SEPTEMBER 29, 2011: SAINT
MICHAEL, GABRIEL, AND RAPHAEL: JOHN 1:47-51
REPLETE WITH MYSTERY, the
world we live in displays fresh manifestations of its wondrous aspect as it
yields to the explorations of philosophers, the insights of poets, novelists
and painters, and, strikingly in recent times, the findings of the various
natural sciences. Repeatedly fashion changes as various expressions and
discoveries give rise to new ways of understanding our world; the cosmos,
society, and human nature itself exert influence on our ways of acting and even
of perceptions. Styles of dress are but a more obvious illustration of the
influence of changing fashion on people’s habits and taste; more subtle are the
changes in the concepts we form about the nature of our world, and the meaning
of life with its values and limits.
Today’s feast in which we celebrate the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and
Raphael stimulate such reflections as we ask our self what significance does
this commemoration have for each of us here at this liturgy. What role do
angels have, in God’s Providential guidance of each of us persons as well as
the operations of whole nations and the workings of the immense array of
galaxies that we now know are subject to the same physical laws as our planet,
the earth? For many persons living and educated in our Western secular society,
the very existence of angels seems old-fashioned and more a feature of the
primitive mentality and world view that has no place in our technological
society. But then our times have seen multiplied the number of persons who have
no belief in the reality of God, the immortality of the soul, the existence of
the human spirit as a reality that constitute the human being. That so large a
portion of our western society has become insensitive to the invisible world
where, as revelation tells us, God is all in all, makes today’s feast in honor
of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael all the more significant as a
living testimony to our continuing firm belief in the existence and active
roles of angels in the world, and, as the book of Revelation shows, in the
whole of the cosmos.
The numerous references to angels and their activities found in the Bible are a
feature of many books of the Bible, from Genesis to the Apocalypse. All four of
the Gospels refer to their interventions in a variety of roles. Our Lord
himself taught that each child has an angel who serves as a protector, and the
Church has maintained the conviction that this guardian spirit accompanies us
throughout life. It was not only in modern times that the existence of angels
came to be questioned. In 1215 the IV Lateran Council saw the need to define as
an article of Catholic faith the existence of angels. In recent times a number
of capable authors have written entire book to witness to the continuing
interventions of angels in diverse situations in the lives of persons of a
variety of background. Some of these accounts are quite dramatic. I encountered
some impressive instances of angelic interventions in the lives of two
priest-monks in our Order who underwent striking conversions upon experiencing
angelic action that profoundly altered their spiritual attitude. The one had
written a publication on angels hardly a popular modern theme. When I
asked him about his interest in the subject, he explained that he owed his life
to his angel and that his realization of the ongoing importance of angels for
us humans grew out of an experience he had when working on the construction of
his monastery. The building is quite high being more than three stories and was
nearing completion. He was laying brick on one of the walls, leaned over too
far, and lost his balance. As he began to fall to what probably would have been
his death, he suddenly felt a force exerted on each shoulder, from the front,
over empty space that pushed him back on the structure so that he regained his
balance. “I knew that it was my guardian angel who had saved me”, and he added
that, reflecting on that experience he resolved to try to make angels better
known and so wrote about them.
As the angel Raphael explained in the book of Tobias, he is one of seven who
stands in God’s presence. Since God is present everywhere, angels are
everywhere invisibly alert and active, behind the surface of our material
world. Cardinal Newman expressed in his Apologia his sensitive awareness of
their hidden and powerful actions in the workings of our world. He spoke of the
angels as being so intricately implicated in their mission to this world that
they were active even in the movement of the air, in the variations of light
and of the human heart. He conceived that all the beauty of this world was a
reflection of their presence behind the surface of things, and maintained that
they who see the face God add splendor to the things of earth. That such a view
of reality is more than poetical fancy is decidedly more plausible today when
some of the best minds in science maintain that hidden worlds actively exert
influence in the minute recesses of the subatomic matter of our cosmos.
As we celebrate this Eucharist today, then, may we join our heartfelt worship
of the Father to that of the angels as we honor with them our Lord, Christ
Jesus, who is the Angel of the Great Council, and who, as Paul tells us, is
constituted “above all principality, power and dominion, and every name that
can be named, not only in this world but also in the future.” (Eph 1:21) And
may he bring us safely into that Divine Presence where God is all in all. Amen.
Ω