Archangels

Most of us would recognize the words of St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians 2:9. "Eye has not seen and ear has not heard. . ." Despite this rather definitive response to human inquisitiveness, most of us persist in trying to imagine what heaven might be like. Our preoccupation with or our concern about heaven is quite normal. It has been going on ever since the human family was introduced to the notion of an afterlife. Our Christian faith teaches us that we are destined for something other than what we experience here and now.

When the people of Israel tried to envision what God's heavenly court might look like, they quite naturally used the only frame of reference they had; namely, the earthly courts of kings and emperors in their part of the world and in their particular period of history. The sacred authors therefore envision God sitting on a throne surrounded by ministers who are simply waiting to do the king's bidding. While earthly kings had courtiers, pages, ladies and men in waiting, court musicians, ambassadors, heralds, messengers, and even jesters surrounding them, God was envisioned as having thousands of spirits performing these same kinds of deeds. We have come to call these ministers "angels."

Today we celebrate three of those ministers: Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael. Each of them is mentioned in our Scriptures. Each performed a specific function. Gabriel is the figure who delivers messages from God. Michael is the figure that defends the heavenly realm and protects its citizens. Raphael represents God's healing power in the life of Tobit. While these are the only three archangels mentioned by name in the Scriptures, the Book of Tobit tells us that there were seven such messengers or servants of God. I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand and serve before the Glory of the Lord. (Tobit 12:15) The Book of Enoch, a non-canonical Hebrew text, names the other four as Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, and Jerahmeel. Thus all seven of the names end in the letters "el," a common name for God in the Hebrew Scriptures. Each of them represents an attribute that we find in God.

Angels and archangels are joined by seven other "categories" of heavenly beings: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations, powers, virtues, and principalities. Together these various heavenly beings form God's court, the servants of God. As we celebrate the three named archangels of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, we remember that God cares for us. These spiritual beings are manifestations of that loving kindness.