St Michael the Archangel: Who is he?

[Music] well good morning everyone I'm very grateful to have once again this opportunity to be with you in your schools this is our third of our four wednesday Lenten series and it's a really great opportunity to have the opportunity to speak with you and also to hear I hope as we continue this morning with any comments or questions that that that you might have I'm happy to say that here in the room where we are at the diocesan offices we have 18 I think at last count 18 seniors from Lebanon Catholic who are here with us and that always makes us a little more realistic to have the students here in the room with me and not just not just talking to a screen or although I can see your pictures but so welcome Lebanon Catholic it's good to have you here this morning and I hope you'll have some some questions as well so last week we talked about I guess the spiritual life and the fact that we are in a battle and the battle isn't just against our own freewill our own desires it's not just against things of this world but it truly is a spiritual battle against forces that are truly spiritual that are not flesh and blood and we we reflected a little bit on that and then we concluded last week with the prayer to st. Michael and I think everyone knows that I asked that all of our parishes begin to pray the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel at masses at whatever time they thought appropriate before mass after mass toward the end of mass but to include that to invoke this special and the powerful intercession of this great angelic defender in fact I have a little statue that was given to me last year as a gift of Saint Michael I'll refer to that a little bit later but I thought this morning what we might do is to reflect a little bit on the person of Saint Michael the Archangel and also that prayer that I've asked that be said throughout the diocese at masses it has a fascinating history and so does Michael so both from the biblical references to him as well as his place in the history of our church and in the prayers of our church so the this morning's presentation I'd like to look to the person of SiC Michael the Archangel you know I don't know if any of you did but he's a very popular conformation saint name I'd confirmation Monday night at st. Catherine Laboure and I think there were three three candidates who took the name Michael the Archangel and almost every time I celebrate confirmation which is a lot this time of the year there's at least one or multiple people who choose Michael the Archangel as their confirmation name maybe some of you - anybody in the room here remember back to your confirmation no no what no one here did well but it is his name is pretty popular so what I thought we would do would be to look to the references to st. Michael in the Bible in Sacred Scripture - just look a little bit at the whole idea of angels because it's something we might not consider very much you see them on cards and artwork and different places but sometimes they're reduced to look like little babies or something and they're very powerful spiritual beings so I'd like to reflect a little bit on the very nature of angels since Michael is one of the angels again to look at the history at least two instances of Michael in the history of our church and then his place in Catholic prayers and then finally the I think fascinating story of that prayer to st. Michael the Archangel to look at where that began it began with Pope Leo the 13th really at the end of the 19th century and it was prayed always at the end of mass until 1968 so we'll look at that prayer and it's origin so that's my plan for our time together this morning let's begin with a prayer and it's going to be a prayer to st. Michael but not the typical one there are many different prayers in the rich treasury of our Catholic prayers and a to st. Michael and this one is not the typical one but I'd like to use it to begin our time together this morning so let's pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen o glorious Prince st. Michael chief and commander of the heavenly hosts guardian of souls Vanquisher of rebel spirits servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor you who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil who turned to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day we ask this through Christ our Lord amen in the name of the Father to the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen Our Lady seed of wisdom pray for us well that particular prayer again I said it wasn't the one that we're all familiar with but it has certain catchphrases in it that maybe caught your attention and I hope that they'll become clearer why we use that word Prince you generally think of an archangel as a prince but we'll see where that comes from Vanquisher of rebel spirits the the military theme of st. Michael battling against the fallen angels guardian of souls we're going to see one of his understood roles is to take the soul that when we leave this world and present us to God for the particular judgment and we ask him to defend us from all evil not just to deliver us from evil the kind of an echo of what we ask God in the what Jesus taught us to pray at the end of the the Lord's Prayer and Michael has a role to play defending us from evil in the world so let's begin and as I said we'll begin with a little look at st. Michael in Sacred Scripture even that prayer and if you've seen other images and I just refer to my statue here that was given to me Michael is is usually depicted as what you might call a night warrior a soldier wearing battle armor here he's carrying a sword in his right hand and he's got a military shield in his left hand he has a breastplate on as I you might find a Roman soldier wearing so so he's depicted in in this ready for battle kind of uniform and again just the very artistic portrayal of st. Michael tells us something about his role in Salvation history just to take a look at the word Michael itself in Hebrew that word Michael means who is like God who is like God when you're reading the Bible and you find a name that ends in Al like Michael it usually has something to do with God some some some statement about God so Samuel Joelle Ezekiel Rafe al Gabriel all of those names have contained in them that al which is the Hebrew word for Elohim which is the polite word or the right way to say God they never spoke the divine name Yahweh but L at the end of the name designates that that name has something to do with God so Michael Michael is who is like got me in Hebrew is who who is like God and probably because he is the one who Satan or Lucifer thought he could be equal to God and battles and loses so Michael is saying no one is like God God is unique God is supreme and so he defeats the Fallen Angels who wanted to be like God that was also the the temptation to our first parents right in the book of Genesis in the garden Oh God doesn't want you to eat that forbidden fruit because if you do you'll be like him and and so the temptation perhaps was similar to the Angels we don't know but but the angels had some kind of a test and those angels who fell prey to the test became the fallen angels or demons devils and the chief of them Lucifer we know pretty much as Satan so the name Michael itself means who is like God and we find them several places I just want to point out a couple places in the Bible where we find the angel Michael referred to and in the Old Testament the principal place is the Book of Daniel in the Book of Daniel that book is set during the time of the Persian Empire when Persia was the world power and they had defeat the Israelites were in exile and Daniel is seen as one of those faithful Jewish righteous men who's in exile in in Persia and there's this in chapter 10 of the Book of Daniel there are two references to Michael let me just read them but you hear where why we address Michael as a prince in that opening prayer is exactly the way he's addressed or spoken of in Daniel chapter 10 it says this it starts out not with Michael but the prince of the kingdom of Persia see they believe that every country had its own angel its own tutelary or protecting angel that took care of that nation so kind of like a person has a guardian angel it was understood that nations had an angel to oversee or to protect the whole people the whole nation so Daniel chapter 10 verse 13 says the Prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days but Michael one of the chief Prince's so higher than the Prince of Persia the Angel of Persia came to help me so I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia and came to make you understand what is to befall your people in the latter days for the vision is four days yet to come Michael is often associated with the the end of the world the final battle right the the ultimate battle before that the the movie turned for us of the Messiah so in chapter 10 verse 13 and 14 there's that reference to the prince the chief of the princes who is Michael and then at verse 20 it said and then he said this is Daniel speaking do you know why I have come to you but I'm sorry if they're speaking to Daniel do you know why I come to you but now I will return to fight against the Prince of Persia and when I am through with him lo the Prince of Greece will come that's the next nation to become the world power after that the Greeks after the Persians but I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael your prince so what's being said there in the book of Daniel is that Michael is the guardian angel of the people of Israel while they're in exile he's your prince and that's why we address Michael in that opening prayer as oh glorious Prince st. Michael because of what's referred to in the Book of Daniel in the book of Jude the letter to Jude rather the letter of Jude Michael is referred to again and it's there that the title Archangel is used I'm just going to read the opening but when the Archangel Michael so the letter of Saint Jude in the New Testament refers to Michael with that term Archangel he's referred to again in the first letter to the Thessalonians chapter 4 I won't mention that but the real dramatic mention of st. Michael in the New Testament is the final book of the New Testament the book of Revelation and there in Chapter 12 is this whole idea of Michael defending us in the battle so let me read this it's Revelation chapter 12 verse 7 now a war arose in heaven Michael and his angels fighting against the Dragon and the dragon is an image in Revelation for Satan right so fighting against Satan the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven and the Great Dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan the deceiver of the whole world was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him and I heard a loud voice in heaven saying now the salvation and power of the King and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before God and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony for they loved not their lives even unto death rejoice then Oh heaven you that dwell therein but woe to you on earth and sea for the devil has come down to you in great wrath because he knows that his time is short so Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon and won the victory in heaven but the sad news on that one for us is that the dragon and his angels were sent to earth and they're here among us to do battle with us that's what we we read in the in the book of Revelation so those are the citations and the most dramatic one being that citation from the 12th chapter of Revelation the apocalypse of Saint John in the period between the Old Testament and the New Testaments called the intertestamental period there was a great fascination with angels and Michael appears in a lot of writings in that time that were not included in the Old Testament they were seen not to be really true biblical books but nevertheless there was a fascination there's a lot of references to Michael the prints in in those writings that didn't make it into the scriptures so let's take a look at the second part of this morning at the very nature of angels there's a whole branch of theology called angelology and it's it's not a common word but it's self self explanatory I think that's the the theology or the study of angels so so who are these well first of all let me say that if you look in the Catechism there's a whole section the Catechism of the Catholic Church beginning at 328 number 328 going to 336 you can check it out and see exactly what the church says and teaches about these purely spiritual beings the Angels 328 to 336 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church do you know every time we pray the Creed at Sunday Mass or at other times when we pray the Creed we say I believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth of all things visible and invisible I don't know if you've thought about that those words easily come off of our lips because we memorize them but we're saying that God is the creator of a world that is invisible and the angels who are pure spirits non bodily noncorporeal those angels are part of that invisible world that we profess faith in every time we say the Creed God is the maker of those things that are visible and invisible so first of all angels are created they're not eternal they didn't always exist but like us God created the angels and they are purely spiritual personal beings they're not just forces out there like wind and and the elements of nature but they're personal beings created by God they do not have bodies there's nothing corporeal they're purely spiritual and they are immortal like our souls like us they didn't always exist but once they come into existence once God created them they'll never go out of existence like us we didn't always exist you you were born at a particular place in time but you will never go extinct and will die in this world but our lives will continue for eternity and we'll move into a timelessness that we call eternity and we have some options of how we're going to spend eternity either an eternal happiness or away from God and eternal unhappiness or pain and suffering that we call hell so the angels were I'm not eternal they were created but they are immortal they don't go out of existence the Angels like us have an intellect and a will all right they have a mind and they have the power of choice but what sets us apart from them is that because they're not material beings their intelligence is superior to ours and their wills once they make a decision are irreversible so people would say well if Satan made a mistake and he chose against God why doesn't he just repent why doesn't he just go to God and say I'm sorry I made a mistake forgive me he can't once angels set their will on something they can't change their will see we only know things partially because we're bodily and so our intellect is somewhat hampered by our bodily nature and we can change our mind you do that all the time right they say oh I think I'll have scrambled eggs for breakfast and then a minute ladies now I think I'll have cereal or I'll have a piece of fruit so we change our minds because we only know things very partially but the Angels who aren't limited by a physical body have a more keen or superior intellect than will and once they decide it's an irreversible decision so Satan can't go back to God and say oh I made a mistake I'm sorry please forgive me he can't change that decision he's locked in it for all eternity all the Fallen Angels the only thing they can do is tempt us to join them in that decision they know that we have freewill to and if we join them in that rebellion against God then they will win us to be with them for eternity because they can't change the mistake they've made so they want to trip us up to make the same mistake fortunately when we make our mistakes when we sin we can change our minds change our decisions and come back to God it's something the Angelics period angelic beings are not able to do now that word angel that we use comes from the Greek word it's Angelus and it means a messenger it was a common word in ancient Greece for someone who carried a message from one person to another or you know someone who took someone's word and carried it to other people maybe from the king or just daily life you didn't have a Facebook or tweeting or email so you had a messenger and the messenger was called that anger loss so spiritual beings is who they are by nature and angel is described describes what they do right their messengers and those are the ones mainly that we meet in in the in the scriptures are the messengers of God who carry like Gabriel we just had on Monday the beautiful Feast of the Annunciation so what was that about well Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Nazareth to the Blessed Mother to announce to her to carry a message that God had chosen her to be the mother of his son so Gabriel is a messenger and that's the the very nature I mean I'm sorry it's it's the it's the purpose of angels to carry messages to us here on earth from God so their nature is a spirit they're what they do is they're angels they're messengers and that one other thing that over the development of our Catholic theology and looking at Scripture there are different mentions of different types of angels and we talk about the nine choirs of angels their categories nine different categories of angels that are probably all of them are mentioned somewhere in the New Testament that's an interesting word choir why do we come choir because basically most of the Angels are in heaven singing the praises of God right there there are eternally speaking and singing God's glory God's honor God's praises in fact if you listen carefully to the preface of the mass right before we begin the great Eucharistic prayer the priest prays this preface and start the Lord be with you lift up your hearts let us give thanks to the Lord our God it always ends with words like these that we join our voices to the heavenly voices of the angels in heaven as they sing your praise and so we acclaim holy holy holy what the vision of Isaiah saw the angels saying before the throne of God so that's probably why they're called choirs because the angels are there before God's throne giving him praise and glory and an honor so so that the types of angels are the choirs are the the Seraphim and and that means the fiery ones in Hebrew and they are seen to be the closest to the throne of God they're so close to God's glory that they're on fire that they're there the burning ones the Seraphim we got the cherubim as the the next choir and we get the word cherub sometimes we use that as a synonym right for angels a cherub is a we use that typically to refer to an angel sometimes on an especially classical artwork there's little little baby like looking and they're sometimes called cherubs and then they're Thrones and their dominions and virtues and powers Archangels principalities and then and then angels the angels the last choir the ones that are closest to us and it's from those that rank or that category that we have our guardian angel as we you know we're taught that God loves us so much that he's assigned to each one of us a protector a personal guardian be with us throughout our life's journey and we call that our guardian angel it's from that the ninth choir the choir of the Angels so the Michael as I mentioned the the great and glorious warrior angel has been honored from very early days in the church as early as the the fourth century the 300s there were churches both in the east and in the West named for Saint Michael and the church was dedicated to him on September the 29th in in around the the 4th or 5th century and that became the feast day of st. Michael September the 29th because that that church was dedicated on on that day and that was actually the feast day was celebrated as I said from about the fifth century and up until the 9th century Michael was the only individual angel that had a feast day later on Gabriel and Ray feel the other Archangels who are mentioned in the New Testament had a feast day as well and then in the 20th century after the Second Vatican Council Gabriel and Raphael were added to Saint Michael's day September the 29th so today on September the tour this year in September the 29th we celebrate the Feast of the Archangels Michael Gabriel and Raphael but up until the 9th century that that was called Michaelmas like we have Christmas Michaelmas was September the 29th and it was the mass of Saint Michael the Archangel Michael Tomas so just to point out how important devotion to st. Michael has been throughout the history of our church what I mentioned in the third part this morning - apparitions to appearances that are interesting I think in the history of our church where Michael was revealed or appeared to a group of people in in the year 590 in Rome there was a terrible plague and people were dying left and right from from this plague and the Pope at the time was a great Pope as in fact he's called Gregory the Great and he's a saint st. Gregory the Great decided that this plague in order to ask God to deliver Rome from this plague he would have a penitential procession and so the Pope and lots of people in the city of Rome and the clergy and the laity and religious formed this procession around the streets of Rome asking God to deliver them from this terrible plague and as they were coming across a bridge back toward the Vatican in front of them was the tomb of the Emperor Hadrian I don't know if anyone anybody been to Rome that's in the room here at least known well well this is an interesting building and it's still standing at the end of the bridge in the inner area of the Vatican it's a big round building and that was the tomb that Emperor Hadrian had built for himself well as they're crossing the bridge Pope Saint Gregory the Great looks up and on the top of Hadrian's tomb is the appearance of Saint Michael the Archangel and Michael has his sword up in the air but then he puts it in the sheath and Gregory took that to be a sign that through the intercession of Saint Michael the plague would be over and indeed it did it did end and so today if you go to Rome that tomb of the Emperor Hadrian is called the castle Santangelo the castle of the Holy Angel and it's part of the Vatican and at the top of that you would if you looked at the top of what was Hadrian's Tomb now the castle of the Holy Angel you see this gigantic golden statue of Saint Michael it's it's still there to this day commemorating that sixth century apparition which ended a terrible plague in Rome the second interesting appearance I think of Saint Michael took place a little even little earlier than that around the Year 492 and then there were three two subsequent apparitions in a place called Mount Gargano down in south eastern Italy knew the area where Padre Pio is from and there's a place there called Mount gargano and in around the Year 492 st. Michael appeared to someone up on this it's a really high mountain and very inaccessible it roads in there now but at one time it was very very difficult and there's a basilica up there which has been a place of pilgrimage where Michael appeared for over the centuries people like Saint Bernard Saint Francis of Assisi Saint Brigid of Sweden that they they made pilgrimages there Pope Benedict went there as well as Saint John Paul the second went there to visit this place where Saint Michael was to have appeared in southeastern Italy so over the centuries there have been these reported appearances of Michael to assure us that he's with us and he's he's here too to defend us so if we put all this together it's kind of developed in our church there were there are four responsibilities you might say that st. Michael exercises for us first of all he continues to wage the battle against Satan and the other fallen angel so he's our protector in the spiritual battle he continues to save the souls of the faithful from the power of Satan especially when we're nearing death it's always been the idea that course st. Joseph is the patron of a happy death but also to intercede or to ask the intercession of Saint Michael to help someone when they're nearing the end of their life the third is to protect the people of God both the Jewish people we believe that we heard that he was the the chief Prince to protect the people of God in the Book of Daniel so he's the guardian of Israel but he's also the guardian of the new Israel the people of the New Covenant the church and and we believe that Michael you know again intercedes and is a protector for our church through history and finally to lead the souls of the departed from this life and present them to the Lord for that final judgment the particular judgment that we each face before after our death and as we enter that across the threshold to eternal life so the fourth part this morning I'd like to just point to three different prayers where Michael has been influential in the liturgy or the praying of our of our Catholic Church the first is and this is an older form who if we say sometimes here the act of penitence at Mass the act of our the I confess the confiteor I confess to Almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters that I have greatly sinned the older form of that prayer that I grew up praying said that I confess to Almighty God to the Blessed Virgin Mary to Saint Michael the Archangel it was kind of interesting that Michael was included in the I confess in the older form that was changed again in 1968 but until then we confess to our Blessed Mother first and right after her Saint Michael the Archangel and then the Apostles Peter and Paul all the angels and saints but he was included in that prayer again to show the influence that st. Michael had over the centuries in the litany of the saints when we call upon the Blessed Mother and all of the saints Michael is number two it's not again it's Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us st. Michael the Archangel pray for us so he's he's number two and now now it's st. Michael Raphael and Gabriel all all three put together but originally it was just st. Michael right after our Blessed Mother and I wanted to show you another area where st. Michael is invoked is in the solemn exorcism is the book that's not on many people shelves but it's the ritual for a solemn exorcism if someone is truly possessed by Satan and it's judged to be a an authentic case of possession then there are these long prayers that are prayed over the person who seems to be possessed and I just want to read one part of it in the middle of the exorcism the priest reveals the crucifix to the person and then prays this long formula of exorcism and it begins by invoking the Blessed Mother I'll read that and then I'll read the very second invocation says listen o merciful God to the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary whose son dying on the cross crushed the head of the ancient serpent and entrusted all people to his mother to be her children let the light of truth sign forth in this year servant let the joy of peace enter him or her let the spirit of holiness possess him or her and dwelling there render him or her calm and pure listen O Lord to the pleading a blessed Michael the Archangel and of all the angels ministering to you God of hosts repelled the force of the demon that of the devil God of truth and pardon drive away his deceitful attacks got a freedom and grace break the bonds of iniquity this is just two of the beginning prayers for a solemn exorcism but you heard we called on the Blessed Mother to intercede for the person who's possessed and the very next invocation is Michael the Archangel to again do battle with the possessing spirit and drive that spirit out of out of the person that the final part this morning before I hope we have a discussion is the actual prayer itself that the prayer that we pray at masses and I like to just give you a little history because I think it's kind of interesting the the origin of that prayer which I'm sure most people don't know about but you will this morning and you can tell others about it but we'll be praying but-but-but very few people really know why it was written and how it got included in the prayers of the church after masses so it was during the pontificate of Pope Leo the 13th and he was Pope from 1878 to 1903 so 1878 to 1903 and during his pontificate there were very very turbulent political things going on particularly in Italy so it's a very troubling stressful critical time for it for the church and around the Year 1884 the story goes that pope leo xiii had set his mourning mass said finished mass and he had a few of his advisers there that he was speaking to it all of a sudden he just fell on the floor he just fell over in the midst of that conversation and of course they immediately called for a doctor they knew something something was wrong the doctor came and he had no pulse and so they concluded that leo xiii had died too suddenly they're right in the midst of that conversation but suddenly he started breathing again he had a pulse and he seemed to be normal he was able to stand up and and talk to everyone but what he said was this what a horrible scene I was permitted to see what a horrible scene I was permitted to see he had a vision God had given him this extraordinary experience when he was out and even had no signs of life but he had this vision about Satan's influence in the world and how it was going to continue to get worse and worse in this vision so moved by that vision Pope Leo the 13th composed the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel seeing the influence and the power of Satan over the world and in the world he wrote the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel in 1886 he ordered that that prayer that he wrote be prayed at the end of every Mass it was called the part of the leonine prayers Leo from Pope Leo the leonine prayers were said at the end of mass from 1886 until 1968 and 1968 after the Second Vatican Council we had all of the liturgical reforms and the prayer to Saint Michael was dropped we no longer prayed it but interestingly enough in 1994 st. John Paul the second who is Pope 1994 urged every Catholic to pray the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel I don't honestly don't remember that but in doing my research for this talk Saint John Paul the second who is also very much aware of Satan's activity in the world urged us all to personally not at Mass he didn't he didn't say it had to be restored to mass but he urged every Catholic to pray the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel so he wrote it liova xiii wrote it in 1884 1886 he said that it should be prayed at the end of every Mass and then in 1889 he wrote a much longer prayer to st. Michael the Archangel so he must have really obviously was very very really affected by that vision it's something he couldn't forget so it's two pages long I have a copy of him I'm not going to read it but interestingly enough when this was written in 1889 only bishops and priests could pray it Leo sent it out throughout the world but only bishops and priests could for it because it is actually a formula of exorcism so it's it's it I will read the first paragraph because you'll hear some words in there that I hope will echo what I've just been saying from the scripture and the history of our theology of the Angels and and and st. Michael but this long long prayer to st. Michael the Archangel was only able to be prayed by bishops and priests because it is a formula for exorcism so it starts out like this Oh glorious Archangel Saint Michael Prince of the heavenly hosts defend us in battle and in the struggle which is ours against the principalities and powers against the rulers of this world of darkness against the spirits of evil and it goes on come to the aid of men whom created immortal God made in his own image and likeness and redeemed at great price from the tyranny of the devil and it goes on for another page and a half invoking the intercession of st. Michael the Archangel so that's the interesting history I think of the prayer of st. Michael but Leo the 13th kind of dropped on the floor everybody thought he was dead for a few minutes and he had this vision of the the activity of Satan in the world and he was so moved by it that he wrote the prayer that we know as the prayers at Michael the Archangel and then he wrote that much longer one that was restricted to be prayed only by bishops and priests and then in 1994 saint john paul ii urged all of us to pray that prayer personally so for those reasons i i wanted to i think it's important that we continue to invoke the help of Saint Michael the Archangel in our own battle in the church's battle today and so we now in our diocese and in many other dioceses we've restored that prayer to Saint Michael to some time during our masses here throughout the diocese but I in reviewing all of this with you this morning I urge you to get a copy of that prayer if you don't know it yet by heart we will after praying it for some time but maybe it's a fresh prayer to many of you but I would invite you to get a copy of it keep it with you and when you're tempted when you're tempted for something to do something you know is wrong pray pray that prayer ask st. Michael the Archangel to help you when you're in the midst of some spiritual battle in your daily life and you feel that you're you know you're being drawn in the wrong direction pray the prayer to st. Michael the Archangel we need God's help and we need this powerful intercessor to help us do battle with these spiritual forces and Michael will come to our aid it's what he does it's who he is so with that I'd be interested if anybody has any any questions or comments I'd like to hear them or try to respond if you have a question last week most of them are here in the room yes ma'am hi where did I get it it was given to me as a gift actually by one of the staff here I think for my birthday last year yeah which is in August so it was given to me sighs I have it in my room at my house where you know where I live but I thought I would bring it over as an image there are lots of different images sometimes Michael has a soldier's helmet on and he has full armor oftentimes he's shown you know with a spear or a sword and if there's a spear usually there's a dragon or a serpent or some big ugly creature underneath him and he's doing battle or killing that killing the dragon and so it's an image of what we heard about in the book of Revelation Revelation chapter 12 so yeah it was it was a gift to me as I read it I had to be very careful bringing because I'm afraid I'm gonna break that the sword looks very delicate in that whatever that material is yes please about what fallen angel oh yes I'm sure I'm sure that they do regret the choice they made there's a there's a sadness that's why Satan we was depict him as being evil but he's also the saddest of creatures there's no joy in the decision that they he made and that the others have made and that they have to live with for all eternity our joy our happiness we were we were made by God for happiness right we every there's no one here no one out there that doesn't want to be happy it's we're wired for happens even that the pagan Greek philosophers knew that the human person was made to be happy it's our it's the one goal that we all seek the problem he comes in is what do we think is going to make us happy what kind of choices will you make in order to gain happiness and Jesus came to show us the way of authentic happiness it comes from love of God and love of neighbor and the service of God and the service of there when you enter into that genuinely you find ultimate happiness and and and finally were made to be happy with God forever in heaven that's what he wants he wants us to be happy now the Fallen Angels Satan and the Fallen Angels have made a choice that excludes that eternal happiness so I'm sure they regret it and they're sad creatures and all they can do as I mentioned is to enlist us in their unhappiness so Satan will never hold out something to you and say here choose this it'll make you unhappy but he will say choose this this really is the means to get your goal of happiness this if you if you make this decision you will be happy but what we find out is when we make that decision he's lied that's why he's called the the father of lies the Prince of deception because when you choose it and you begin to live into that choice you're not you won't be happy ultimately it won't lead to your wholeness or your integration it will be disintegration and that's what he wants he wants us to enter into that unhappiness that he has to live with that he exists in forever and so eternal joy is only possible in communion with God it begins here and reaches his perfection in the afterlife but it'll oniy reaches perfection when we choose the right things here by God's grace the intercession of Mary and the Saints st. Michael who want to assist us now they're in heaven already and they're not up there looking down saying we made it see if you can they they really do want us to join them in heaven so we have all this assist in that description sometimes causes like this great cloud of witnesses they're cheering us on but we got to know they're cheering us on we got to feel that and cooperate and that's one reason why we study the lives of the saints they show us examples of of being holy even though they lived in very different times in their life situation was so different from ours many times but they showed us what genuine holiness looks like and we can replicate that by God's grace in our own place in our own time so I am certain that the yeah the angelic spirits can't reverse a decision because their intellect and will are superior to ours they're not hindered they're not hampered by a physical body or physical organs but once they make that decision it's it's fully informed and irreversible and they've got to be very sad a bishop gamer we have a question over here at Lancaster Catholic great hi I was wondering where do we get the history behind the angels or how did we find out about the the interactions these are out of their creation of so where do we get the interaction angels well I mean I think the primary source of course is is the revelation and Scripture you see a ray field for instance is sent as a companion in the book of Tobit and so God sends him with the message of healing and his name means God heals Raffaele there's another L on the names of God is the God is in the meaning of that name and then Gabriel comes from it comes to the Blessed Mother and reveals that makes the announcement that she's going to be the mother of God so the interaction between angels and and humans are very clear in the scriptures you know God uses them as his agents to send messages to us the Old Testament is kind of interesting we just had on Sunday if you remember the the reading from Exodus chapter 3 about the burning bush and Moses is tending his father-in-law's sheep and he sees the the the the bush fooled with flames but the bush isn't the fuel for them it's not burning up they're just so this is a supernatural kind of fire it's not natural at all and God speaks to Moses but it says the angel of the Lord at first is that but then it's clear that it's God so in the Old Testament there's a very very close connection between the very person of God and the angels that he he sense that the story of Abraham entertaining the three strangers is is a beautiful story of the hospitality in the in the Mideast but what Abraham and Sarah don't know is that they're really entertaining they're entertaining angels are really offering hospitality to God and and that story there's a beautiful icon by Andrei Rublev who's a great iconographer and Russian mystic and monk and and it's the three guests and and it's it's a representation of the Trinity so there's a close association between the angels and God and sometimes it's very clear that God is sending one of these spiritual beings other times that there's a mix-up that they God is with that spiritual being that just it depends on what part of the Old Testament were reading but in the New Testament God sends like Gabriel God uses Saint Michael to engage in that spiritual battle to represent the forces of good against the kingdom of Satan anyone else yes ma'am if angels are as smart intellectual as us yeah they are well I think that's the same as our first parents probably it's pride you know that it said that Lucifer whom we identify with say to that that name it it it means the Light Bearer looks Lucchese is the word for light and Pharaoh fairy truly lattos is a Latin word for to carrier to bear something so the very name Lucifer means one who carries the light and it was understood that he was one of the the brightest you know what one of the chief angels so what would it be about someone who had all this giftedness from God that would cause you it was pride yeah I'm so good that I can make this I will make this decision I can I can I can be like God and that's what Michaels question is who is like God no one is that God is unique Supreme Being but the Fallen Angels I think it is they're very intelligent you know sometimes people who are very gifted intellectually I think that they created themselves you know and they believe science is the only source of knowledge and unless I can prove it and understand it it doesn't exist so so you take that to another level of the spiritual beings who have intellect superior to ours and then I guess there are grades even within their superior it like so Lucifer must have had one of the most lucid gifted minds and he became prey to his own pride I think and and and I think it happened to every one of us that's why one of the chief virtues to grow in the spiritual life is humility and that doesn't mean putting yourself down or thinking less of yourself saying CS Lewis said humility is in thinking less of yourself it's thinking of yourself less now thinking of God and others and then yourself you're not you don't deny your giftedness and your uniqueness and that's not real humility humility is honesty but it's also to recognize my place and I'm I'm a creature I'm a creature I'm not the creator and and yet a lot of people think that we can make up the rules or change the rules and and we're really here to live by God's rules and it's only then that we're we're really in harmony with who we are and and with the will of God and creation itself except excessive one question I'm often asked is did I ever do a solemn exorcism but this is a very new book but did I ever do an exorcism the answer I did I ever do an exorcism I've done many but there are simple exorcisms and there are solemn eggs this is a simple a simple Agnes that we were all exorcised at baptism there's a prayer over the baby or the adult to drive out any spirits and that's called a simple exorcism sighs I've done that a lot when we make holy water we bless holy water that's a prayer of exorcism to make this creature of God water holy so it's an exorcism so there are many kinds of exorcisms the solemn exorcism to drive out a devil or multiple Devils who seem to be possessing a person I have never done but as Bishop I'm the only one who can authorize a priest to do it so some sometimes I get that question a lot did I ever do it an exorcism I've never done one and I do not want to do it but I do have a priest who's very skilled and holy and he is our Exorcist in the diocese and he's unfortunately busy yes ma'am sorry why doesn't this for his name didn't like my Clerke real I like what is a why doesn't the Dean oh well I would say because it's it's not oh god any longer yeah not not every biblical name it you know I'm obviously but but those biblical names that do end in Al have whatever their meaning might be it has God in that and somewhere in the meaning you know I'm trying to think of another example that said but he L at the end of the name is for Elohim which is a Hebrew polite way of referring to God yes sir earlier you mentioned about angels and dragons what does that mean you mean as dragons I thought thoroughly commitment I presume they are I guess there are certain types of losers that are typed called dragons I guess but but the book of Revelation is a very complex book with a rather simple meaning it simple meaning is that God has already won the victory so no matter what kind of problems we're facing whatever horrible situation we might be in there's always reason for hope never never lose hope because Christ has already conquered that's that's the basic meaning of Revelation but in itself its first of all a very special type of writing called apocalyptic apocalyptic is the Greek word for revolutio and you can get the word better out of Revelation it's Vale revelation that revelation is pulling back the veil opening the veil like a stage that the curtain goes back and there's the scene or the beginning of the play or the movie would it but the curt so so revelation wanted to pull back the open the curtain to let us see the final victory because the the Christians were suffering greatly in the Roman persecutions when Saint John wrote the book of Revelation so there's a lot of figurative images in Revelation and the dragon is a an image for Satan right for it for the devil but there's a lot they're all kind of creatures almost you you really can't even imagine creatures with you know nine eyes and nine horns and nine heads and each ho and H ed has nine horns and that they're very but the idea was to it's almost like underground literature that if a if a Roman soldier or Roman government official were to read this they say what in the world is this makes no sense whatsoever I throw it you know but to a Christian who had a Jewish background the imagery would be very much like the Book of Daniel and other parts of the Old Testament and they would proudly be able to see the meaning of it but for someone who wasn't from the Jewish Christian background it wouldn't make any sense at all we just seem like gibberish or you know just crazy fictional writing but what it really was was an underground type of inspired by the Holy Spirit to assure the Christians even though they were suffering terribly under the Roman persecutions that Christ had already assured them victory and in the end they will win so so the dragon is just one of the many images in the book of Revelation but it's clear that it means Satan are we about ready well thanks once again we look forward to our final session next week and that that session has been the last number of years talking about ways of keeping your faith in college or whatever is next in your life beyond high school as you graduate to continue the faithful practice of your Catholic faith so we'll we'll look at that next week so to conclude if you if you know the prayer please join along and praying it but we'll use the the regular prayer to st. Michael the Archangel once again I thank everybody for being together this morning and I am grateful for this opportunity and look forward to next Wednesday so in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit amen say Michael the Archangel defend us in battle be our defense against the wickedness and the snares of the devil may God rebuke him we humbly pray and do Thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts by the power of God thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls amen Our Lady's seat of wisdom pray for us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen have a great day everyone god bless

Channel: hbgdiocese

Views: 236,045

Keywords: St. MIchael, Angels, Spiritual Evil, Lent, Catholic, Catholic Schools, Bishop Ronald Gainer, Diocese of Harrisburg, Archangel

Id: sTVVzzWBKaQ

Length: 61min 27sec (3687 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 29 2019