When heaven touches earth

At every Mass we are in the presence of angels.  They join our worship in ways that are silent and hidden to us.  At each celebration of the Eucharist we are joined with  Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael whose feast day is today.  

Who are these three Archangels? 

St Michael (literally ‘who is like God’) is the defender of God's people against evil (Revelation 12:7-9).

St Gabriel (literally ‘strength of God’) announced or brought the message of the Word to Mary when the Word became flesh and lived among us (Luke 1:26-38).

St Raphael (literally ‘healing of God) who accompanies travellers, restores sight and brings healing and reconciliation (Tobit 12:11-15). He declares:

I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord (Tobit 12:15).

Although Scripture does not explicitly identify the other six, Christian tradition commonly associates Michael and Gabriel with this group.  In Revelation8:2: 

And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

These angels stand before God to serve him, praise him and, at the same time, to help us on our earthly journey.  As St Michael fought for God's kingdom in heaven, so Christ strengthens us through the Eucharist for the struggle against evil on earth. Gabriel was instrumental in communicating the message to Mary. She gave her yes just as we say ‘Amen’ when we receive Christ into our own bodies and souls.  The Eucharist is linked to the incarnation and Gabriel is akin to a minister who serves.  With St Raphael we participate in the food of heaven which is a medicine for our souls.  This is particularly important in overcoming divisions and warfare whether among nations or individuals.

When we engage in eucharistic adoration we are imitating what the angels do in heaven when they constantly adore God.  The angels do not receive the Eucharist sacramentally as we do. Instead, as St Thomas Aquinas taught, they behold and enjoy Christ directly in heaven through the beatific vision:

The receiving of Christ under this sacrament is ordained to the enjoyment of heaven, as to its end, in the same way as the angels enjoy it; and since the means are gauged by the end, hence it is that such eating of Christ whereby we receive Him under this sacrament, is, as it were, derived from that eating whereby the angels enjoy Christ in heaven. Consequently, man is said to eat the "bread of angels," because it belongs to the angels to do so firstly and principally, since they enjoy Him in his proper species; and secondly it belongs to men, who receive Christ under this sacrament.

The Gospel for today’s Mass is from John 1:47-51 includes Jesus' words:

Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

From an icon at the church of the Holy Cross in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland

Saints Augustine, Chrysostom, Cyril, Gregory and Bede interpreted this passage as presenting Christ as the true Jacob's ladder, the meeting-place of heaven and earth.

Although not at all a matter of required faith or assent, the story of the apparitions of the ‘Angel of Peace’ in Fatima in 1916 (Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament) as well as the appearance of angels attending the Lamb upon the altar in the vision at Knock in Ireland in 1879 (A Telling Vision) is worth noting. Lúcia, one of the visionaries testified that the Angel gave the Host to her and administered the contents of the chalice to the other children, Francisco and Jacinta.

In the Roman Missal for today’s feast aptly addresses God the Father in the Preface leading up to the Sanctus as follows:

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, and to praise you without end in your Archangels and Angels.  For the honour we pay the angelic creatures in whom you delight redounds to your own surpassing glory, and by their great dignity and splendour
you show how infinitely great you are, to be exalted above all things, through Christ our Lord. Through him the multitude of Angels extols your majesty, and we are united with them in exultant adoration, as with one voice of praise we acclaim:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Postscript

It may be noted that the three Archangels are not necessarily at the top of the angelic hierarchy!  The Seraphim and the Cherubim come higher according to some traditional sources including St Thomas Aquinas. The Sanctus derives from the worship of the Seraphim in Isaiah's vision of heaven (Isaiah 6:2-3), while the Cherubim are closely associated in Scripture with the throne and glory of God (Genesis 3:24; Ezekiel 10). At every Mass, the Church joins the worship of these heavenly spirits as we sing with ‘Angels and Archangels, Thrones and Dominions, and all the hosts and Powers of heaven’.