As most of you have realized, today we celebrate the feast of Saint Michael and all Angels, transferred from this coming Thursday. This feast is an extremely special day for me. The reason the feast of Saint Michael and all Angels is so special to me is because of the Saint Michael’s Conference. Many of you know about the Saint Michael’s Conference, and know that lots of our amazing youth attend the conference yearly.
In fact, not so long ago, when I was still but a youth, I attended my very first Saint Michael’s Conference. I faithfully attended as a conferee for nine years, and it was the most formative experience of my life. I met and became very close to a number of young adults, and priests who would become the greatest influences in my young life. And I met my wife there. One priest in particular quickly became someone whom I could count on and confide in. I think many of you knew him; his name was Father Jack Bowling. Father Bowling was my first Father Confessor, he was a confidant, and he and several other priests helped me discern a call, a call I felt at around 18 years of age to the Priesthood. As you all can tell it took a while for me to fully listen, as I was just ordained this year! Talk about a long discernment process!
One of the reasons I bring up Father Bowling is that I cannot hear the reading from The Revelation to John today without hearing it in his voice. “THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN, MICHAEL AND HIS ANGELS FIGHTING AGAINST THE DRAGON.” Father Bowling read that at Saint Michael’s during the pageant on the last night. To this day it still gives me goose bumps. And to this day it still makes me think, what does war in Heaven look like, and what in the world are they fighting over?
To answer this I first have to answer a few other questions. First, what are Angels, and second what is their job? Angels are creatures created by God, and there are various types of angels. Michael is one of the seven archangels and one of only two angels named in the Old Testament, Gabriel being the other. Saint Thomas in his Summa , developed three spheres of angels each sphere composed of three types of angels, which gives us the nine choirs of angels. The first sphere consists of Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones, the second Dominions, Virtues, and Powers, and the third, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. I am not going to get into the individual job assignments of all the angels, but I would like to mention a few. The Seraphim and Cherubim are described in several places in the Bible as attending to God on his throne, and being in constant worship of God. They are indeed part of the heavenly Host which will join us as we sing the Sanctus and Benedictus today. Archangels have been understood as protectors of nations. Michael, was viewed as the protector of Israel, and is now the protector of The Church. Each of us has a guardian angel who is there to help guide us and protect us.
One of my favorite books is The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis. This book gives a wonderful view of what the opposite of a guardian angel is. It is an account of the daily life of a rookie fallen angel who under the guidance of a master, Screwtape, tries to win the soul of a young man for eternal damnation. I enjoy this book for lots of reasons, the first because it helps me to recognize the devilish temptations I have in my own life, the second being that it allows me to imagine dear Wormwood’s foil, his opposite, my guardian angel, assisting me in my daily struggle to not submit to sin.
At this point you may be asking yourself, Father Chris, where are you going with all this? So, let me remind you of the first question I set out to answer. What in the world does war in heaven look like? What caused it?
I have heard many, many stories about how and why one of God’s angels turned on God and took many angels with him. Many have said that the great sin of the Devil was pride. So what happened?
We should really do our best to stick with what is in the Bible to come to a conclusion. We know from the reading in Revelation today that a war in heaven involves Michael and his angels defeating the great serpent and casting him down onto the Earth. We also know from Luke chapter 10:18 that Jesus describes seeing Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning, and that Jesus gives those who follow him the power over the Satan. So what does war in heaven look like; it looks like Satan being cast down from heaven like lightning onto the Earth. And what is it that they are fighting over? What prize is so great that an angel would dare contend with God his Creator? What glorious prize is so magnificent that a creature would dare try to steal it away from its Creator?
The answer is All of us! Humanity is the crown jewel of Creation, and I do not say this to boast, I say this because Genesis reveals to us that of all God created, only one part of His creation bears His image : Man and Women. “So God created man in his image in the image of God he created them male and female he created them.” Not the trees, not the rocks, not birds, not cattle, not dogs or cats, but humanity bears the very image of God. And what a prize humanity bearing that image would be for Satan. Yet God does not allow Satan to claim us, even though he has tried so hard, no God instead allows his Word to become incarnate through Blessed Mary the Virgin, and The Word through which all creation was made, becomes flesh and dwells among us. Jesus’s life, passion, death, and resurrection, grant us all the tools to battle the devil and his fallen angels. The war in heaven is the war we fight every single day to not fall into the traps laid out in front of us to sin, and to repent when we do slip up. And thank God that he has provided us with Angels to protect us, help us, and guide us in this war against our own pride, our own weakness that cause us creatures, to put ourselves in front of our Creator, and not give Him the honor, and worship He deserves.
In closing I want to urge you all to invoke the protection of angels upon yourselves, and your families, and your houses. It’s easy to do, in fact today you will hear one of the most amazing blessings I have ever heard at the end of this liturgy, and I am going to say it as I end this sermon. So when you see the sermon posted on Facebook, click on it and grab this blessing out of the text. Six and a half years ago, Kate and I were blessed with our first child Maggie-Jane. Since the day she was born, and since the day Michael, and Martha, were born, Kate or I have said this blessing over them as the last thing they hear from us every night. It is a plea for the protection of the heavenly host, for intercession of all the saints, and for God’s blessing. And consequently, every time I say it, or hear it, I hear it in Father Bowling’s voice; it is a gift he has left with me, and with every single young person who has attended The Saint Michael’s conference.
So: May Blessed Michael and all the angels of God watch over us, may the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Saints pray for us, and may the blessing of God almighty, The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost, be upon us, and remain with us always.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Christian M. Wood
The Church of the Redeemer
St. Michael & All Angels (Tr.)
25 September 2016