THE
P RTAL
September 2016
Page 9
What of Angels?
Fr Julian Green opens the wonderful vista for us
that the truth is that there are spiritual forces at
work in the world for both good and evil
September means
back to school and back to work, or for the more leisurely among us, getting
away avoiding the overpriced holidays of the school break. In the Church’s calendar two feast days stand
out this month: the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady on the 8th and the Feast of St Michael and the Holy
Angels on the 29th of the month.
Apart from the obvious reference to a particular
High Street brand, St Michael reminds me of the
Michaelmas or autumn term at University, and visits to
Mont St Michel and St Michael’s Mount on either side
of the Channel, as well as the rather graphic images
of the Archangel from classic Catholic piety. It also
makes me think of the vision of Pope Leo XIII, and
his prayer to St Michael which he ordered to be recited
at the end of the Holy Mass, and still often prayed by
Catholics at the end of the Rosary.
We can feel rather self-conscious when we talk
about the angels. That was certainly true for me
as a newly ordained priest, when I felt that I could
find little place in the enlightened theology which
I had picked up from my priestly training for these
heavenly creatures.
Do a Google search, however, and you will find
a huge number of websites on angels. These are not
Catholic or Christian websites though. Most are New
Age sites which, while not getting the doctrine on
the angels right, show a real desire to have personal
heavenly or spiritual guides. We need to rediscover
the true teaching on the angels which comes from the
Tradition.
The truth is that there are spiritual forces at work in
the world for both good and evil. Thanks be to God,
the messengers of good – the angels – are stronger than
the messengers of evil – the demons or fallen angels.
And God loves us and cares for us so much that he has
entered our world in his Son Jesus Christ, heralded by
Archangels.
If you want to see the importance of the angels, then
just read through any part of the Scriptures, either in
the Old or New Testament. On almost every page of
The grace which he gives to us, to bring us to
the Bible we find the angels not just present but as key salvation, is heralded, communicated and protected
agents in God’s relationship to mankind.
also by his Holy Angels. The primary role of the angels
is to give true and right worship to God in Heaven:
The desire to write the angels out of the story of our “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Angel Hosts”. But
Faith, or to interpret them as something which can God has given us the help of his heavenly servants so
be explained away in a rational way, are symptoms of that they can turn our eyes, our minds, and our hearts
the inability of the people of our age and culture to towards the true worship of God, in our prayer and in
grasp the absolute reality of the supernatural – things the way we glorify God in our Christian lives.
beyond the natural and visible world.
In this month of September, let us call on Our Lady,
We affirm our faith in these realities every time we the Queen of the Angels, on St Michael and all the
recite the Nicene Creed at Sunday Mass: “maker of all powers who reveal God’s love, and on our Guardian
things visible and invisible”.
Angels, who guard us and keep us in all his ways.