Breakfast with the Word: Feast of the Holy Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael
John 1:47-51
Today the church celebrates the feast day of the Holy Archangels of God. The existence of angels is not a fable. The angels are real. Even the bible testifies that angels truly exist. These angels walk with us daily.
The problem is that we do not know how to relate to them and walk with them. We do not know how to involve them in our daily activities. When we understand how to do this, we shall always walk in dominion and victory.
Who are the Angels?
The angels are spiritual, incorporeal and perfect beings that God created to serve Him and humanity.
They are always in God’s presence and ready to do His will. They are also close to Human beings and ready to serve them if they are called upon.
Who are the Archangels?
We have also to understand that these angelic hosts are organised into a sort of Heavenly Court, with different ranks and specific functions.
An Apocryphal book known as the book of Enoch recognises seven archangels. They are Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Sariel, Phanuel and Gabriel.
Hence, the church recognises the existence of three angels, whose functions are highly recognised in the scriptures. These three archangels play great roles which are evident in the scriptures.
They seem to occupy the highest rank of the angelic hierarchy. Their functions are similar to other angels, but their duties are higher.
So, today we celebrate the feast day of these three Holy Archangels of God. They are Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
The word archangel comes from two Greek words archon meaning “ruler, chief, captain etc and Angelos meaning angel.
The Greek word archangelos hence means chief angel, ruler or leader of the angels. Etc. So, archangels are the chief angels, which in simple terms means that they are the angels in the higher rank.
Read More
Violence is not the Solution.26th Week Tuesday Ordinary Time
The Way to be Great through Discipleship.
The Power in Supporting One Another. 26th Sunday Year B
Suffering Can Be Part of The Destiny.Saturday 25th Week
Who does the Crowd say I am?Friday 25th Week
In the Gospel
In the gospel of today, Jesus tells Nathaniel that soon, he will see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
Thus, this ascending and descending reminds us of Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28:12 and the ladder reaching up from the earth to heaven with the angels of God ascending and descending.
This, in essence, shows that the angels are real but spiritual in nature.
The ascending and descending in essence means that they serve both God and man.
They bring down blessings from God to humanity and carry the prayers and problems to God.
Angel Raphael tells Tobit and Sarah that He is the one who brings their prayers into the glorious presence of God, each time they pray and any time Tobit does a corporal work of mercy (Tobit 12:12).
This will give us a very powerful insight into how to walk with them. let us always walk with the archangels of God. Angels help to make our prayers efficacious.
Before you pray, invite them to join you. Sincerely, they will. After your prayers, ask them to help you raise your prayers to the throne of God, they will too.
Then, whenever you put your prayers on their hands, Have full confidence in the way God is going to answer you.
Sometimes, angels inspire and direct us immediately on what we can do about what we pray for. Many prayer requests have been answered.
Hence, due to our inability to learn how to listen, we still continue to wait on God.
In the seminary, there is a prayer we use to pray in the afternoon. One of the statements says “from the neglect of your inspiration, Jesus deliver us”.
Hence, what it means is that it is not that God does not answer our prayers. The problem is that when He inspires us on what to do, we doubt and neglect the inspiration.
Then, we continue to wait for an answer when God has already answered, and we neglected it.
After prayers, we have to listen to our angels. Angels are real. If they are real, they can inspire.
Scriptural Background
The Holy scripture supports the reality of the existence of the archangels.
In 1 Thessalonians 4;16, Paul says that the Lord will descend in the voice of the archangels.
Daniel 10:13, mentions Angel Michael as one of the Chief Princes. In Tobit 12:15-22, Angel Raphael tells Tobit that He is one of the seven Holy Angels who present the prayers of the saints into the glorious presence of God. This in essence shows that Archangels exist.
Angel Michael
Michael comes from the Hebrew word Mîkhā’ēl, literally meaning ‘Who is like God?’
In Daniel 10:13, Michael fought the prince of Persia and helped an angel deliver a message to God.
Daniel 10:21 sees Angel Michael as one who contends and fights every spiritual battle.
It was Michael who led the battle against the dragon and the dragon was defeated in Revelation 12:7.
Therefore, there is no battle that Michael will never win. This in essence means that the Angel Michael fights our spiritual and physical battle.
When we walk with Him in our daily battles no battle will leave us defeated.
This is real and not to motivate or inspire you.
In Jude 1:9, it was the same Michael who rebuked and contended with the devil over the body of Moses.
So, Angel Michael is the vanquisher of demons and evil forces. If you are afraid of any diabolic or evil power, make a prayer journey with angel Michael. Then do the testimony by yourself.
Angel Gabriel
Gabriel comes from the Hebrew word Gaḇrīʾēl, meaning God is my strength’.
Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel to reveal his vision which speaks of the advent of the Messiah (Daniel 8:15-26 and 9:21-27.)
Also, He appeared to Zachariah to announce the birth of St.John the Baptist (Luke 1:10-20). He is also the angel of annunciation whom God sent to the Virgin Mary to announce the birth of the Messiah (Luke 1:26-38).
According to tradition, it was said that He appeared to Joachim and Ann before the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So, each time Gabriel is mentioned, it is all about the proclamation of Good News.
Therefore, always walk with angel Gabriel in the midst of no-hope conditions. Call him for help when you feel everything has fallen apart.
Invite him, when you need inspiration and guidelines on what to do especially in the midst of problems and confusion.
Angel Raphael.
Raphael comes from the Hebrew word Rəp̄āʾēl, meaning ‘God has healed.
The book of Tobit (Tobit 12) mentions Raphael for his role in saving Sarah from the spirit of Asmodeus; a demon that killed all the husbands that Sarah married.
But angel Raphael guided Tobias on how to enter a peaceful marriage with Sarah.
He also healed Tobit and restored his vision.
So, angel Raphael is known for healing and for guiding travelers because of how he guided Tobias.
Therefore, always walk with him whenever you want to make a journey and for healing purposes. Invite him for healing whenever you are sick.
We need the help of angel Raphael also whenever we are psychologically down. He guarantees our physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological healing.
Invite him also when you are traveling and when you are undergoing martial crisis. Angel Raphael also helps those seeking for marital breakthrough.
Many people who ask the help of angel Raphael at midnight always say they see changes in what they ask for.
We have to know that these angels work for God for our sake.
A Reflective Story
A saint recounts how he healed all the patients in a hospital in one visit.
The saint has it as his weekly routine to visit a nearby hospital to visit the sick and pray for them.
According to Him, whenever he enters the hospital, he feels the pains and suffering of the patients. He always wished He can heal all of them at a time.
One day as he was thinking that in his mind, a young girl approached Him, and told Him “you can do that Sir”.
The saint was perplexed and began to think about how the young girl knew what was going on in His Mind.
The young girl looked at him again and said: “call the angels to help you”.
The saint left and was busy thinking about this mysterious experience.
That night he had a dream, and the same girl appeared and told him “it is not everything you can do alone, call the angels to help you”.
The saint woke up with joy and did a 7-day prayer asking for the help of the angels of God.
On one of his usual visits to the hospital, almost all the patients jumped out of the bed shouting ‘I am healed “I am healed”.
Let us always know that angels are real and they are ready to help.
Those who know how to walk with them always enjoy the spiritual power, victory, dominion and answer to their prayers that come with it. Therefore, let us walk with them.
May the Archangels of God continue to be with us. May they protect, heal and fight all our battles. Amen
Thank You Jesus for the gift of the Archangels to humanity. And thank You Archangels for your help to us.
Amen and Amen
Amen. Thank you brother.
Amen, remain blessed Bro.
Amen
Amen
Thank you Fr.
AMEN
Amen
Amen…Thank you St Michael for granting me my heart desire
Amen
I use to call my guardian Angel by name (smiles)
I wish I can know his name
Happy feast day to the 3 Archangels
Amen
Archangel Michael protect and fight my battle, Archangel Gabriel always bring me good news, Archangel Raphael pls heal me physically, spiritually,emotionally, and mentally. Amen 👏👏
Amen 🙏 may de Archangels guide and protect us. May Archangel Raphael guide my travel to Lagos. Amen.🙏 May Archangels guide and protect my daughter in school. 🙏
Thank u Fr. For Des wonderful reflection. God bless u😁🙏
Amen!!! Happy feast day of the Archangels
A THUNDEROUS Amen
Amen
AMEN
Thanks father for educating us about angels
May His name be glorified! Amen. Thank you for this good work. May God bless you and protect you Amen
Archangel Raphael journey with the soul of my daddy Raphael Ibekwe to internal rest who pass on last week Tuesday 20th Sept 2022 to the bosom of the heavenly father Amen 🙏
amen. thanks for this i learn alot in todays reflection
Amen. God bless you.
I have read that the seraphs are the highest rank of angels but you are saying now that it is yhe archangels. Please clarify
The seraphs are the highest in rank,but the archnagels are the chief princes incharge of many specific duties and high in power. They are called the chief princes, Michael is described in Daniel 10:13 as “one of the chief princes” of the angels. In Tobit 12:15, Raphael said that he is “one of the seven holy angels [archangels] who present the prayers of the saints and enter into the presence of the glory of the Holy One.So these archangels are also seraphs in terms of rank but archangel, that is chief of the angels also, in terms of functions and power.
Amen.
Thank you Jesus for this piece, I just learnt a whole lot now.
Amen
Amen Fr
Amen🙏
Amen
Amen. Thank you dearest Padre and may the Archangels fight all your battles and bring you victory.
May the archangels always be with us, guide and see me through in all my endeavours through Christ our Lord amen
Am🙏en!
Amen
Amen🙏🙏🙏
Amen and Amen. Thanks for this message, it is highly inspirational.
Amen,I long for a journey with the archangels
Amen thanks brother
Amen, thanks Padre and God bless you
WOW
Have learned a lot about Archangels.
Thank you Padre