The three Holy Archangels named in the bible are named Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. While the devil seeks to master us with lies, above all the lies "I can be like God, I am strong enough without Him, I don't need Him for anything" they seek to set us free with the truth - no one is like God, God is my strength, God has healed. As a final slap in the devil's face, God raises us up in Christ, to be like Him in a manner even the Angels cannot attain.
When I was a little boy, I was given a little statue with which, I think, most of you will be familiar; the statue has a winged Angel dressed in Greco-Roman armour, with a sword in his right hand, and a somewhat pitiful looking horned-devil trampled under his foot. It’s a popular statue, and the image is reimagined and remade by a thousand different producers of such religious articles, of Saint Michael the Archangel, casting the Devil out of heaven. We hold an image in our heads of the angels, winged, dressed in armour, carrying flaming swords, or else robed in white and strumming on harps in the clouds.
Likewise, we all have an image of the demons in our head. When I went on pilgrimage to Medjugorje years ago, there was an Irish woman who was constantly going on about “old red legs” – how old red legs was out to get her. When someone finally asked her who old red legs was she said – the devil. When asked why she called the devil “old red legs” she said – your legs’d be red too if you were standing in the fires of hell all day. Even if not quite this graphic, we all have this image in our minds of the demons as red-skinned monsters with horns and leathery wings and goats’ legs.
But angels and demons are creatures of pure spirit. They don’t have bodies, and so they don’t necessarily have an appearance. Look at the angels of the Old Testament, they appear as these terrifying monstrosities, burning wheels covered in eyes, or bronze-skinned three headed winged man-beasts. No wonder, that whenever an Angel appears to someone, the first thing they normally say is do not be afraid. On the other hand St Paul writes to the Corinthians that the devil could appear as an angel of light. The angels and the demons don’t have bodies, so they don’t have a fixed appearance. What this also means is that, unlike in that little statuette, they don’t fight with armour and swords – you can’t swing a sword if you don’t have hands to hold it with.
So, how do the angels and demons fight? As beings of pure spirit, they communicate with the intellect – and they fight each other with ideas. The devil overpowered one third of the angels, and tries to overpower us, with his own wicked idea: you can be like God. This temptation to pride is his greatest weapon, more powerful than any sword, because it cuts to the soul and separates us from God. The Devil’s rebellion was the proliferation of this deadly idea that created beings could make themselves God’s equals. It is this wicked idea that leads to every human evil, every sin has at it’s root the belief that I am equal to God and can do as I please.
In response, God raised up an Archangel to do battle with Him, and his name was Michael. Michael, in Hebrew, is a name which communicates an idea. An idea powerful enough to defeat Satan’s lie; Michael means, Who is like God?
Who is like God? Nobody, no created being, no angel (however great) no human being (however wise or strong). The Angels who had fallen for Satan’s lie were cast from heaven, living in torment with this powerful reminder of their own smallness raging against their pride and desire for greatness; who is like God?
The Devil wants to drag us down, so that we will be miserable like Him for all eternity. He repeats his lies in angel tones; you can be like God, you are strong enough, you are enough without Him. But today is the feast of three of the Holy Archangels; Michael, who cast the devil and his fallen angels from heaven, Gabriel, whose name means God is my strength, and Raphael, meaning God has healed. Each of them carries with them a weapon for us against the wiles of the Devil. Michael, gives us the weapon of humility, reminding us that there is none like God. Gabriel, likewise, teaches us to seek strength in the Lord and not in ourselves. Raphael, reminds us that we are broken and in need of healing, that we need God to heal us.
We seek the powerful protection of the Angels, who gather around the throne of God, that we may not fall to the Devil’s lies. We seek their help to guide us and guard us, as we seek to follow the path of humility laid out for us by Christ. He was in the form of God, yet humbled himself even to death, he was raised by the Father and on account of his humility, was brought before the throne of the ancient of days; On him and him alone was conferred sovereignty, glory and kingship, which shall never pass away.
This is the greatest mockery that God throws in the devil’s face; that he elevates little creatures like us, lower than the angels, and through Christ, He truly makes us like God.
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