Newton Basumatari csc –
Readings: Dan 7: 9-10, 13-14; Jn 1:47-51
Today we celebrate the feast of the Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. This celebration reminds us that we need to remain in God’s presence always like the angels, who are always with the Lord glorifying Him every moment. Angels are the messengers of God; they are like bridge between human beings and God.
The Gospel of the day presents before us the two-fold activity of angels: ‘ascending’ and ‘descending’ on the Son of Man. The angels ascend to praise God and descend to serve the people on behalf of God. The angels in their freedom praise God always and serve the humanity according to the will of God. The archangel Gabriel brought God’s good news to Zachariah and Mary, Raphael enabled Tobias to experience God’s accompaniment and Michael protected the faithful from the attack of the evil.
Like the archangels we too are called to be in the presence of God praising him and serving him and his people. To have the qualities of angels, we need to be responsible in using the freedom that we have received from God. There are times we misuse freedom, yet God sends his people to remind us of the need to be responsible. It could be through elders, our friends, teachers, and formators, who perform the duty of the angels. Today let our prayer be, Lord help us to listen to the voice of the Angels who will lead us to you. In our day-to-day living, help us to be angels to our neighbors, Inspire us to help them to find support and consolation in you when they are in problems and difficult situations.