An Invitation To Read My Story - My Testimony

 September 29

Feast of Saints Michael
Gabriel, and Raphael
The Archangels

Today's Gospel: John 1:47-51

Today’s Gospel: John 1:47-51
(The First Disciples)

“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and *said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael *said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”  And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Reflection:

Today we celebrate the Archangels, Michael, who leads Heaven's armies; Gabriel, who announces the Incarnation to Mary; and Raphael, whose name means “God heals”. Daniel's vision today gives us the throne room that the archangels serve before: the Ancient One who will take His seat, thrones set in place, and one like a son of man given dominion and glory and kingship that will never pass away. It's a vision of a battle already won before it was ever fought on earth, a kingdom already secure, guarded and served by messengers strong enough to carry out whatever that throne commands.

Today’s Gospel gives us a small, quiet moment of exactly this kind of angelic activity. Jesus tells Nathanael, an honest man with nothing false in him, that he will see far greater things than being noticed under a fig tree: you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man. That promise of angels moving freely between heaven and earth is the whole understanding behind every one of today's three archangels, Michael defending, Gabriel announcing, Raphael healing, each one a sign that heaven has never been as distant from earth as it sometimes feels.

That last connection says it all, because it shows up almost exactly in a story tied to today's feast. A blind knight named Hector, healed of his sight only when he turned his face toward a statue of Our Lady at Tongres, was warned in a dream by an angel to go help a king in danger; that healing of blindness through angelic intervention is the same miracle Raphael works for Tobit in the Book of Tobit, sight restored through a messenger heaven sent precisely because someone needed it. Whatever blindness you're carrying today, of your eyes, of your heart, or of your hope, the same archangel who healed Tobit and, tradition tells us, worked through Our Lady of Tongres for a wounded knight, is still sent by the same throne Daniel saw seated in glory.

What blindness, literal or otherwise, have you stopped asking God to heal because you've decided it's simply permanent? Raphael's name means God heals. Ask today, as Tobit did, and see which messenger is already on the way.

 

Rosary Man Jim 🌹
Freely given. Freely shared.