29/09/2020 Reflection 976 (Bro. Listan Pinto OP on John 1:47-51)
Like us on Facebook at / dominicanministriesgoa write to us: [email protected] Website: www.dominicans.in #dominicanmediamission #DOMINICANFRIARSINDIA My dear brothers and sisters today the holy mother church celebrates the feast of the archangels St. Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael. The names denote, Michael one who is like God, Gabriel the strength of God and Raphael Remedy of God. A question must have arisen in our minds asking what is the difference between angels and archangels? Pope Gregory the great would answer by saying "Those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels." Each of the archangels have a special role to play St. Michael means one who is like God. We read in Rev 12:7-9 that war broke out against Satan and Satan and his angels were overpowered and cast down from heaven. St. Michael's will is focused, immovable, and entirely driven toward accomplishing goodness: he is a protector of souls, and wields his unrelenting sword of righteous, justice against the poisonous and vindictive aspirations of the one who is known as a liar from the beginning. St. Gabriel means the strength of God. We see in Lk 1:13 and in Lk 1:27-28 the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. St. Gabriel's message announced a crucial moment in humankind's history: the Saviour was, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Archangel who draws his strength from God brought us the message of strength in which we draw our hope: God Incarnate was soon to enter history for love of man. St. Raphael means remedy of God. We read about St. Raphael in Tob 12:15 wherein St. Raphael grants healing to Tobit and blesses his family. Raphael recalls our Guardian Angels, our personal protectors. What does the feast of archangels invite us to imitate? It invites us to imitate the roles of each of the archangel. St. Michael invites us to always fight against the evil one, St. Gabriel invites us to be hope in times of despair and St. Raphael invites us to be protectors and healers for each other. The gospel reading for this feast is taken from John 1:47-51 It tells us about the dialogue between Jesus and Nathanael when Philip brought him to Jesus. When Nathanael expresses his faith in Jesus saying: “Master, you are the Son of God and you are the king of Israel”, Jesus replies saying: “You believe because I said, I saw you under the fig tree? But you will see greater things than that. …you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” This has a reference to Gen 28:12 where Jacob in his dream sees a ladder that “..stood on earth with its top reaching heaven and on it were angels of God going up and coming down”. This is a symbol of the communion with God which we all strive to achieve. Jesus is inviting all of us, through this incident of Nathanael, to fulness of divine presence and be constantly in communion with God Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters let us thank the Lord for the wonderful gift of the archangels to the church and let us pray through their intercession that we may always be close to the Lord in times of temptation, despair and anxiety. Amen.