Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels

Today's Mass Readings

I can remember back 40 years, to 1982, when the biggest movie of the year was E. T. The Extraterrestrial. In this movie, the extraterrestrial is stranded on earth when his ship leaves suddenly. The extraterrestrial befriends a young boy and the boy’s family, who call him E. T. The entire movie is about E. T.’s friendship with the earthlings, and their efforts to help him to return home. The movie was huge, one of the first true blockbusters. And the reason it was so big was that it asked the question, “are we alone in this big universe?” This is an important question and has become more and more prominent in our minds as we have become more aware of how vast the universe is.

However, even though science has not yet provided an answer, we Christians already know the answer. We are not alone, and today’s feast is a celebration of that fact. Of course, we still do not know if there is life on other planets. However, we do know that there are angels, who are fellow creatures and servants of God, and who are companions for us humans on our way. St. Michael in the Book of Revelation fights against the cadre of angels who rejected God and forces them out of Heaven. St. Raphael in the Book of Tobit accompanies and helps Tobiah on his journey. St. Gabriel announces to Zechariah the coming birth of his son John the Baptist and announces to Mary the coming birth of the Messiah in her son Jesus. There are as well our own guardian angels, who we will celebrate in a few days, as well as countless other angels who praise and worship God along with us and who help us on our journey to God. And so, we can know that we are not alone.

Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB