Commentary
Friday, 9/29/2017, Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel & Raphael the Archangels
They Cannot Be Defeated
First Reading Commentary: Revelations 12:7-12ab
We are in a struggle. No, we are in a fight. No, we are at war! The enemy is the dragon John sees in his vision in the Book Revelations. The dragon is Satan whose name in Hebrew means: the accuser and we are at war with him.
Satan has been accusing us of wrongdoing since the beginning. He has been known to accuse us of a sin before the sin is committed. This; Satan did to Job twice. The first time, Satan said to God, “But now put forth your hand and touch anything that he has, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face.” Job 1:11
The second time, Satan said to God, “Skin for Skin! All that a man has will he give for his life. But now put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and surely he will blaspheme you to your face.” Job 2:4-5 But Job did not blaspheme God in spite of what the devil had to say.
There are three points that I want to make about this. First: We all have a free will. With that free will, which is given to us by God, we have the right to choose. God did not interfere with Job’s right to choose. In fact, God put Job into a situation where he had to make a choice.
Circumstances may be very different but each of us is in the very same situation as Job. Each and every day of our lives, we are tested and tempted by the devil who can’t wait to accuse us of sinful acts and each and every day we must choose right or wrong. Sometimes we choose correctly but sometimes, we sin.
That brings me to my second point which is that God, in spite of our weaknesses, has faith in us. God knows what He created and God created us in His image and likeness which means that there is the goodness of God in all of us. Our sinful ways hide it but no matter how sinful we are, there is good in each of us and God knows that sometimes, we will choose good over sin.
God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our strengths and He knows our weaknesses. He knows when we will win over evil and He knows when we will lose. God also knows that even though the devil will be out to condemn us, that we are usually sorry for our sins even though they may be repeat sins. Because God loves us and wants to save us, He sent His Son who not only gave His life but also gave us the Sacrament of Confession.
Both times that Satan spoke to God accusing Job, God said, “…there is no one on earth like him, faultless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil.” God has faith in those who would rather be with Him in His Kingdom because He knows that they will do their best to choose good over evil and repent with remorse when they choose sin.
God does not owe us anything but God gave us everything including faith. I could write a book about why we should have faith in God but one reason is because God has faith in us.
My third point is related to my first—we have the right to choose. We can choose the easy way out of our temptations which usually results in sin. That is something which, all too often, we all do. Or, we can turn our backs to sin and choose good over evil which, is usually a more difficult thing to do.
Enter our Guardian Angels who have as their leaders the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael who we celebrate today. They defeated Satan before we were even created. Satan has no power over them and cannot ever triumph over them.
In Revelations, the dragon who is Satan and his angels are thrown out of heaven by Michael, which in Hebrew means: who can compare with God, and his angels. Satan’s angels are the demons who attack us every day and in every way that they possibly can.
Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and all of the other angels of God are there to protect us and guard us in every way that they can. As we celebrate the Archangels today, let us remember that they can only fail to protect us if we choose evil.
Notice that I did not say that they can lose. God’s angels never lose but they can only succeed in protecting us if we choose good. When the angels succeed, we win! This is also true of our Guardian Angels who we celebrate on October 2nd.
By embracing the protection of the angels which leads to their success and our victory, the loud voice that John hears in Revelations 12:10-12ab is heard loud and clear: “Now have salvation and power come…For the accuser of our brothers is cast out...They conquered him by the Blood of the Lamb…rejoice, you heavens, and you who dwell in them.”
Open Up to God’s Protection
Gospel Commentary: John 1:47-51
According to John’s gospel, Nathanael is the fifth disciple of the original twelve and right away, Jesus promises him the Kingdom. Such was the faith of Nathanael but even he had to see Jesus before he would let go of his prejudice and believe Philip.
All of the Apostles are saints for us to pray to for intercession but I think that Nathanael, who was called Bartholomew, is a special saint to call on when we are challenged with fear from ignorance (prejudice). Because of the lesson learned when Bartholomew met Jesus, he is one of the saints who, is a perfect example of how much we can be rewarded by what we learn if we keep our minds open and are willing to listen. He is a perfect example of how quickly and easily we can be rewarded with God’s peace and love and eternal life with God in the Kingdom if we keep our hearts open to Him.
In contrast, Satan prejudges, accuses and condemns us even before we sin. But God never prejudges us. Instead, God gives us the right to choose. God never wrongly accuses us. Instead, God gives us the right and the means to repent. God never wants to condemn us. Instead, God sent the Son to nail our sins to the cross.
So, what do the events that transpire in this gospel have to do with our celebrating the Archangels today? The Archangels lead all of God’s angels into battle to protect us from the evil of Satin. When we keep our minds and hearts open to God as Nathanael did, we can overcome our prejudices and we are able to embrace the protection of God’s angels and reap the reward of God’s peace.
