SERMON BY FATHER FRANCIS MAPLE - LINK HERE
ARCHANGELS MICHAEL, GABRIEL AND RAPHAEL
29 SEPTEMBER
DO WE ASK OUR POWERFUL FRIENDS FOR HELP?
What part do angels play in your spiritual life? It would be very sad if the answer is very little.
They have a function in Heaven as the servants of God and on Earth they are the friends of every man and woman. The opening Prayer of the Mass today briefly summarises their function: “May those who serve you constantly in Heaven keep our lives safe from all harm on Earth.”
Today we venerate three archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. We know of another archangel Lucifer, whose name means bearer of light, who sadly along with other angels rebelled against God. Lucifer we now know as Satan.
We should train ourselves to keep these three archangels constantly before our minds. Michael's name means 'who is like God'. He is the one who led the victorious battle and drove Satan and his retinue into Hell. Whenever we are tempted by Satan we can ask Michael to help us to win our own personal struggle against evil.
Since Gabriel's name means 'strength of God' we can ask Gabriel to help us in our weakness. Who of us is not weak? We can rejoice with Gabriel and thank him for being the one to announce to our Blessed Lady the tremendous news of the Incarnation when he revealed for the first time, to Mary and to us, the mystery of the Blessed Trinity.
Finally, the name Raphael means 'the healing of God.' Who of us does not need spiritual healing from the wounds of sins we have committed and physical healing from ailments like headaches, toothaches, tummy disorders, arthritic and rheumatic pains, skin irritation and the like? The list is endless! But we can take these ailments to Raphael and ask for healing.
Every morning we can bring these archangels into our lives by saying prayers like these to them.
'Michael, help me to be like Jesus and may Satan have no part in my life.'
'Gabriel, strengthen me in my weakness and keep me close to our Blessed Mother Mary.'
'Raphael, I place my health in your hands. Heal my life of past wounds.'
While I don’t pray to angels (I’m not Catholic), I do believe there is a guardian angel for each of us. I thank mine every time I almost stumble or fall but don’t, and I ask Jesus to send him to intervene and keep us safe every time I see someone driving badly on the roads.
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