Monday, 29 September 2025 -- Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels
Dan 7:9-10, 13-14 or Rev 12:7-12a: Jn 1:47-51
Homily
Throughout the liturgical year, we celebrate the feasts of the Lord and the Virgin Mary, as well as many men and women who, through either their martyrdom or the holiness of their lives, have manifested the holiness of God. Today we have a somewhat special feast. We celebrate three archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, whose names we know from the Old and New Testaments, and all the other angels whose names we do not know.
They are mysterious beings, whose existence we cannot doubt, since Jesus himself speaks of them in his encounter with Nathanael, in the Gospel passage we have just heard. In the Old Testament, we know, among others, the archangel Raphael, who accompanied Tobit on his long journey; and in the New Testament, we know above all the angel Gabriel, who revealed to Mary her mission as Mother of God and to Joseph his paternal responsibility towards Jesus, the son of Mary his wife, born of the Holy Spirit.
According to Church tradition, each and every one of us has also been given a guardian angel to accompany us on our journey to Paradise. The Book of Revelation also tells us about the angels of God who, on the day of judgement, will separate those who will go to eternal heavenly bliss from those who, having refused God's love, will go to eternal punishment. The word angel means ‘sent’ or ‘messenger.’ Even though today's feast concerns these heavenly beings who are in the heavenly kingdom, nothing prevents us from also praying on this day for all those whom God places on our path to guide us on our pilgrimage here below, especially for the members of our community, our sisters and brothers. Each and every one of them, in different circumstances, are God's messengers, and therefore God's angels. And we are all called to fulfil this role towards one another, even if we do not always behave like angels!
On this feast of the Holy Angels, let us thank God for all the angels, visible and invisible, whom he has placed on our path.