Feast of the Archangels September 29, 2025
Fr. Alexander Albert St. Mary Magdalen, Abbeville
My little ones, we’re going to talk about some big stuff. What you need to know is this: there are good angels and there are bad angels. The good ones help protect us from the bad. We don’t need to be afraid of the bad angels because God is on our side. Our job is to be honest, to be humble, and to be helpful. If you do that, you help the good angels defeat the bad ones.
Now, let’s expand on that for the rest of us. “War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back.” So the book of revelation tells us. But what does that mean exactly? How do angels fight in a war? I mean, we like to depict St. Michael with armor and a sword or a spear, rippling with muscle and looking like an epic warrior and that’s awesome. But you know that’s not actually what St. Michael looks like, right? None of the angles do because angels don’t have bodies. They are pure spirit.
What good is a sword if you don’t have a body? What can physical protection do for a spiritual creature? They’re symbolic, of course. But still, if angels don’t have bodies… if they don’t wear armor, use weapons like swords or guns, how exactly do they fight in a war? Is the war just a symbol too? No, the battle is very real. Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and all the good angels really did fight against Satan and all his minions. They still are and there are real battles still to come.
So, how do they fight these battles? With their minds and their choices. I guess you could say angel fight by arguing. The good angels argue for what is true. The bad angels argue in order to trick people. It’s more than that, though. There’s a power to the arguments of angels. They don’t just think about the truth, they act with it, they are changed by it. For an angel, making a decision is permanent. An angel doesn’t just “change his mind,” he changes who is he forever. When the first battle happened, the good angels chose the truth and were forever united to God by that choice. The bad angels chose a lie and are forever separated from God by that choice.
But “truth” isn’t just an idea, some abstract thought. It’s reality. This “truth” is so profound, that we usually try to break it down into smaller pieces. If you ever study philosophy, you’ll learn about the three “transcendentals” of being: unity, goodness, and truth. For now, let’s look at these through the lens of the feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Everyone in heaven is a saint, but we only pray to the few we know about. So, all of the good angels are saints, but we only talk about these three because they’re the ones God has told us about.
And their names and missions help us understand the battle a little better. Michael’s name means “who is like God.” Michael’s mission is to bear witness to God’s glory. Satan wanted to be God, but Michael was humble and only wanted to glorify God. The devil gets people to focus glorifying and exalting themselves or anything other than God. Michael wins that battle by connecting people to God’s glory. Even when he fights, Michael tells the devil, “the Lord rebuke you” rather than “I rebuke you” because Michael always always always relies on God’s power out of humility rather than on himself out of pride. So, Michael shows us the battle is fought by humility vs. pride, by glorifying God instead of ourselves. True goodness is found only in God and we need humility to accept that.
St. Gabriel is the messenger angel. His name means “the Strength of God.” That might surprise you because Michael is the one we call a warrior. But that shows us how important humility is for the battle. Gabriel is also a warrior, but his battle is fought with the truth. God’s strength is his word, his light, his truth. His word literally created everything. So, being faithful to his word is powerful, it is strength. Every time Gabriel shows up, he has a message, an invitation for someone to hear God’s word and trust it. He tells them God’s plan – which is true – and calls people to trust it. Zechariah fails to trust him at first and is struck mute, but he believes later and is healed. Mary trusts him and then conceives Jesus. Gabriel shows us that the battle is fought by trusting God’s word vs. doubting his word. Even the angels didn’t know God’s whole plan, so the ones who stayed in heaven are the ones who trusted him even before they knew. It is a battle fought by faith.
St. Raphael’s name means “God’s remedy.” He only shows up once in scripture – the book of Tobit – and he does exactly what you expect with that name. He heals people. Tobit is healed of blindness, Sarah is healed of a demonic infestation, Tobias is healed of his isolation. God’s remedy is to make people whole and to unite people together in the truth. Raphael’s name and mission show us that the battle is fought by unity vs. division, by making whole vs. breaking and tearing apart. Indeed, the devil’s name actually comes from a word that means “divider.” Good angels unite people to God in the truth, evil ones cut them off through lies and jealousy.
Humility vs. Pride. Faith vs. Suspicion. Unity vs. Division. These are three ways the battle of good vs. evil is fought by the angels. Here’s the thing, though, we are in that battle too. You may have heard people talk about “spiritual warfare.” That’s a real thing! But it’s not about magic talismans and magical prayers. Don’t get me wrong, blessed medals and memorized prayers are good and useful things, but they are merely tools, expressions of the real fight of good vs evil, truth vs. lies, unity vs. division.
So, let’s make it personal. I have seen the demonic at work here. In this parish, in this school community. Not in visions of monstrous creatures, not in stuff moving on its own or scary voices. No, I’ve seen it in pride, in distrust, in division. I’ve seen it in the way good people in this community believe that other good people in this community are evil. I’ve seen it in the rumor-mongering, the murmuring, the back-biting, the unfounded suspicions turned into rash attacks, the way we sometimes are so eager to make major decisions based on a rumor of what someone did.
It’s evil. It’s demonic. And I am tired of it. I get it. People have faults. They make mistakes. They sometimes do the wrong thing in a way that really hurts. But there is a huge difference between someone hurting you and someone being evil. There is… or there should be a difference in how we Catholics handle the faults of another person and the way the world handles those faults. Malice? Why are so many of us so quick to assume a person is being malicious on mere hearsay? Malice is a strong charge and we should not be so quick to make it!
Division is creeping up in this community, this parish, this school. Pride is making us too quick to rely on ourselves to solve a problem. Suspicion and doubt are preventing us from having healthy conversations. It is time to fight back with the angels on our side. Cut out the gossip. Stop assuming you know the intentions of others. If there is a problem with someone, go to the person. If that does not work, don’t go murmuring… seek mediation, seek out those who can help you reconcile, not those who will fan the flames of resentment.
St. Michael the archangel, defend us with humility and goodness. St. Gabriel the archangel, defend us with faith and loyalty to the truth. St. Raphael the archangel, defend us with the willingness to seek unity and healing.