September 29th is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels

   Although we are celebrating the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity today, September 29th is also the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.
   From the Old Testament account of Jacob’s wrestling’s, all the way through to the ‘conscious communion’ sought in St. John Henry Newman’s Dream of Gerontius, mankind has not only been perplexed by the existence of angels, but even more perplexed by whether communication with them is either possible or desirable.
   It was G.K. Chesterton who once said: “Angels can fly because they themselves are lightly, while presumably, devils and demons fell from grace, because of the weight of their pride, and greed and anger.”
   Perhaps the most important task of the Guardian Angel assigned to each one of us is to help lead us to the Passion of Christ and to His cross. We know this is spiritually important, because it’s only through embracing the Cross that we find our way to heaven.
   So what does a Guardian Angel do? Perhaps it’s easiest to explain that angels do this by pricking our conscience so that we are able, when we’re pointed in the right way, to recognize and follow the will of God. Angels encourage us to be thankful for what we’ve got, and encourage us to see small acts of mercy and kindness as reflections of our living God. Perhaps a Guardian Angel works particularly through our imagination and memory, drawing us closer to the Divine Presence, and opening our eyes to His glory.
   A catechism from the early church said that there are three ways of seeing things: a Diabolical way, an Angelic way, and a Human way. The Diabolical way is to see everything in terms of oneself, and the Angelic way is to see everything in terms of one’s relationship with God. We’re all quite capable of seeing the world in relation to God, but often insist on seeing it with ourselves at the centre. What we really need to do, is move away from the Diabolical way and align ourselves with the Angelic way to look at the world and see it alive with God.
   How often have we said to someone who has helped us ‘you are an angel!’ We’re so grateful and pleased when someone puts themselves out for us, and really helped. Angels, I believe, do such things in gentle and unobtrusive ways.
   All through the Bible, angels are shown to reveal messages from God, and part of the glory of who we are, is that we too are called to share God’s message of love and salvation to those around us.
   When we share our faith with others wonderful things can happen. The distance between heaven and earth blurs, and God is revealed to us, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (John 1:51) 
 
Faithfully, Your Friend and Pastor
Fr. Christopher C. Stainbrook, KHS