On this date the Church remembers the three archangels mentioned in Scripture by name: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Michael’s name literally means, “Who can compare to God?” He manifests God’s power and might by battling Satan, the huge dragon and ancient Serpent (cf. Rv 12:9), and casting him from heaven. Michael guards the people of God (cf. Dn 12:1), defends the souls of the just, and bears them to their final judgment. In 1886, Pope Leo XIII composed the Prayer to Saint Michael, which is often said at the end of Mass.
Word of God – Isaiah 6:1-3
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne, with the train of his garment filling the temple. Seraphim were stationed above; each of them had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft.
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” they cried one to the other. “All the earth is filled with his glory!”
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!
The Liturgy of the Angels
The angels are present especially at the Eucharistic sacrifice. The Mass is, actually, a sacramental participation in the liturgy of heaven, the cult officially rendered to the Trinity by the full host of the spiritual creation. The presence of the angels introduces the Eucharist into heaven itself. They help to surround it with a sacred mystery. “The angels surround the priest,” writes Saint John Chrysostom. “The whole sanctuary and the space before the altar is filled with the heavenly Powers come to honor him who is present upon the altar.” And elsewhere: “Think now of what kind of choir you are going to enter. Although vested with a body, you have been judged worthy to join the Powers of heaven in singing the praises of him who is Lord of all.” “Behold the royal table. The angels serve at it. The Lord himself is present.”
There is only one priestly activity, and that is Jesus Christ’s. By it the whole of creation glorifies the Trinity. This is this same activity that is offered by the angels in heaven and the saints on earth. This participation appears in the New Testament, where the liturgy of the Church is presented as a participation in that of the angels: But you have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the company of many thousands of angels, and to the Church of the first-born who are enrolled in the heavens, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, and to Jesus, mediator of a new testament, and to a sprinkling of blood which speaks better than Abel (Heb 12:22-24)….
The liturgy of earth is a visible reflection, an efficacious symbol, of the heavenly liturgy of the angels.
Cardinal Jean Daniélou
Cardinal Daniélou († 1974) was a French Jesuit theologian and an advisor at Vatican II. / From The Angels and Their Mission, David Heimann, tr. © Ave Maria Press®, Inc. Used with the permission of the publisher, Christian Classics™, an imprint of Ave Maria Press®, Inc., Notre Dame, IN 46556. www.avemariapress.com