Created To Be An Ev-angel

A Reflection for the Feast of St. Michael and the Archangels

By Fr. Maximilian Buonocore, OSB

In a homily by St Gregory the Great (PL 76, 1250-1251), St. Gregory says that the word “angel” is denotative of a function, much more so than of a nature. The nature of the beings that we usually refer to as angels is to be incorporeal spirits. It is their function to be the holy spirits of heaven who are personal intermediaries between the Holy Trinity and corporeal creation. As St. Benedict says (RB 7:13), our “actions everywhere are in God’s sight and are reported by angels at every hour.” They are spirits, and they can only be properly called angels to the extent that they deliver some message. As St. Gregory points out, the spirits who deliver messages of lesser importance are referred to simply as angels; while those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels. And so, it was not merely an angel, but the archangel, Gabriel, that was sent to the Virgin Mary, to convey the message of the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, by which the second person of the Holy Trinity would become incarnate. It is only fitting that the highest angels, the archangels, should come to announce the greatest messages. Although all angels have a perfect knowledge of God that comes from the direct vision and intercourse with the Holy Trinity, it is only the archangels who are given proper names to denote the service they are empowered to perform. The three names that we are most familiar with are, Michael, which means “Who is like God”; Gabriel which means “The Strength [or the Power] of God”; and Raphael, which means “God’s Healing Remedy.”

We too, like the archangels, are given names, because we are embodied spirits with a specific mission. The same root, angelos, is in the word evangelical, which means bringing the good news. Created in the image and likeness of God, each of us is made “little lower than the angels and crowned with honor and glory.” (Psalm 8:5) We do something that the archangels cannot do: we embody God’s love. We are embodied spirits. We are not arch-angels, we are ev-angels, good news bearers. As ev-angels, we are created as mission - our very being is a mission. We are created as personal messengers - ev-angels - of the Holy Trinity, to convey, in the world, God’s faithful mercy. That is the meaning of our personhood: to sound through the mask of corporeality the spiritual reality of the greatness and glory of an infinite and eternal loving creator. We are like angels especially when we become truly evangelical persons, living a life rooted in contemplation and prayer; living a holy life continuously conveying the message - the good news - of God’s faithful and merciful love, through our words and good deeds - by our very lives. Like St. Michael, by our words of praise and our humble obedience to the Word of God, we proclaim, “Micha-el!”, “Who is like unto God!” Like St. Gabriel, our deeds of loving service proclaim “Gabri-el”, “The Strength of God.” Our compassion and care for the sick and for those most vulnerable, and especially our acts of forgiveness and mercy toward our enemies, proclaim, “Rapha-el!” “God’s Healing Remedy!” We have this mission by the very fact of being human persons, but this mission is elevated to a higher plane of spiritual - angelic - mission when we become truly evangelical persons. And we become truly evangelical persons when our hearts are dwelling in heaven through contemplation, even as our minds and bodies remain on earth engaged in the business of the world. When we become truly evangelical persons - ev-angels - it is then that we are made perfect in what God has created us to be, and it is then that God’s business in the world becomes our daily business in the world, and our daily actions and interactions become angelic actions and interactions, imbued with the message of the greatness and glory, strength, and healing remedy, of the faithful mercy of an infinite and eternal loving Father, conveyed to us through his Word, Christ Jesus, with the aid of the heavenly spirits - the Archangels - which we, in turn, convey to other people. May God, through his Spirit dwelling in us, and with the assistance of the Angels, continue to perfect in us our nature and mission as messengers of his faithful loving mercy: as ev-angels.

All for Jesus,

Fr. Max