The feast of the Archangels celebrated recently on 29th of September reminisced the presence of three main archangels of the Catholic Church; Michael, Gabriel and Raphael to whom we pray often. God offered to us a squad of angels to guard each one of us in every step of the way and we address them as our guardian angels. Out of the plethora of angels God sent to this world, the archangels possess a prominent place in all of our lives and throughout the history of Catholicism. St. Michael is often perceived as the chief warrior of God’s armies who defeated Satan during the war in heaven. Angel Raphael is associated with healing as he is considered as the angel that stirred waters in the Pool of Bethesda. St. Gabriel is the devoted messenger in our Catholic Church who throughout history delivered messages of salvation commencing from message to Zechariah about the birth of John the Baptist and followed by Annunciation of Mary in the New Testament. The most beautiful, wonderful and the miraculous message of the incarnation “word becoming Flesh” was brought to mankind by angel Gabriel.
The name Gabriel, translated from Hebrews mean, “God is my strength”. It is truly a resemblance of the close relationship God had with Angel Gabriel in delivering the greatest messages in the history of Salvation. In the Old Testament, Angel Gabriel was identified as the angelic partner of Daniel in explaining his visions of The Ram, He-Goat and Horn which predicted the time of ends. Due to the role of delivering spiritual messages were portrayed by the Angel Gabriel, he is mostly venerated by the people engaged in professions of communications and telecommunications. Many perceive that Angel Gabriel is mostly brought into the play during Christmas as he was blessed to be chosen by God to deliver the Good News to Virgin Mary. Hence, all the nativity plays include a portrait of Angel Gabriel as the messenger who made it happen. However, on a daily basis, we commemorate Angel Gabriel as the church recites the Angelus Prayer.
Angel Gabriel’s key messages in the Salvation history begin by addressing, “Do not be afraid”. The Angel insisted trust in God by this phrase as most of the time, all of us are feared in the presence of God and his words. The liturgy of the Holy Rosary that we recite daily derive from the words Angel Gabriel announced to Mother Mary. Hence we resemble Angel Gabriel’s presence unknowingly in our daily prayers. Our relationship with God is tightly secured in speaking with Him and listening to His words. In our lives, we have often encountered instances when we are troubled due to various circumstances and the mind is at the unrest of being unable to make decisions, the desire to listen to God’s word is overwhelming. The presence of Angel Gabriel reflects upon the important aspect of how God communicates to us through angels. In our lives, sometimes your closest loved one or even the less spoken friend could act the role of the Angel Gabriel in delivering the appropriate message at the most needed time. Despite the fact that Angel Gabriel is a key figure of the Catholic Church to whom prayers are often offered lesser unlike for Michael archangel, the presence of Angel Gabriel in all our lives is important for our survival.
Since the Old Testament, we encounter relatively fewer occasions where God directly communicated with mankind, unless with key personalities such as Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses. God used angels to deliver his Good News and re-insist to humans the importance of direct communication with God. As the Church reminds us that an angel of God itself was converted as Satan, He deployed his tribe of angels all over us to protect us from evil as God evidently comprehend the strength evil could do to mankind. Amongst this large group of angels, the role played by Archangels is mesmerizing.
Generally, in our lives, we share the most important and secretive incidents with the closest person. That solemnly depends on trust, because we completely trust that person would only listen and empathize and not share it with the entire world bruising our self-dignity and confidence. Consider the degree of trust God placed on His archangels, and especially Angel Gabriel to deliver his message of love to the world. Carrying the word of God, playing a significant role in executing God’s plan is a blessed task. All the Catholic priests, the Nuns and the preachers are following the footsteps of Angel Gabriel in delivering the message of Salvation to mankind. It is a highly prominent task that requires to be conducted with greater patience and understanding. As the people depend on them to understand God’s word, for which they undergo years of training and education about theological backgrounds. Comprehending God’s word appropriately and articulating it to mankind in an understandable sense is a tender task, as your interpretations could make or break a person. Presuming that Angel Gabriel misinterpreted God’s message to either Zechariah or the Virgin Mary, the history of the Catholic Church would be different. But the angel duly fulfilled his duties enabling the most miraculous events of Salvation history.
As we commemorate on our archangels this festive season, let us recall the importance of praying for our own guardian angel and especially Angel Gabriel who could narrate to us the word of God in unfathomable ways. The author has personally experienced a key incident in her life where an angel sent from God alone transformed her life for all good, and today the author admits it was Angel Gabriel’s presence in her life. My dear friend, similarly in your own lives, despite your ignorance in realization until a certain milestone, certain individuals may have left remarkable footprints and their words converted you all for the good. Take a moment and thank them for acting the role of Angel Gabriel in your lives for delivering Good News to you from Heaven above.