The Saint Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael

“When Jeses saw Nathanael coming he said of him, ’There, truely, is an Israelite in whom there is no deception. Nathanael asked, ’How do you know me?’ Jesus replied, ’Before Philip came out to call you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

Today is the feast day in the Church of the Saints the Archangels who help us as we journey towards God. This, in a combat for Life, Light and Love. God gave orders to his angels , not to withdraw us from our ways, but to keep us carefully and to lead us in God’s ways.They are mediators for us, guiding us on paths they themselves follow. You might say: ’How can this be? Angels, of course act out of pure purity and out of charity alone ; but you at least, constrained and warned by the necessary state of your condition, come down, condescend to your neighbour by giveing him proof of your mercy towards him; then still imitating the angels, raise up your desire and with all the ardour of your heart try to go up to eternal truth’, says Saint Bernard.’ Very often, we complain about not having enough strength to face our spiritual combat. We forget that we are not alone., for the Angels and Saints are our very efficient allies. We can call to them to help us. They are powerful warlords who act when we ask them to. They deeply respect the freedom in which we have been created. If we prefer to remain alone, they don’t sulk, but they leave us to struggle by ourselves. Yet, they protect us in an invisiibl a way that is most surprising. This we shall find out in heaven. Jesus evokes the open heavens, making reference to Jacob’s ladder where angels go up and descend. He announces the union of human nature to divine nature.

“Nathanael said to Jesus :”Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.“Jesus replied, ’You believe that just because I said : I saw you under the fig tree. You are going to see greater things thna that.”

In the Gospel, the fig tree evokes the Word of God. Moses and Aaron go up and come down with the Words of God, thus Sianai touches earth and reaches

heaven. By grace Nathanel recognises in Jesus the King Messiah and Jesus accepts this act of faith. Nathanael is going to become a withness of still even greater signs! He will live the great public signs done by Jesus, from the wine at Cana and the Cross and the Resurrection. We too want to dwell in the living Word of Jesus, for we are the theatre of the good and bad spirits but we want to discern them and look at the these thoughts in our hearts, our gestures, our atttude,we want to submit them to God’s Light so that his work of Love can come about in us. We know that an unpleasant word can hurt, that a gesture that isn’t controlled can provoke violence; all this, we don’t want for if our heart is the receptacle of a great combat, we want, with the help of Angels, to dwell with Jesus. Thus we dwell in Jesus Christ, who, in his flesh, has killed hatred for us. The smaller we are, the more efficient are the angels, the ’protectors’ from heaven.

“Jesus added, ’In all truth i tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God acending and descending over the Son of man.”

So that the Virgin Mary was free to give her consent, at the Annunciation, God sends the Archangel Gabriel. Raphael, Tobit’s healer, starts off on a journey, accompanied by his young son Toby, and when he comes back Raphael will cure old Tobit of his blindness. The angels are given to us in this way, to accompany us an dhelp us as we go on our way; They consolidate us. "The angels go up for them, they come down for us, or rather they go down with us. These blessed spirits go up by the contemplation for God and they go down to take care of us and to keep us in all our ways. They go up towards God to enjoy his Presence ; they descend towards us to obey his orders, for he commanded them to take care of us. At the same time, as they come down to us, they are not deprived of the glory which brings them happiness, they can always see the face of the Father…’said Saint Bernard. Jesus will say about little ones : ’Their angel see ceasingly the Face of God. The angels and Archangels are powerful aids, just as are the saints, in this great combat we are in! It is Jesus’ own combat, that of Mary, of the Church, it is the combat of humanity, of each one of us. The liar can use us, without us knowing it, to do his work of destruction and division, but even if a brother was its ’support’ we should never combat with arms of the liar, for our brother is saved by the Blood of Christ. The saints and angels assure us of invisible protection.