For the next few weeks, we will meet a few saints that are perhaps better known than some of the interesting and extraordinary women we’ve discovered since Pentecost.
For instance, today we are looking at St. Michael and All Angels. There are lots of churches named for these Beings.
What comes to mind when you hear of St. Michael? How about when you hear of Angels?
(Just a sidebar advertisement, the theme for the Women’s Ministry of the Diocese of the Rio Grande annual retreat is Entertaining Angels Unaware. We’ll be considering just exactly who angels are and what they mean for our spiritual lives. More info on VarietiesOfGifts.blogspot.com.)
Back to St. Michael, and the hosts of heaven. There are several places in the Bible that angels are mentioned as interacting with humans. The lessons for the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels include the Old Testament story of Jacob and the ladder to heaven in Genesis 28:10-17. The Gospel for the day is Jesus meeting with Nathaniel where he refers to this by saying “you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (John 1:47-51) He was telling Nathaniel that he was the ladder to heaven.
Of course, the most detailed description of angels we have is from Revelation. We are told that “war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9)
There are only four angels named in the Bible: Michael and Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael. The last two of those are in the Apocrypha (Tobit and 2 Esdras). We do know of a fifth angel of course: the fallen angel Satan or Lucifer. However, there are many, many more who we tend to lump all together as ‘angels’.
Something I didn’t know until recently is that there are different kinds, or ranks, of angels. There are Cherubim and Seraphim who are nothing like the little chubby Christmas angels we think of when we hear ‘cherubs’. Along with the Thrones, they serve God directly. Then there are Dominions, Virtues, and Powers who oversee creation. Lastly, there are Principalities, Archangels, and Angels, including Guardian Angels. This final trio is the group that interacts with humanity.
The hymn, Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (#618 in the 1982 Episcopal Hymnal) lists all these ranks and calls on them to praise God. “Ye watchers and ye holy ones, bright seraphs, cherubim, and thrones, raise the glad strain, Alleluia! Cry out, dominions, princedoms, powers, virtues, archangels, angels' choirs: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!” We are invited to join in this endless hymn of praise, too. We are encouraged to join the heavenly music. Verse 4 says, “O friends, in gladness let us sing, supernal anthems echoing, Alleluia! Alleluia! To God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, Three in One: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!”
How wonderful that we can join with the hosts of heaven in praising God. Perhaps it is something we should do more often. After all, we never know when we might meet an angel. We can be assured that God’s angels do help and observe us. The Collect for St. Michael and All Angels asks that “…as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth…”
What are your thoughts about angels?
Do you think that you have a guardian angel?
Is there something from any of the lessons for St. Michael and All Angels that surprises you?
