Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels<\/a>
\nRevelation 12:7-12a
\nPsalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 4-5
\nJohn 1:47-51
\nSeptember 29, 2016<\/p>\nWe gather here today for our parish feast, the Feast of St. Michael.\u00a0 We should recognize that it is actually the Feast of the Archangels and so it includes Gabriel and Raphael along with Michael.<\/p>\n
Angels are mentioned nearly three hundred times in the Bible.\u00a0 We might wonder how many angels there are.\u00a0 Well, Matthew 18:10 speaks of how we all have a Guardian Angel and there are a little over 7 billion people in the world today.\u00a0 So that would mean there are at least 7 billion angels actively working as Guardian angels.<\/p>\n
7 billion angels\u2026. It isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
Out of all the angels in Heaven, the Bible only tells us the names of three, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.\u00a0 Tonight, of course, we will focus on Michael.<\/p>\n
St. Michael is probably most known for the scene described in our reading from Revelation (12:7-12a) where Michael leads the battle against the dragon.\u00a0 The dragon is the image of Satan.\u00a0 Satan was once an angel himself but, along with other angels, he rebelled against God.\u00a0 He was defeated and cast out of Heaven along with those who fought on his side.<\/p>\n
It might be hard to imagine angels rebelling against God.\u00a0 They have seen God face to face.\u00a0 How could they turn from God?\u00a0 We must remember that just like us, angels are individual beings with free will.<\/p>\n
For his role as the leader in the defeat of Satan, Michael is seen as our protector and thus is the patron saint of police officers as well as soldiers.<\/p>\n
Michael is also a patron saints for doctors and in sickness.\u00a0 This is because there is also a history of Michael as an intercessor for healing.\u00a0 Our most common image today for Michael is what is seen in our new statue, Michael crushing the serpent as depicting in Revelation.\u00a0 If you check your church art history you can also find Michael portrayed holding scales symbolizing justice and as a healer.<\/p>\n
As I mention images of St. Michael I should mention the idea of idolatry.\u00a0 There are Protestants who think that Catholics worship the images we have of the saints.\u00a0 That would not be true.<\/p>\n
We do not worship the images.\u00a0 In fact we do not worship<\/em> the saints in any way.\u00a0 The images, whether they are statues, paintings, or prayer cards, simply serve to remind us of the saints in the same way one might keep pictures of your loved one.<\/p>\nAs to worship<\/em>, we do not worship<\/em> the saints.\u00a0 We venerate <\/em>the saints.\u00a0 To venerate is to show honor and respect.\u00a0 We honor the saints because they are with God.\u00a0 We ask for their intercession as they stand before God.\u00a0 They do not do the miracles.\u00a0 God does.<\/p>\nThe saints intercede with their prayers before God.\u00a0 In our Creed, we refer to the \u201cCommunion of Saints.\u201d\u00a0 We think of saints as those in Heaven but we are part of the Communion of Saints.\u00a0 The Communion of Saints exists in three parts.\u00a0 First are those already in Heaven.\u00a0 The second are those in Purgatory undergoing final purification before entering Heaven.\u00a0 The third is us, the church alive on Earth.\u00a0 We ask for the intercession of the saints already in Heaven and in turn we pray for those in Purgatory.<\/p>\n
But what do saints have to do with Michael?\u00a0 He is an archangel.\u00a0 Why do we call him Saint <\/em><\/strong>Michael?<\/p>\nToday, when we think of \u201csaints,\u201d we think of those humans who have died and have been raised up to Heaven.\u00a0 At its most basic level, the word \u201csaint\u201d means \u201choly\u201d and saints are those with the most Holy (God) in Heaven.\u00a0 Thus angels are saints.<\/p>\n
With this in mind, we call Michael Saint Michael.\u00a0 For us in this parish, he is our patron saint.\u00a0 This means we especially ask his intercession to watch over us as a parish as we seek to do God\u2019s Will.<\/p>\n
We are not just a bunch of individuals who come to the same building to worship God.\u00a0 We are called to work together<\/em> to help each other be \u201cRaised in Christ.\u201d\u00a0 We need to support each other as we try to live in this world today.\u00a0 We come together<\/em> to celebrate Mass tonight.\u00a0 It is good that we worship together<\/em>.\u00a0 Tonight we will not leave right after Mass.\u00a0 We will go downstairs to share a meal together<\/em>.\u00a0 We will talk with one another, maybe with a friend, maybe with someone new<\/em>.\u00a0 The point is to be support each other as we try to live out our Catholic faith.\u00a0 That means faith should be part of the conversation.<\/p>\nWe need to strengthen one another.\u00a0 It is not easy to be a Catholic today. Some people want to hear nothing about any faith.\u00a0 Atheists deny the existence of God while agnostics doubt God\u2019s existence but do not deny it.<\/p>\n
Because people deny God\u2019s existence, they do not accept the teachings of Christ as good ways to live.\u00a0 Some of them still do good things but others, with nothing as a moral compass to guide them, fall prey to temptation and give into the temptations of the Evil One.<\/p>\n
Our reading from Revelation today depicted the defeat of Satan in Heaven.\u00a0 Evil was cast out of Heaven that day but evil still exists today.\u00a0 We see it in the shootings.\u00a0 We see it in the terrorism.\u00a0 We see in the taking of innocent lives.<\/p>\n
I said before 7 billion angels is not enough.\u00a0 We are still doing battle against temptation and so we need the angels\u2019, especially St. Michael\u2019s, assistance to defend us in battle.\u00a0 In just a moment we will offer our Prayers of Faithful.\u00a0 Today we will end our prayers by saying together the prayer of St. Michael that is on the cards that were on the tables as you came in to ask for St. Michael\u2019s intercession to defend us against temptation and evil.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
St. Michael the Archangel,
\ndefend us in battle.
\nBe our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
\nMay God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
\nand do thou,
\nO Prince of the heavenly hosts,
\nby the power of God,
\nthrust into hell Satan,
\nand all the evil spirits,
\nwho prowl about the world
\nseeking the ruin of souls. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This evening we celebrated a special Mass followed by a dish to pass supper to celebrate our parish feast day. \u00a0We were blessed to have about 100 people join us. Thank you to all who helped, especially the Altar & Rosary Society that coordinated the dinner. \u00a0Thank you to all who brought food. \u00a0It was …<\/p>\n
Continue reading ‘Feast of St. Michael – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,55],"tags":[193,194],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-uT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1915"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1917,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1915\/revisions\/1917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}