From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Knowledge and love   
      
   Rather than engaging in futile disputation let us seek to have the   
   love of Christ burning within us. ... an old woman can be more expert   
   in the love of God, and less worldly as well, than a theologian whose   
   studies are useless because they are undertaken out of vanity in order   
   to win a reputation and obtain stipends and positions of honor. Such a   
   one should be reckoned not a doctor but a fool.   
   --Richard Rolle   
      
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   September 29th - SS Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels    
      
   There are few explicit references to angels in the earlier books of   
   the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament). The word ‘angel’ comes from the   
   Greek angelos and simply means a ‘messenger’.   
      
   They begin to appear in the later books, for instance, in the Book of   
   Daniel and seem to date from after the Babylonian exile. However, in   
   the Book of Genesis (Gen 18 and 19) there are the three men who visit   
   Abraham, who gives them hospitality. One of them seems to be Yahweh   
   and the other two angels. While Yahweh stays with Abraham, the other   
   two go on to Sodom. There they are received by Lot and while in his   
   house, the people of Sodom come and demand to have intimacies with his   
   visitors. The next day, the visitors urge Lot to leave Sodom with his   
   wife and two daughters. The city with Gomorrah is then destroyed.   
      
   Again there is mention in the story of Jacob, who had a dream of   
   Yahweh’s messengers going up and down on a ladder which reached to the   
   heavens (Gen 28:12). And in chapter 33 Jacob wrestled with a ‘man’ all   
   during the night and when the ‘man’ could not win he struck Jacob’s   
   hip in its socket. Before leaving him, the ‘man’ said that Jacob from   
   now on would be called Israel, the name that would be given to God’s   
   people. This ‘man’ is often called an angel.   
   According to some Jewish texts, there were seven archangels, three of   
   whom we remember in today’s feast--Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.   
      
   Angels are mentioned frequently in the New Testament. Angels brought   
   messages to Mary, Joseph, Zechariah (father of John the Baptist), the   
   shepherds at Bethlehem, angels ministering to Jesus during his fasting   
   in the wilderness, consoling him during his Agony in the Garden, at   
   the tomb of Jesus after his resurrection, and the angel who freed   
   Peter from prison in the Acts of the Apostles.   
      
   Only two references are made to ‘archangels’ in the New   
   Testament--Michael in Jude 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, Revelation   
   12:7-9, and Gabriel in Luke 1:26ff.   
      
   Michael: In Jude the author is speaking against false teachers. He   
   says they behave immorally and revile God’s “glorious beings”, perhaps   
   a reference to angels. But, unlike them, Michael in his dispute with   
   Satan over the body of Moses never spoke judgement against him but   
   left it to God’s own decision.   
      
   In the First Letter to the Thessalonians Paul is speaking about the   
   Second Coming of Christ which he believes will come in the lifetime of   
   the present believers. At that moment, “there will be the shout of   
   command, the archangel’s voice, the sound of God’s trumpet and the   
   Lord himself will come down from heaven” (4:16). The archangel here is   
   understood to be Michael.   
      
   In the Book of Revelation chapter 12 , in a passage speaking of the   
   power of evil in opposition to God and his people, we are told that   
   war broke out in heaven between Michael and his angels and the dragon,   
   representing the powers of evil. Evil could not prevail and was driven   
   from the presence of God.   
      
   Gabriel is mentioned just once in the whole Bible, in the New   
   Testament. It is in the lovely scene in Nazareth where he visits the   
   virgin called Mary and tells her that she will become pregnant, that   
   she will bear a son who will be called Jesus and that he will be the Son   
   of the Most High God. Mary, who is betrothed to Joseph but not yet   
   living with him as his wife, is alarmed. But she is assured that the   
   Child will be born by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary then submits   
   completely and unconditionally to God’s will: “I am the slave girl of   
   the Lord; let it happen to me just as you say.” (Luke 1:26-38)   
      
   Raphael appears in the lovely Book of Tobit (not found in the Hebrew   
   Testament or many Protestant Bibles). The archangel is the   
   unrecognised friend of Tobit who goes in search of his inheritance and   
   a bride. The girl he finds is Sarah. Alarmingly, he discovers that all   
   her previous husbands died on the wedding night. But God’s blessing   
   was on this relationship. Raphael also helped Tobit catch the fish   
   whose gall would cure his father’s cataracts and restore his sight   
   (Tobit passim).   
      
   Michael in the Hebrew language means “Who is like unto God?” or “Who   
   is equal to God?” Michael has been depicted from earliest Christian   
   times as a commander, who holds in his right hand a spear with which   
   he attacks Lucifer, Satan, and in his left hand a green palm branch.   
   At the top of the spear there is a linen ribbon with a red cross.   
      
   Gabriel means “Man of God” or “Might of God”. He is regarded as the   
   herald of the mysteries of God, especially the Incarnation of God and   
   all other mysteries related to it. In art he is depicted holding a   
   lantern with a lighted tape in his right hand and, in his left, a   
   mirror of green jasper.   
      
   The mirror signifies the wisdom of God as a hidden mystery.   
      
   Raphael means “God’s healing” or “God the Healer” (Tobit 3:17,   
   12:15).   
   Raphael is depicted leading Tobit, who is carrying a fish caught in   
   the Tigris in his right hand and holding a physician’s alabaster jar   
   in his left.   
      
      
   Saint Quote:   
   God has promised pardon to the one who repents, but He has not   
   promised repentance to the one who sins!   
   -- Saint Anselem of Canterbury   
      
   Bible Quote:   
   "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become   
   children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not   
   of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of   
   God."  (John 1:12-13) DRB   
      
      
   <><><><>   
   A prayer to Saint Michael, for aid against the spiritual enemies of God:   
      
   Glorious St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly hosts, who standest always   
   ready to give assistance to the people of God; who didst fight with the   
   dragon, the old serpent, and didst cast him out of heaven, and now   
   valiantly defendest the Church of God that the gates of hell may never   
   prevail against her, I earnestly entreat thee to assist me also, in the   
   painful and dangerous conflict which I have to sustain against the same   
   formidable foe.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)