this week's feasts
The Archangels—Michael, Gabriel and Raphael
Today, Sept. 29, is the Feast of the Archangels—Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Because this year the feast falls on Sunday, it is not celebrated as a separate feast day.
These three archangels are mentioned by name in Scripture.
The name Michael means “Who is Like God”? It is a challenge to anyone who would make themselves like God, such as Lucifer, with whom he did battle in heaven, forcing Lucifer and the angels who followed him out of heaven. They then became the demons and devils. We turn to Michael in times of spiritual warfare, asking for his protection and assistance.
In the Book of Tobit, we meet Raphael. He provides a healing ointment to Tobiah, the son of Tobit, to take to his father, which healed his blindness. As such, Raphael is always associated with the healing power of God, and we pray to him in times of sickness and injury.
Gabriel, of course, is the archangel who came to Mary in Nazareth and proclaimed to her that she was to be the mother of the Son of God, who would be the Savior of the World. In Mark’s Gospel, Joseph receives a message from an angel, telling him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, and warning him to flee to Egypt because Herod is out to kill the boy. The angel tells him later that he could return home to Nazareth. Scripture does not tell us the name of the angel who appears in the dream, but my guess is that it is Gabriel, fulfilling his mission.
Let us call upon St. Michael, our defender in battle, upon St. Raphael, who brings the healing power of God, and St. Gabriel, the messenger of God.
These three archangels are mentioned by name in Scripture.
The name Michael means “Who is Like God”? It is a challenge to anyone who would make themselves like God, such as Lucifer, with whom he did battle in heaven, forcing Lucifer and the angels who followed him out of heaven. They then became the demons and devils. We turn to Michael in times of spiritual warfare, asking for his protection and assistance.
In the Book of Tobit, we meet Raphael. He provides a healing ointment to Tobiah, the son of Tobit, to take to his father, which healed his blindness. As such, Raphael is always associated with the healing power of God, and we pray to him in times of sickness and injury.
Gabriel, of course, is the archangel who came to Mary in Nazareth and proclaimed to her that she was to be the mother of the Son of God, who would be the Savior of the World. In Mark’s Gospel, Joseph receives a message from an angel, telling him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, and warning him to flee to Egypt because Herod is out to kill the boy. The angel tells him later that he could return home to Nazareth. Scripture does not tell us the name of the angel who appears in the dream, but my guess is that it is Gabriel, fulfilling his mission.
Let us call upon St. Michael, our defender in battle, upon St. Raphael, who brings the healing power of God, and St. Gabriel, the messenger of God.
St. Michael, defend us in battle....
The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary—Gabriel visits the Blessed Mother.
Raphael is often depicted as a healer. Here he gives Tobiah an ointment to cure his blindness.
St. Jerome—Priest and Doctor of the Church
On Monday, Sept. 30, the Church honors St. Jerome, who is one of the Doctors of the Church. He is the great biblical scholar, and he is the patron saint of all biblical scholars and biblical scholarship. I actually talked in a recent homily about St. Jerome and the skull he kept on his desk, as his Memento Mori.
St. Terese of the Child Jesus—Virgin and Doctor of the Church
St. Terese of the Child Jesus, also known as the Little Flower, or St. Terese of Lisieux. She died in 1897 at the age of 24. Terese and her four sisters all became religious sisters. She was a Carmelite, who was recognized very early as a person of deep spirituality and prayer. Her superior, who was one of her sisters, asked her to write a spiritual autobiography, in which she told the story of how God worked in her life and the spiritual lessons that she was learning, that she called her Little Way. This was published after her death as The Story of a Soul and became a great best seller. She is one of the most important of the saints of the last 150 years.
Sept. 30 was the day that she died, but because that was already the feast of St. Jerome, the Church assigned Oct. 1 as her feast.
Sept. 30 was the day that she died, but because that was already the feast of St. Jerome, the Church assigned Oct. 1 as her feast.
The Holy Guardian Angels
On Sunday we celebrated the three archangels. On Wednesday, Oct. 2, we honor the Holy Guardian Angels. I fear that many of us adults do not take the idea of Guardian Angels very seriously. It is something that we teach children, but I wonder how many of us adults really believe that God has entrusted our lives and our souls to one of His angels. That is the teaching of the Church, and I encourage us all to develop a deeper connection to our Guardian Angels.
St. Francis of Assisi
Friday, Oct. 4, is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. Perhaps the most popular saint, after the Blessed Mother, Francis is a perennially challenging and engaging saint. Too often he is reduced to a sentimental figure, a bird bath saint, who is cute and entertaining. Looked at in a serious way, Francis is one of the most challenging of all saints. His love of Lady Poverty is a rejection of the materialism of this world. He is often portrayed embracing Christ on the Cross, because it is the Cross that is his guide in all that he does. He seeks to identify completely with Christ Crucified. Because of this, he is the first recorded stigmatist in history.
St. Faustina Kowalska
Saturday, Oct. 5, is the feast of St. Faustina Kowalska, the Polish nun who received the many visitations of Christ in the form of Divine Mercy. He spiritual journal is the story of her encounters with Christ, and the instructions that He gave for the image of Divine Mercy, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and Novena, and the Feast of Divine Mercy on the Second Sunday of Easter.