On Angels

When you see a feather, your guardian angel may be beside you. People say that there is an unexplainable warmth that you feel when they are nearby. However, children are blessed, most especially babies, because they can still see them. Coins dropping or seeing coins in parts of your house are signs of the presence of the celestial creatures.

In the annunciation, the religious-iconic-line, ‘the angel of the Lord declared unto Mary…’ is one but many times that angels were mentioned in the Holy Bible. Do you believe in angels?

A young little boy catching his baby brother that fell from the diaper-changing-table. A quick dash, as fast as The Flash, caught on camera. He must have had a little help from his guardian angel. Perhaps?

A pregnant mother about to give birth in the stillness of the night, her husband consoling her by the street. Then, out of nowhere a car approaches them. And, they were taken to the hospital.

A chance passenger going abroad on his birthday and making it as the last lucky passenger on the international flight. There are many more myriad stories about close encounters with angels. One thing for sure, they have perfect timing-- always at the right place and at the right time. Amazing!

If they bring with them blessings then, people should like to believe in them. However, no matter how hard we try they will never ever believe until it is too late. As they say, for those who believe no explanation is necessary, but, for those who do not believe no explanation is possible.

Did you know that there are Seven Archangels? Most people are familiar with the three; Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel, and Saint Raphael. But, how about the names of the others? These seven angels are also known as the Watchers because they look after humanity. There was a nine-level hierarchy of the heavenly host: angels, archangels, principalities, powers, virtues, dominions, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. The angels were the lowest of these, but the archangels were just above them.

Saint Michael is the first and most important of the archangels. His name means “Who is like God?” which is a reference to the battle between the fallen angels and the archangels. Lucifer (a.k.a. Satan) wanted to be like God; Michael was his antithesis.

In the Bible, Michael is the angel general and the advocate for the people of Israel, the one who appears in Daniel’s visions while in the lion’s den, and leads God’s armies with a mighty sword against Satan in the Book of Revelation. He is said to be the patron saint of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Saint Gabriel’s name may variably mean as “the strength of God,” hero of God,” or “God has shown himself mightily.” He is the holy messenger and the Archangel of Wisdom, Revelation, Prophecy, and Visions.

In the Bible, it is Gabriel who appeared to the priest Zacharias to tell him he would have a son called John the Baptist; and he appeared to the Virgin Mary to let her know that she would be soon giving birth to Jesus Christ. He is the patron of the Sacrament of Baptism.

Raphael, whose name means “God heals” or “God’s Healer,” doesn’t appear in the canonical Bible by name at all. He is considered the Archangel of Healing, and as such, there may be a leftover reference to him in John 5:2–4:

In [the pond of Bethaida] lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water. And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water, was made whole, of whatsoever infirmity he lay under. John 5:2–4. Raphael is in the apocryphal book Tobit, and he is the patron of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Furthermore, these are the other not so well-known Archangels:

Saint Uriel’s name translates to “Fire of God,” and he is the Archangel of Repentance and of the Damned. He was the specific Watcher assigned to watch over Hades, the patron of the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Saint Raguel, also known as Sealtiel, translates to “Friend of God” and he is the Archangel of Justice and Fairness, and patron of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Saint Zerachiel, also known as Saraqael, Baruchel, Selaphiel, or Sariel, is called “God’s command,” Zerachiel is the Archangel of God’s Judgment and the patron of the Sacrament of Matrimony.

Saint Remiel, also known as Jerahmeel, Jehudial, or Jeremiel, whose name means “Thunder of God,” “Mercy of God,” or “Compassion of God.” He is the Archangel of Hope and Faith, or the Archangel of Dreams, as well as the patron saint of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

(Source: N.S. Gill www dot learnreligions dot com)

In the final analysis, we may like to follow Saint Padre Pio’s advice that we should like to pray to our guardian angel, in particular, and to all angels, in general, because they exist to help us on our journey here on earth as pilgrims, so that, at the end of our life, we may not be found wanting but rather worthy of eternal life with our Lord Jesus Christ.