- Feb 5, 2002
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The feast of these winged crusaders, messengers, rescuers, and protectors ready to help us is the perfect reminder to call upon them.
People seem to be taken by superheroes. Fantasy ones. But what about the real celestial superheroes who are waiting to help us and who make the fantasy superheroes worth less than the paper they’re printed on?
Let’s stay with the fable for a minute. Fancy yourself as a lowly citizen, yet the king of this realm more powerful than any other on earth has his three top princes standing ready to help you every day. Sounds unbelievable?
Not to the King of Kings. Our Lord has three great Princes of Heaven as close as a prayer away. The names of this powerful heavenly trio should be on the tip of our tongues. They are the Archangels St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael.
They share a singular feast day each year — Sept. 29. Since this year it falls on a Sunday, the feast won’t be celebrated as usual. But don’t forget this powerful trio heavenly helpers — the only three angels named in Scripture. And look ahead to Oct. 2, the feast of their colleagues, our guardian angels.
Let’s start asking — as Shakespeare once did — what’s in a name? The names of the archangels tell us much about them, especially their principal attributes.
St. John Paul II reminded us of the meaning of their names in a 1986 general audience. “Mica-EL in fact means: ‘Who is like God?’ In this name, therefore, we find expressed the salvific choice thanks to which the angels ‘see the face of the Father’ who is in Heaven.”
Next is Gabri-EL, meaning “my power is God” or “power of God.”
Then there is Raphael, ‘Rafa-EL’ meaning “God heals.”
John Paul II made clear that “each one of these figures, Mica-EL, Gabri-EL, and Rafa-EL reflects in a particular way the truth contained in Paul’s “Letter to the Hebrews (1:14): Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to possess salvation?”
Continued below.
Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael — Pray for the Church and the World
People seem to be taken by superheroes. Fantasy ones. But what about the real celestial superheroes who are waiting to help us and who make the fantasy superheroes worth less than the paper they’re printed on?
Let’s stay with the fable for a minute. Fancy yourself as a lowly citizen, yet the king of this realm more powerful than any other on earth has his three top princes standing ready to help you every day. Sounds unbelievable?
Not to the King of Kings. Our Lord has three great Princes of Heaven as close as a prayer away. The names of this powerful heavenly trio should be on the tip of our tongues. They are the Archangels St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael.
They share a singular feast day each year — Sept. 29. Since this year it falls on a Sunday, the feast won’t be celebrated as usual. But don’t forget this powerful trio heavenly helpers — the only three angels named in Scripture. And look ahead to Oct. 2, the feast of their colleagues, our guardian angels.
Let’s start asking — as Shakespeare once did — what’s in a name? The names of the archangels tell us much about them, especially their principal attributes.
St. John Paul II reminded us of the meaning of their names in a 1986 general audience. “Mica-EL in fact means: ‘Who is like God?’ In this name, therefore, we find expressed the salvific choice thanks to which the angels ‘see the face of the Father’ who is in Heaven.”
Next is Gabri-EL, meaning “my power is God” or “power of God.”
Then there is Raphael, ‘Rafa-EL’ meaning “God heals.”
John Paul II made clear that “each one of these figures, Mica-EL, Gabri-EL, and Rafa-EL reflects in a particular way the truth contained in Paul’s “Letter to the Hebrews (1:14): Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to possess salvation?”
Continued below.
Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael — Pray for the Church and the World
