Thursday 3 October 2013

Feast of St Michael 29 Sep 2013 Sermon

Feast of St Michael 29.9.13

The angels see the face of God (Gospel). And then they deal with us. They help to bridge the gap between heaven and earth.

Each of us has a guardian angel, and we can assume there are many angels around us, especially at Mass and in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, where they are in constant and profound adoration.

They bless the Lord; they help us adore Him. And they defend us in battle – the particular point we attribute to St Michael.

The angels are powerful beings for good. The source of their power is that they are so close to Almighty God. They live in His presence. Free from sin they reflect his glory.

They shine His light upon us, mediating the goodness and power of God. They spread a holy and healthy influence around us, counteracting the evil influence spread by the fallen angels (demons).

The angels invite us to turn towards the living God. In doing that we become more alive. As we turn away from sin we come out of the dark into the light; we derive more of the power of God in ourselves. And become more angelic (or saintly) in the process.

The battle between the angels does not use conventional weapons. It is fought more at the level of the mind, a battle of ideas, of whose view of reality will prevail.

Michael and the angels are thinking of God, and of their need to submit to Him. They have great humility and all related virtues, and this is what makes them strong.

Lucifer and the fallen angels are thinking they can take the place of God and they are filled with pride, rage, violence and every kind of malice. They have less power than the good angels because they are not based in truth; but they have power to do a lot of harm, all the same (especially to us).

The good and evil angels have been fighting a long battle, and it still rages. They are fighting over us, over each and all of us. Both want to claim our souls – the good angels for God, the evil angels for hell.

The demons often win the battles if not the war. The ultimate victory must go to the side of Good but a lot of harm can be done along the way (like a retreating army will destroy as much as they can of the territory through which they pass).

We are the prisoners of war, or the hostages, needing to be set free. We are in this position to the extent that we are still imprisoned in sin and vice.

It is relatively easy to break free from captivity to sin if we can only be humble enough to seek God’s mercy and grace.

Humility is always the key. If we can let God be what He is; if we can affirm and not try to deny it, we will be imitating the good angels and will draw power from God as we do that.

Can we accept that we are created beings and depend for everything on the Creator or must we assert ourselves against Him and bring destruction on ourselves?

The battle for our minds and hearts goes on all the time. We can help the good angels to help us by being aware of how the battle operates; of what precisely the fight is about.

It is always possible to tune into the good side of the battle, to draw upon truth and grace. We do this whenever we pray, or receive a sacrament. Sometimes we have to dig a little deeper to discover the right way to see things, as for example being patient in suffering. But it can always be done with a little discipline and perseverance.

This is essentially what prayer is: forcing ourselves to think more deeply than we otherwise would; to draw upon the greater wisdom and goodness that is available.

Let us go to battle then, armed with prayer, humility, and right thinking. May St Michael and the angels bring us safely to our heavenly home.

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