//Encouragement in the Lord – Facebook – 4/14/2024//
One Day You’ll be in the Presence of God
When Hearts Listen . . .
//Love Notes//
Saint of the Day – September 29 – Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael’s Story
Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named.
Michael appears in Daniel’s vision as “the great prince” who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God’s armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honoring Michael and the angels in the fifth century.
Gabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel’s visions, announcing Michael’s role in God’s plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah.
Raphael’s activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit’s son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah’s marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit’s blindness, and the restoration of the family fortune.
The memorials of Gabriel and Raphael were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their individual feasts to Michael’s.
Reflection
Each of the archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God’s protection, communication, and guidance in ways which defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly.
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are the Patron Saints of:
Death
Germany
Grocers
Police Officers/First Responders
Radiologists
Saint Gabriel is the Patron Saint of: Broadcasters/Communicators
Saint Raphael is the Patron Saint of: The Blind, Travelers
May Sadness Forget You
Daily Reflection – Neither Angels in Heaven nor Men on Earth
The Catechism in a Year – Day 55 – The Fall of the Angels
Fr. Mike explores the fall of the angels, and how their fall leads to our own “fall into death out of envy.” Together, we examine what caused some of the angels to fall, whether it be pride or envy, and how it affects humanity’s reality within creation. Fr. Mike concludes with a commentary on the mystery of why Divine Providence permits evil and the actions of the fallen angels. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 391-395.
Click on the link to play video: https://youtu.be/QiJL024zpmc
The Catechism in a Year – Day 47 – The Angels
The angels belong to Christ as they were made through him and for him, and he has made them messengers of his saving plan. We learn that angels have been present throughout the history of salvation, and the life of Christ is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels. Fr. Mike explains how in the liturgy, we join the angels in praising God, and all of human life is surrounded by angels’ care and protection. He reminds us that all angels and saints have the power to intercede for us before God. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 331-336.
Click on the link to play video: https://youtu.be/pFzMpNowGuY
Minute Meditation – Entertaining Angels Unaware
We are encouraged to welcome strangers, for by doing so, many people have entertained angels unaware (see Hebrews 13:2). As Jesus put it in his only description of the final judgment, “in so far as you did this to one of the least of these, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40). I wonder what else could save us from our fear and accusation of one another, except one whose judgments are both upside-down and true—and whose mercy is everlasting. Fortunately, they are one and the same, a God who is both sanctuary and stumbling stone (see Isaiah 8:14).
—from the book Jesus’ Alternative Plan: The Sermon on the Mount
by Richard Rohr, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
Daily Reflection – There are Angels Near
Who has God placed in your life as a blessing and how can you acknowledge the gift of their presence today?
Minute Meditation – At Home with Angels and Beasts
We humans belong to both realms, the realm of the senses and a realm that goes beyond them. This stretches us. To avoid the tension of this stretching process we are apt to settle for half of our rightful inheritance. Still, our human birth gives us a dual citizenship. Only by claiming both realms as home can we avoid the polarization of our human consciousness. Our noblest task is to make the most of this creative tension. If we neglect what goes beyond our senses, we sink below animals. But if we deny being animals and neglect or reject our senses, we clip the very wings on which we are meant to rise to higher spheres. Unless we claim our dual citizenship and are at home with both angels and beasts we become alienated from both, alienated from what is truly human; we become—in Christopher Fry’s apt image, “Like a half-wit angel strapped to the back of a mule.”
— from the book The Way of Silence: Engaging the Sacred in Everyday Life, by Brother David Steindl-Rast
//Franciscan Media//