September 29, 2026
Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels
Lectionary: 647
Reading 1
As I watched:
Thrones were set up
and the Ancient One took his throne.
His clothing was bright as snow,
and the hair on his head as white as wool;
His throne was flames of fire,
with wheels of burning fire.
A surging stream of fire
flowed out from where he sat;
Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him,
and myriads upon myriads attended him.
The court was convened, and the books were opened.
As the visions during the night continued, I saw
One like a son of man coming,
on the clouds of heaven;
When he reached the Ancient One
and was presented before him,
He received dominion, glory, and kingship;
nations and peoples of every language serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not be taken away,
his kingship shall not be destroyed.
or
War broke out in heaven;
Michael and his angels battled against the dragon.
The dragon and its angels fought back,
but they did not prevail
and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
The huge dragon, the ancient serpent,
who is called the Devil and Satan,
who deceived the whole world,
was thrown down to earth,
and its angels were thrown down with it.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have salvation and power come,
and the Kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Anointed.
For the accuser of our brothers is cast out,
who accuses them before our God day and night.
They conquered him by the Blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
love for life did not deter them from death.
Therefore, rejoice, you heavens,
and you who dwell in them."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) In the sight of the angels I will sing your
praises, Lord.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
All the kings of the earth shall give thanks to you, O LORD
when they hear the words of your mouth;
And they shall sing of the ways of the LORD
"Great is the glory of the LORD
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises, Lord.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Bless the LORD, all you angels,
you ministers, who do his will.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
"Here is a true child of Israel.
There is no duplicity in him."
Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."
Nathanael answered him,
"Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Jesus answered and said to him,
"Do you believe
because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see greater things than this."
And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will see heaven opened
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/092926.cfm
Commentary on Daniel
7:9-10,13-14 or Revelation 12:7-12; John 1:47-51
The Gospel reading from John is the scene in the beginning
of his Gospel where Jesus meets Nathanael, who has been introduced to him by
Philip. Nathanael, who had somewhat sneeringly asked if anything good
could come from Nazareth, must have been somewhat surprised to hear
Jesus say to him:
Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!
Of how many people can that be said (including ourselves)?
Puzzled, Nathanael asks Jesus:
Where did you get to know me?
Rather enigmatically Jesus tells him:
I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.
The fig tree was often seen as a symbol of messianic peace.
They were words, then, of commendation. Nathanael, deeply impressed, tells
Jesus:
Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of
Israel!
This declaration is on a par with Peter’s confession of
Jesus’ identity, and concludes the list of Jesus’ titles which are given in
this first chapter of John.
And yet Jesus says he will see much more:
Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under
the fig tree? You will see greater things than these…Very truly, I tell you,
you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon
the Son of Man.
The allusion is clearly to the dream of Jacob who saw God’s
angel-messengers going up and down on a ladder linking Heaven with
Earth, i.e. God with his People. Jesus, as the Incarnate Son
of God, is the bridge which links God with his People. He is like a
ladder by which God comes to his People and his People go to God.
In a sense Jesus is the Archangel of archangels, the
Ultimate Messenger of God’s Truth and Love. Through Him God comes to us, and
through Him we go to God.
There is a choice of two First Readings. The first is from
the Book of Daniel and speaks of a vision that the prophet has of God on his
Throne, which is described in graphic and apocalyptic language. Among other
things we are told that:
A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times
ten thousand stood attending him.
These are the angels who serve at God’s throne.
The second part of this reading is taken from the New
Testament to refer to the Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour King of Israel. He
is said to be:
…one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven.
Some translations have it as “one like the son of man”.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not
pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
This is an image that the Gospel will use to describe the
return of the Risen Jesus at the end of time as he calls his people to himself
(see Matt 25).
The alternative First Reading is from the Book of Revelation
and speaks of Michael defeating Satan and the powers of evil, which was
mentioned above. With the defeat of Satan:
…come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our
God and the authority of his Messiah…
These angels are symbols of God’s ever-loving relationship
with us. It is a two-way communication. We listen to what God tells us and try
to make it part of our lives. At the same time, we reach out to him in faith
and trust and in a complete surrender of our being.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/f0929r/
Tuesday,
September 29, 2026
Feasts of Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels
Opening Prayer
Father,
You show Your almighty power in
Your mercy and forgiveness. Continue to fill us with Your gifts of love.
Help us to hurry towards the
eternal life Your promise and come to share in the joys of Your kingdom.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives
and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - John 1: 47-51
Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him,
"Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him."
Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said
to him, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."
Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King
of Israel." Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you believe because I
told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than
this." And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven
opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
Reflection
Today’s Gospel presents the
dialogue between Jesus and Nathanael in which the following phrase appears: “In
all truth I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending
and descending over the Son of Man.” This phrase helps to clarify something
concerning the archangels.
•
John 1: 47-49: The conversation between Jesus
and Nathanael. Philip took Nathanael to Jesus (Jn 1: 45-46). Nathanael had exclaimed:
“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael was from Cana, which was
close to Nazareth. Seeing Nathanael, Jesus said: “There, truly is an Israelite
in whom there is no deception!” And He affirms that He knew him already when he
was under the fig tree. How could Nathanael be an “authentic Israelite”, if he
did not accept Jesus as Messiah? Nathanael “was under the fig tree.” The fig
tree was the symbol of Israel (cf. Mq 4: 4; Zc 3: 10; 1K: 5, 5). “To be under
the fig tree” was the same as being faithful to the project of the God of
Israel. The authentic Israelite is the one who knows how to detach himself from
his own ideas when he perceives that these are not in agreement with God’s
project. The Israelite who is not ready to converse is neither authentic nor
honest. Nathanael is authentic. He expected the Messiah according to the
official teaching of that time, according to which the Messiah came from
Bethlehem in Judea. The Messiah could not come from Nazareth in Galilee (Jn 7:
41-42, 52). This is why Nathanael resists accepting Jesus as Messiah. But the
encounter with Jesus helps him to become aware that God’s project is not always
as one imagines it or desires that it be. Nathanael recognizes his own
deception, he changes his idea, accepts Jesus as Messiah and confesses: “Rabbi,
You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel!”
•
The diversity of the call. The Gospels of Mark,
Matthew and Luke present the call of the first disciples in quite a brief way:
Jesus walks along the seashore, and He calls Peter and Andrew. Then He calls
John and James (Mk 1: 16-20). The Gospel of John has a different way of
describing the beginning of the first community which was formed around Jesus.
John does it by narrating very concrete stories. One is struck by the variety
of the calls and of the encounters of persons among themselves and with Jesus.
Thus, John teaches what is necessary to do to begin a community. It is by means
of contacts and personal invitations, and it is like that even today! Jesus
calls some directly (Jn 1: 43). Others indirectly (Jn 1: 41-42). One day He
called two disciples of John the
Baptist
(Jn 1: 39). The following day He called Philip who, in turn, called Nathanael
(Jn 1: 45). No call is repeated because every person is diverse. People will
never forget the important calls which have marked their life. One even
remembers the hour and the day (Jn 1: 39).
•
John 1: 50-51: The angels of God who descend and
ascend on the Son of Man. The confession of Nathanael is only at the beginning.
Anyone who is faithful, will see heaven open and the angels who go up and
descend on the Son of Man. They will experience that Jesus is the new bond of
union between God and us, human beings. It is the realization of the dream of
Jacob (Gn 28: 10-
22).
•
The angels who go up and descend the ladder. The
three Archangels: Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael. Gabriel explained to prophet
Daniel the meaning of the vision (Dn 8: 16; 9: 21). The angel Gabriel also took
God’s message to Elizabeth (Lk 1: 19) and to Mary, the Mother of Jesus (Lk 1:
26). His name means “God is strong.” Raphael appears in the Book of Tobit. He
accompanies Tobias, the son of Tobit and of Anna, throughout the trip and
protects him from all danger. He helps Tobias to liberate Sara from the evil spirit
and to cure Tobit, his father, from his blindness. His name means “God heals.”
Michael helped the prophet Daniel in his struggles and difficulties (Dn 10: 13,
21; 12: 1). The letter of Jude says that Michael disputed with the devil over
the body of Moses (Jude 1: 9). It was Michael who obtained victory over Satan,
throwing him out of Heaven and throwing him into hell (RV 12: 7). His name
means: “Who is like God!” The word ‘angel’ means messenger. He takes a message
from God. In the bible, the entire nature could be the messenger of God
Himself, when it turns its face on us and reveals God’s love for us (Ps 104:
4). The angel can be God Himself, when He turns His face on us and reveals His
loving presence to us.
Personal Questions
•
Have you already had some encounter which has
marked your whole life? How have you discovered the call of God there?
•
Have you been interested, sometimes, like
Philip, to call another person to participate in the community?
Concluding Prayer
I thank You, Yahweh, with all my heart, for You have listened
to the cry I uttered.
In the presence of angels I sing to You, I bow down before
Your holy Temple. (Ps 138: 1-2)
Saints Michael, Gabriel and
Raphael, Archangels
There are few explicit references to angels in the earlier
books of the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament). The word ‘angel’ comes from the
Greek angelos and simply means a ‘messenger’.
They begin to appear in the later books, for instance, in
the Book of Daniel, and seem to date from after the Babylonian exile. However,
in chapters 18 and 19 of the Book of Genesis, there are the three men who visit
Abraham, who gives them hospitality. One of them seems to be Yahweh and the
other two angels. While Yahweh stays with Abraham, the other two go on to
Sodom. There they are received by Lot and while in his house, the people of
Sodom come and demand intimate acts with his visitors. The next day, the
visitors urge Lot to leave Sodom with his wife and two daughters. The city,
along with Gomorrah is then destroyed.
As well, angels are mentioned in the story of Jacob, who had
a dream of “angels of God ascending and descending” a stairway or ladder which
reached to the heavens (Gen 28:12).
According to some Jewish texts, there are seven archangels,
three of whom we remember in today’s feast—Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.
Angels are mentioned frequently in the New Testament. Angels
brought messages to Mary, Joseph, Zechariah (father of John the Baptist) and
the shepherds at Bethlehem. There were angels ministering to Jesus during his
fasting in the wilderness, consoling him during his Agony in the Garden, and
standing at the tomb of Jesus after his resurrection. And it was an angel who
freed Peter from prison in the Acts of the Apostles.
Only two references are made to ‘archangels’ in the New
Testament—Michael in Jude 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Revelation 12:7-9; and
Gabriel in Luke 1:26.
Michael
In Jude, the author is speaking against false teachers. He says they behave
immorally and revile God’s “glorious ones”, perhaps a reference to angels. But
unlike them, Michael in his dispute with Satan over the body of Moses never spoke
judgement against him, but left it to God’s own decision.
In the First Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul is speaking
about the Second Coming of Christ which he believes will come in the lifetime
of the present believers. At that moment:
…the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the
archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
(1 Thess 4:16)
The archangel here is understood to be Michael.
In the Book of Revelation chapter 12, in a passage speaking
of the power of evil in opposition to God and his people, we are told:
…war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon. The dragon [the powers of evil] and his angels
fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them
in heaven. (Rev 12:7-9)
Evil could not prevail and was driven from the presence of
God.
In the Hebrew language, ‘Michael’, means “Who is like unto
God?” or “Who is equal to God?” Michael has been depicted from earliest
Christian times as a commander, who holds in his right hand a spear with which
he attacks Lucifer (Satan) and in his left hand a green palm branch. At the top
of the spear there is a linen ribbon with a red cross.
Gabriel
The archangel Gabriel is mentioned just once in the whole Bible—in the New
Testament (Luke 1:26-38). It is in the lovely scene in Nazareth where he visits
the virgin called Mary and tells her that she will become pregnant, that she
will bear a son who will be called Jesus, and that he will be the Son of the
Most High God. Mary, who is betrothed to Joseph, but not yet living with him as
his wife, is alarmed. But she is assured that the Child will be born by the
power of the Holy Spirit. Mary then submits completely and unconditionally to
God’s will:
Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your word. (Luke 1:38)
‘Gabriel’ means “Man of God” or “Might of God”. He is
regarded as the herald of the mysteries of God, especially the Incarnation of
God and all other mysteries related to it. In art, he is depicted holding a
lantern with a lighted taper in his right hand and, in his left, a mirror of
green jasper. The mirror signifies the wisdom of God as a hidden mystery.
Raphael
The archangel Raphael appears in the lovely Book of Tobit (not found in the
Hebrew Testament or many Protestant Bibles). The archangel is the unrecognised
friend of Tobit who goes in search of his inheritance and a bride. The girl he
finds is Sarah. Alarmingly, he discovers that all her previous husbands died on
the wedding night. But God’s blessing was on this relationship. Raphael also
helped Tobit catch the fish whose gall would cure his father’s cataracts and
restore his sight.
‘Raphael’ means “God’s healing” or “God the Healer”, and he
is depicted leading Tobit, who is carrying a fish caught in the Tigris in his
right hand and holding a physician’s alabaster jar in his left.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/f0929s/
