St Michael the Archangel: Defender of God’s people

Owing to their invisible nature, the existence of angels may not be obvious to humans. They are called angels (Greek for “messenger”), because, according to the Bible, they carry out missions at God’s command. In order to complete these missions, they can at times assume bodily form, as in the case of Gabriel, in Luke 1:26. Raphael is said to be an angel of healing (Tobit 12, John 5:2-4). 

The Bible mentions seven orders of celestial beings: Angels, Powers, Principalities, Dominions, Thrones, Seraphim and Cherubim. Based on references throughout the Bible, the Church teaches that everyone has a guardian angel. 

Michael (“Who is like God”) is well known as the archangel who was empowered by God to cast Lucifer out of Heaven.  

According to Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, Lucifer was of the highest sphere of celestial beings. He became so impressed with his own beauty, intelligence, power, and position that he began to desire for himself the honor and glory that belonged to God alone. This pride represents the actual beginning of sin in the universe—preceding the fall of Adam and Eve. Having been cast out by a lowly archangel, was quite a humiliation to Lucifer. The story is similar to that of David and Goliath, in 1 Samuel 17.

Basing on Revelations 12, Christian art depicts St. Michael as a knight-warrior, wearing battle armor, and wielding a sword or spear, while standing triumphantly on a serpent or other representation of Satan. In Catholic tradition, St. Michael has four duties: To continue to wage battle against Satan and the other fallen angels; to save the souls of the faithful from the power of Satan especially at the hour of death; to protect the People of God, and to lead the souls of the departed from this life and present them to God for the particular judgment, and for the final judgment, at the end of time. 

Guardian  angel

According to some accounts, on October 13, 1884, Pope Leo XIII had a vision in which Satan asked God for permission to destroy the Church, within a period of 100 years. God granted the request. The story is similar to that in Job 1:9.

The vision prompted the Pope to compose this prayer, to be recited throughout the Church: “Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the Divine Power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. “

Satan was unable to destroy the Catholic Church in the 20th century. But the battle between God and Satan, is still within the Church and society, in one form or another. A close look at the events of the last 100 years reveals many divisions within the Church. There is an increase in evil, the culture of death, violence, two World Wars, abortion, sexual sins, same-sex unions, pornography, attack on the family, spread of atheism and Secular Humanism, euthanasia, scandals in clerical life and religious life, among others.

Personal  battles

Each of us has had our own battles against Satan, trying to turn us away from eternal life with God. 1 Peter 5:8 urges us to “Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour”. 

Prayer, the sacraments and the Word of God are an essential part of what St. Paul calls the “armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11). Whenever we pray we fight “not against flesh and blood but against principalities and power, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness” (Ephesians 6:12).

God calls each one of us to defend the Christian faith by living it daily, in word and deed. We need the patronage of St. Michael, the Archangel.