September 29, 2009
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The Feast of the Archangels
Other than being my birthday, September 29th is the Feast of the Archangels (Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael). I had a thought during Mass today, “Why did God even create angels in the first place? Couldn’t he just do all their work himself?” I knew the answer to the second question to be, “Yes, he could.”
I thought further on the first question and decided that God would never do something himself if he could, instead, ask someone else to do it for him, that they may receive the gift of serving God. If God did everything himself, he would deny the opportunity for anyone else to serve the God they love so much.
For example, back when I was young and in love oh so many years ago (ha!), I jumped at any opportunity to serve the woman for whom my heart beat. Can you imagine, then, the joy an angel must experience when it is missioned by God or asked to do something for him? Can imagine St. Gabriel’s joy when God asked him to deliver a certain message to Mary?
So it seems to me that he created angels because he is so giving that he wished to reserve nothing for himself, save for being God (an important thing!). He didn’t create the heavenly host because he is a huge bum with lots of power and a disdain for sweat, but because he knew the joy that others would experience in serving him and he wanted to give them that opportunity.
Our God is so loving and so giving that he deigns to act upon the world through the choices and actions of his creatures, of angels and humans, because he knows how much they wish to serve him out of love. As his servants rejoice in serving him, he shares in their joy.
My two or three cents on it anyways.
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Comments (25)
I agree!!! Oh, how great it will be to hopefully meet them in person someday, after passing from this world!
Angels, like humans, are fascinating to me. It’s quite wonderful
happy birthday
well happy birthday.. that’s an amazing and beautiful realization =)
Happy Birthday!!
Actually angels and the other heavenly (and non-heavenly/evil) powers allow God to work with us and still maintain Free Will. Can you imagine God showing up to Mary or Zechariah or any of the Jewish in the desert for 40 years? Their free will would have been overridden. However, if you have angels and other powers, God is still sovereign, He still gets unbidden love and joy, but its from people and heavenly powers that know Him on a personal level and not just a supernatural experience.
Feliz cumpleanos!
And very good post. I agree!
Happy birthday, Jacob!
Happy, Happy Birthday
and thank you again for upholding me in prayer.
@greenbird321 - For some reason I’ve had the darndest time trying to say “you are welcome” and that I love praying for you! Come on Xanga, let me reply………!
@greenbird321 - Huzzah! It worked!
Happy belated birthday! I hope you had a great one.
I enjoyed reading in my Magnificat about the feast day and saw a neat old show on EWTN that day too.
I had a “vision” shortly after Steve and I got married in 2006. I was in our bedroom in the dark, and an angel came and wrapped me in his wings. Inside the wings, it was sort of vast…I could reach out in all directions and not touch the end of the space…sort of like the camping tents in the Harry Potter books, or what it must be like to be inside Mary Poppins’ bag. I could see under his wings where the bedroom was, and time/space was normal outside his wings. inside his wings was like being in another place (or maybe even dimension?). I have wondered whether it was a valid God-based vision or just a wacky imagination moment. I even asked a priest about it once, but he didn’t have anything to say. What I took away from it was that we have no grasp of the amazing abilities of angels, and that they are very safe to be around. It was a peaceful, happy, comforting thing for me.
@BigToePeople - It seems to me that a being such as an angel, whose “average day” consists of being in the constant, complete sight of God, has enough room in their wingspan to contain a great deal of mystery. Some experiences, like this deep contemplation, have no explanation, but whether this is your mind and heart making a deep connection to a greater spiritual truth, a beautiful imagining, or a vision from God, it seems to me to be a moment of holiness and a cause for gratitude to God, “from whom all good things come.”
@Ancient_Scribe - Thank you so much for this perspective. It has a ring of truth, as if you’re putting to words what my instinct was. Whether it was a mental connection with spirit, an imagining, or a vision…it gives me an inkling about the angels and about our God. It gives me comfort and a real trust in God and angel’s might. My husband is right here and I read your response here to my husband and also told him of your prayers that my mom would come to understand the Eucharist and come to the Catholic Church and also that we become parents. He’s very grateful. As am I. So glad we’ve connected here on Xanga. You have a great ministry of comfort to many of your Xanga friends.
Happy happy birthday brother!! you are a blessing to so many and my prayer is that God blesses you in return tenfold!
and sorry this is late =]
@gracebeyondmeasure - Hey no worries! It is good to see you around Xanga again!!
Relationships seem to be central to God’s sens of what is good. So it makes sense that He’d accomplish his goals through relationships (individual agents, human or otherwise) whenever possible.
so more people to serve god? I think he should of just told Mary himself. Would have made Mary feel more honored. But im not much for a middle man.
@Niccee - But angels can serve him in ways and in places where humans cannot, so, yes; more servants for God! Can you imagine their joy, to be there in the presence of God and then one day He points to one and says, “Will you serve me?”
I believe he sent Gabriel because he wanted the whole thing to be up to Mary. If God asked you something in person, how could you possibly say no? Our human will is naturally attracted to what is good, and being that God is perfect and the most good that anything or anyone can possibly be, no human being (sinless or not!) could possibly say no. However, sending Gabriel to speak on His behalf, God honors Mary even more by respecting her free will, placing all of salvation in her hands for that moment when all heaven and earth held their breath, praying that she would say, “I do” to God’s proposal. All human experience (this side of heaven, anyways) is mediated somehow, whether by angel, dream, the Spirit (who works always under a veil of mysery) or the flesh as is the case of Jesus Christ, when God appeared to us as one of us. He does this not out of laziness or inability, but out of love.
masturbation is self improvement.
@puritea - Really?
yes, really.
@puritea - How?
i love the description of the Archangels in John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”. my favorite angel is Raphael. my second favorite, i think is Michael.
@kesummer -
Raphael is known as the angel of healing, and Michael the defender. I am sure they are praying for you constantly, and serving you in ways you might never know in this life. Don’t forget that they are always with you!