here attributed to angelic action. The hymn assigns this saving help to an all merciful God to whom all glory and honor are due.

Gospel: John 1:47-51

There is much more here than just Nathanael’s profession of faith. When Jesus see’s him approaching he announces “Here is a true Israelite.” (one who sees God). The statement and the dialogue that follows contrasts Nathanael’s innocent faith (without duplicity or deceit) with the historical guileful character of Jacob. All of this gives the profession “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”

Reflection:

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Archangels. Just so we are all on the same page we can listen to the words of Pope St. Gregory the Great who defines what that means:

“You should be aware that the word ‘angel’ denotes a function rather than a nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can only be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover, those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels.” (from a homily by Pope Saint Gregory the Great)

The three Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, are the only ones named in scripture and each has a distinct role as can be seen from the links provided above. The fact that these three Spirits have had a direct involvement with mankind is the reason we celebrate their feast today. We see in their intervention God’s fingers affecting the course of human events. Deep within each of us there is also the wish that, at some point in our lives, an angel would speak to us, directly, personally, with clarity. The angel would tell us what God wants from us or what he wants us to do.

It is interesting today that, on this the feast of the archangels, the church gives us the story of Jesus’ encounter with Nathanael rather than one of the encounters with the archangels. In this Gospel Jesus has identified the young man as someone without duplicity; that is, innocent of worldly demeanor that would portray him as something he was not. The way Nathanael speaks when he says “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” makes us wonder how one, not of the twelve, had such an instant and deep understanding of Jesus’ identity. Could it be that this was a messenger from God? None of the commentaries assume this is the case.

Still, we wonder, if this innocent young man, without prompting, identified Jesus and if he was an angel in human form. If that were true, it would mean that God may send his spirits, as Pope St. Gregory the Great has called them, to us and we might not recognize them as anything but people.

There is nothing theological in this reflection. It is just a hope that God might one day send an angel to us so that we might understand at last and clearly what he wants from us. Since we have speculated above that God may indeed send his angels to us in human guise, we must be constantly vigilant that one of our daily encounters may turn out to answer our prayer.

Certainly the more common intervention of the Holy Spirit can be seen, although usually in retrospect and not always clearly. The overriding principle here is we must always be open to that kind of guidance and be constantly vigilant, knowing that God intercedes in our lives and we must watch for it.

Pax

[1] The picture is “The Three Archangels” by Marco d’ Oggiomo, c. 1490
[2] After Links to Readings Expire