『The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (Observed) | St. Matthew 18:1-11 | The Protectors of God's Children』のカバーアート

The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (Observed) | St. Matthew 18:1-11 | The Protectors of God's Children

The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (Observed) | St. Matthew 18:1-11 | The Protectors of God's Children

無料で聴く

ポッドキャストの詳細を見る
The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (Observed) St. Matthew 18:1-11 September 27, 2026 What images come to mind when you hear the word “angel"? Go ahead and take a moment to picture an angel in your mind. I wonder what the angel you imagined looked like… Was it cute? Was it a man, a woman, or a child? Did it have wings? Or a long robe? Did it hold a globe in your hands? Or a scepter? Or was it like those cherubs on the stamps that look like toddlers with no clothes? Those cherubs, actually called putti, symbolize death. Some things just aren’t what you imagine, are they? Truth be told, how we envision an angel has changed over the years. History has a way of altering our view of things, doesn’t it? The way we view angels has changed for a few reasons: first, because angels are often unseen to the human eye, how should we imagine what God has hidden from our sight? Second, our view of angels today is directly reflected in how they are depicted in art. Early art presented angels as masculine creatures, holding globes that represent their cosmic service to God as guardians of His children. The scepters that the angels held represented their divine authority, power, and roles as God’s messengers. But over time, these images changed and softened, as many things in the world and the church have. Throughout the medieval period, artists began depicting angels more youthfully, with vibrant colors and majestic backgrounds. During the Renaissance, angels became more realistic and humanized; this is where our idea of cherubs and putti comes from. But then, in the Victorian era, the portrayal of angels became feminized. Modern and contemporary art reimagined angels, and their depiction became subjective, reflecting both a change in artistic expression and how the Holy Scriptures were treated, with the idea that man could interpret the words of the Scripture, just as art, as they desired. Another reason our view of angels has shifted is that we simply don’t speak of them as we ought to, at least not in the church. While nearly seven out of ten adults believe in angels, the church has long failed to teach about them or help the flock see how angels are sprinkled throughout the liturgy of the Divine Service or have been included in many of the prayers handed down from old. None of this is new either. The feast of St. Michael didn’t appear until the 5th century. While you may say that’s a long time ago, the church year was already taking shape one to two hundred years earlier. During the Reformation, this festival became St. Michael and All Angels Day. Why? Because people needed reminders of the angels and their service to God, and they needed teaching. Are we that different? Don’t we also need instruction on the angels, let alone constant reminders of all the doctrines of the faith? We do, because without this teaching and constant reminders, we are liable to veer away from a proper understanding of these messengers of God, including who they are and what they were created and sent to do here among us on earth. Alright, so let’s take a moment to examine how angels functioned throughout today’s readings, especially St. Michael. In the Old Testament reading from Daniel, it began by saying, “Behold, a hand touched me…” This is kind of a startling way to begin: “Behold, a hand touched me…” Whose hand? It was the hand of a heavenly messenger God sent to the prophet Daniel. Daniel has been grieving for his people and Jerusalem: they are in captivity, and Jerusalem has been destroyed. As he continues to mourn what has happened, God sends a heavenly messenger to console him and offer him hope, telling him that St. Michael, who helped defeat the kings of Persia, will come again and fight for you. And this is what the latter half of the reading from Daniel addresses: St. Michael, the archangel, is seen as having charge over Israel and its people. God’s people will be released from their captivity, their sin, and their death. Daniel writes that those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall be awakened, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2). What does this sound like to you? It’s the day of judgment. Daniel’s words provide a vision of Christ’s death and resurrection, His ascension, and His return on the last day. These words point us to the reading from Revelation, which says that war broke out in heaven, “Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon [and his angels].” (Revelation 12:7) These words from Daniel and Revelation reveal to us that this is not a normal battle; it’s not simply an earthly battle; it’s a cosmic battle. St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (...
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
まだレビューはありません