Editorial

Angels serve as God’s messengers, protectors

“The feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, who were God’s messengers as recorded in sacred Scripture, reminds us that we are never alone. We have advocates [guardian angels] who stand with us and bring healing, reconciliation and the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ.”
(Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin)

On Saturday, Sept. 29, we celebrate the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, three angels named in sacred Scripture and associated with important moments in the history of our salvation. At this time in the Church’s life, when there is so much confusion, anger, anxiety and doubt, it’s good to step back a little and reflect on some of the more mysterious—and comforting—elements of our Catholic belief and practice. Church teaching on angels certainly fits in this category.

Reruns of the popular television program, “Life is Worth Living,” which featured then-Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, the first and some would say greatest Catholic television evangelist, often addressed the topic of angels. Bishop Sheen did this with humor. (He said it was an angel who erased his blackboard when it was off camera.) But he was also deadly serious in the way he discussed the existence of angels and their influence on our daily lives.

Noting that the word “angel” comes from the Greek word for messenger, Bishop Sheen explained the angels are God’s emissaries and that they exercise two fundamental responsibilities in their interaction with us human beings: First, as messengers they help to illuminate our understanding of God’s will for us. Certainly that was the role played by the angel Gabriel in his appearances to Mary and Joseph. Following Gabriel’s disclosures, Mary understood (and accepted) her unique role in God’s plan for our redemption, and Joseph assumed his rightful place as the guardian and protector of Mary and her divine son.

The second role that angels play in human affairs is that of protection and healing. St. Michael the Archangel and St. Raphael stand for the advocacy and the healing power of God’s grace. They testify to the fact that, when necessary, angels can be warlike in their defense of God’s truth and justice, but they are often equally kind and merciful in their dealings with those who are suffering any kind of hardship or abuse.

Every one of us has a guardian angel. We don’t hear nearly enough about them these days. Even in the 1950s, when “Life is Worth Living” (whose reruns can be found at www.formed.org) was at the peak of its popularity on American television, Bishop Sheen had a hard time convincing his audiences that the doctrine of angels was more than just a pious, sentimental teaching. Why? Bishop Sheen’s explanation was the influence of materialism and secularism. After all, if you only believe what you can see and touch or place under a microscope, there’s not much room for beings who have a mind and will, but no body.

And yet, Christians have always believed that what is invisible is in some ways more real than what is visible. When God took on human flesh, he forever united the spiritual world with the material world. He showed us the true miracle of human life is that we are much more than we appear to be. We are each made in the image and likeness of God, which means that we are spirit and flesh incarnate.

Bishop Sheen speculated that the reason some angels turned away from God is because they could not abide the scandal of the Incarnation. It was too much for them to accept that God’s only Son would so humiliate himself as to take on human flesh—not just the holographic appearance of humanity, but the actual, messy, bloody reality. Certainly, it’s quite possible that the reason Lucifer and his companions fell from grace was because they were too proud to pay homage to one who was beneath them in the order of being, a man like us human beings in all things but sin.

Pope Francis has repeatedly called our attention to the role played by the Evil One, a fallen angel, in the scandals that are shaking the foundations of our Church today, in the sins of some priests and bishops and their further degradation by “hypocrites” who use the media (especially social media) to destroy reputations and enflame the legitimate hurt and anger of others.

Saints Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, and all holy angels, pray for us. We need your inspiration, healing and protection now more than ever! May your ministry as angels of mercy and guardian angels guide us, protect us and keep us from all evil. Now and forever. Amen.

—Daniel Conway