Fr. Nate's Letter - September 29, 2024

Every Sunday we profess our faith with the Nicene Creed. I have to admit that there’s a portion of the Creed that I didn’t pay much attention to in the past, but I have since changed. We begin the Creed with, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” The “invisible” portion never really jumped out at me until a few years back, while I was reading a piece about the Angels by St. John Paul the II, who made a note of this. In essence, every week I profess my belief in the existence of Angels.

You and I have many reminders that Angels exist.
(I once thought of counting all the depictions of Angels that we have here in the basilica, but it’s a bit complicated because while there are the obvious ones – holding up the roof for example – some Angels are even tucked away in hidden places, such as the windows in the loft. There are 21 Angels in the sanctuary alone!) Sadly, sometimes it seems that Angels are treated as a figment of imagination, or a nice name we might give to someone who comes to our assistance. But they are REAL beings, as we profess. During the prayers at every Mass, just before the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord, we pray that we might join the angels in their song, which we then proceed to sing, Holy, Holy, Holy.

September 29th is the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, three Angels that we hear reference to in the Scriptures. We read of St. Michael arising to do battle against Lucifer and his fallen angels in the Book of Revelation, and we ask St. Michael to defend us in battle as we wage war against the devil. In the Book of Tobit we read about St. Raphael coming to the aid of the young Tobias and Sara, and we ask him to accompany us on our journey and to bring us God’s gift of healing. We encounter St. Gabriel a number of times in the Scriptures, bringing God’s message or request, and what always stands out foremost is his visit to Mary, the Mother of God. Because the feast falls on Sunday this year we don’t observe it, but we remember the Archangels nonetheless.

With that, the Church also celebrates the Feast of the Guardian Angels on October 2nd this week. The reading from the Scriptures for that day serves as a reminder of the relationship one should have with their Guardian Angel: “Behold I send my angel before you, to guard you on your way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Give heed to him, hearken to his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression… If you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your adversaries.” (Exodus 23:20-22)

We believe that these beings are of superior intelligence and this should always lead us to consider two things. First, what a gift God has given us in placing an Angel by our side – that God should take one of his servants and assign them to accompany us! There’s a beautiful verse that goes, “dear Angel at my side, how loving thou must be, to leave thy home in heaven, to guard a wretch like me.” We’re never alone. This leads us to ask ourselves, how often do we thank God for this gift? And considering the words of Scripture, that we are not to rebel against him, but to heed his voice, how often do we seek and ask for our Guardian Angel’s guidance and help??? If, as the saints teach us, the Angels have superior intelligence, how rude we are if we treat our Angel as though he doesn’t exist.

As the Angels are looking over us here in the basilica while we profess that we “believe,” these feasts always serve as a nice reminder to us to seek the help of the Angels, and not to do anything that our Guardian Angel would be embarrassed of.

Wishing you all God’s blessing this week!

Keeping you in prayer, and say one for me.

- Fr. Nate