A Homily for the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel

​+ The worst fear of any person is often to be alone, to be without friends, without help. The realisation of our own inability in the face of many situations, daily and occasional, increases with age and sickness. We need support. We need assistance. We cannot survive alone.
 
If this is true for our material life in the world, how much truer it is for our Christian life! We cannot save ourselves from sin and death. We need a Redeemer. We need God's grace and strength which we receive in baptism and in the other sacraments, most particularly in the sacrament of Confession which cleanses our sins anew, and in the sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist which gives us strength and nourishment to persevere in the duty we have to be faithful to Christ in every circumstance, every day.
 
This is almost an impossible task: to be faithful every day, in each circumstance. But again, we have help. Almighty God does not leave us alone after we receive the sacraments. He gives us each an angel - a guardian angel - to accompany, to guide and to protect us. We will celebrate the feast of the guardian angels next week, on October 2nd.
 
But, as today's feast teaches us, Almighty God also puts at our disposition the Archangel Michael, the great soldier of God and defender against the devil. For sometimes - maybe even often - we also need his strength and protection!
 
Saint Gregory the Great teaches us in matins this morning:
 
“As often as anything very mighty is to be done, we see that Michael is sent, that by that very thing, and by his name, we may remember that none is able to do as God doeth. Hence that old enemy whose pride hath puffed him up to be fain to be like unto God, even he who said, I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like the Most High (Isa. xiv. 13, 14), this old enemy, when at the end of the world he is about to perish in the last death, having no strength but his own, is shown unto us a-fighting with Michael the Archangel, even as saith St John (Apoc. xii. 7): There was war in heaven Michael and his Angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.”
 
So, we are not alone! We have a powerful soldier who will come to our assistance and to our aid, especially when the devil tempts us to great evil, especially when all seems lost - as can often be the case in a person's life when he or she has wandered far from the teaching of Christ.
 
So too, in the world - and even sometimes in the Church - when people or institutions move away from the truth of Christ, we can and must invoke St Michael (the “guardian angel of France”!) to defend and protect us. We cannot combat all the evil in the world by ourselves. We need help. To invoke his help by praying the traditional prayer to Saint Michael is an excellent devotion to which we can have recourse, particularly in times of temptation and distress - personal or collective.
 
So too we should seek to imitate the humility of Saint Michael - he who adored God, rather than rejecting Him, as did Lucifer in his pride. Do we adore God or ourselves? Before the Truth of God taught by His Church are we humble or full of pride - a pride that brings about more and more evil in ourselves and others?
 
So too we should imitate St Michael's determination to defend the truth. He invites us to fight for what is good, to act and to react in order to defend the Truth: he calls us to choose our side, just as he himself chose the side of Almighty God in the face of Lucifer’s rebellion.
 
As we assist at this Holy Mass, in the company of all the saints and angels, let us take much confidence: for we are not alone. Help is available - if only we will aks for it.
 
Saint Michael the Archangel, show us the way with your light!
Saint Michael the Archangel, protect us with your wings!
Saint Michael the Archange, defend us with your sword! +