HELP FROM ON HIGH
Our feast in honor of the archangels,… and of the guardian angels, celebrates the providence and the goodness of God our Father.
Archangels are called to proclaim important messages. Today we honor three archangels to whom proper names are given. Their names have a special meaning to the task they are called to. Michael means "Who is like God?" Gabriel means "The strength of God"; Raphael means "God's Remedy" (from a homily by St. Gregory the Great, written in the second reading, Liturgy of Hours).
As we just read from St. Gregory, their names correspond to their missions. Michael is "the great prince, guardian of God's people" (Dn 12:1). He is the heavenly spirit who watches over the Israelites. Michael is the one who enters into a dispute with Satan over the body of Moses. In the Apocalypse, he is the leader of the angelic hosts in the battle between the dragon and his angels. In our Liturgy, Michael is "protector of the Church and the angel who escorts the souls of the departed into heaven."
Gabriel, in the Book of Daniel, is an interpreting angel (cf Dn 8:16 - 26; 9:21 - 27). In the Gospel of Luke he announces the birth of John the Baptist and announces to Mary the conception, birth and mission of Jesus. Raphael, in the Book of Tobit, is the guardian of a journey (cf Tb 5 - 6). He is the healer of Tobit's blindness (cf Tb 11:1 - 15) and the expeller of demons (cf Tb 6:15 - 17; 8:1 - 3) from Tobiah's marriage bed.
Our feast in honor of the archangels, and again in a few days our memorial of the guardian angels, celebrates the providence and the goodness of God our Father. In the Preface of the Mass for today we pray, "Father...we praise You without end in Your Archangels and Angels. For the honor we pay the angelic creatures in whom You delight redounds to Your own surpassing glory, and by their great dignity and splendor You show how infinitely great You are, to be exalted above all things, through Christ our Lord. Amen!"