RBWords

     Christian tradition accepts the existence of beings that are not physical or corporeal.  We call them "angels," which from Greek means "messenger."  We didn't just "make them up,"however.  Their existence is part of our inheritance from Old Testament tradition.  Jesus himself speaks of angels, as in the quote above, and there are considerable references to them elsewhere in the gospels and other New Testament literature.  Only three are identified by name:  Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.  Human tradition has supplied the "saint" and the title, "archangel."  Their presence in the liturgical calendar on this feast and on October 2nd, the Guardian Angels, is testimony to their acceptance in our faith.  In the first form of the penitential rite at Mass, we ask "all the angels and saints" to pray for us!

     With all this tradition weighing in, it's hard to get away from angelic reality, but human imagination has been its own worst theological enemy at times.  Artists portray them in flowing robes with huge wings (or as fat babies with tiny wings) or, in the case of Michael, wearing medieval armor!  Gabriel's traditional role as a messenger earns him or her a long brass horn.  Perhaps, unintentionally, by reducing angels to almost cartoon representation at times, we are finding a way to "control" them and keep them inside frames or on printed pages and away from us.  The idea that some angels may not be nice can make a person uncomfortable, to say the least.  Medieval imagery has supplied us with may examples of the bad kind.  

     I'm more inclined to a benign acceptance of angels.  I salute the three who have managed to acquire a name for us to use.  I admit I like the story of Raphael in the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament.  I hope the other two won't be disappointed.  AMEN