St. Michael the Archangel: Defender of God's Plan
Summary
- Introduction: St. Michael's Feast Day
- The Battle Between Heaven and Hell
- Lucifer's Rebellion
- St. Michael's Battle Cry
- Humility and God's Will
- The Role of St. Michael Today
- The Infiltration of the Church
- Modernism and Liberalism
- St. Michael's Protection in Our Lives
- The Final Battle: Our Choice
Introduction: St. Michael's Feast Day
This feast day of, say, Michael the Archangel is such a beautiful and important one, especially in our day and age when we consider the battle. Last week somebody asked me about the battle between heaven and earth, between the between heaven and hell, I should say between Lucifer and Michael, what it was like. And of course, when we think about a battle, we think about traditional battles, historic battles, human battles. And that is not at all what it was like, because, of course, they are spirits. They are beings of pure spirit.
But what it was, was people declaring sides. What we know is that God tested the angels just as he tested Adam and Eve with Adam and Eve. The test was one of obedience. This is what you must do. You must not eat of this tree. That was it. That was our only commandment. With the spirits, with the angels. All it was was they. He revealed to them a part of his providential plan, and they had to submit themselves to it. What it was exactly, of course, we don't know. But we can be fairly certain that it was about Christ's redemptive work, which means his incarnation, his passion at his death. So therefore, that was what they objected to. That was what Lucifer specifically objected to.
Now, some say it was about the question of the incarnation of Christ, the fact that Christ debased himself, God, the son debased himself to become a human being. And Lucifer's logic was it is totally unfitting for God to become such a lowly creature. So if He has to become a creature, let him become the most excellent creature, which at the time he was he was the most excellent creature. He was the most powerful. He was caught. Lucifer was the one who bears the light. He was the most perfect one who carried the light of God. So, yes, he was the highest of all creatures at the time. So it would have been, as he argued, more fitting for God to have taken his form rather than the form of man.
The other argument is that he objected to having to debase himself to Our Lady because by being the mother of God, she would be above even the angels. And so some people say it was one, some people say it was the other. Either way, that he refused the providential plan that God revealed to him of how he was going to redeem mankind. And he went at that moment from being Lucifer to Satan. His cry, his cry. Instead of carrying the light of God and being the one who brought before all creation, He is now the one who said, Non-Service I will not serve.
He was the highest of all the angels. He was above even the Seraphim. And yet it was one of the lowly archangels, which is the eighth choir. So Michael, who stood up and rebuked him and told him, who is like to God? That is what actually the name Michael means, who is like to God, "Quis ut Deus" who is like unto God. So when we sit, when we hear that, we tend to think, Oh, that's because he is like, God. So therefore he has that name. No, that means that would be Crisco today. But in this case, is Crisco today's who is like to God? That means essentially no one is like God. It's a reminder to each and every one of us, but most especially at that moment, to the proud spirit of the rebellious devils. No one is like God. How dare you stand up and try to correct the will of God? If this is his providential plan, who are we to stand against it?
If God's plan is this, we are his humble servants because He is God and we are not. And with that cry, with that battle cry one say Michael received his name and Lucifer and all of his angels, Satan and all of the devils were cast into hell. Because when we confront the will of God, we have one of two choices. We can choose our own path and join them. Or we can try to conform our path to the one God has put before us and join him. At the end of the day, that is every decision and and sin or virtue we choose. Every choice we have comes down to that simple choice, my will or God's will. To Iowa myself or do I want God?
The Battle Between Heaven and Hell
And throughout the centuries from that very moment, CE Michael has been the image of the reminder to each and every one of us of who we really are in the truest and most essential sense. Not before the mirror, not before our examination of conscience, but before God Himself and no other light is necessary. Who is like unto God, who is like to God? Who is like God? There's only one and that is God. Even the Blessed Virgin Mary, as high and holy as she is, is not God. And that is why she is the perfect response to Satan. Her Magnificat is the perfect response when he says I will not serve. She says, Behold the her, may the Lord. She gives herself so completely to the point that there is no differentiation between the will of God and her will. She is so completely united to it that she has joined part of it. And that is what we are all called to do as well.
Lucifer's Rebellion
Now we are not the Blessed Virgin Mary, but there is one angel on our side who will make sure to fight the battles so that we can overcome ourselves to the point that it does become easier for us to conform ourselves to the will of God. And that is, say, Michael, he will stand by us every battle of our lives. His fiery sword is at our disposal, but only if it is to fight for the will of God and not our own will. Now, that is an unfortunate and uncomfortable situation to be in. We don't like to see ourselves as we really are. We like to wear masks. We like to hide and justify and protect and whatever else.
St. Michael's Battle Cry
See, Michael's sword terrors. All of those lies down the middle destroys them. So all we can see instead is our sheer nakedness before the glory of God and His will. No more justifications, no more self-delusion or lies or anything else, nor fabrications. No more acting. It is just the simple reality of who we really are before God himself. True humility. Absolute humility. Destructive humility. But destruction is actually a very good thing when you're talking about a building that has been built wrong. You need to destroy it. You need to clear the rubble aside so that you can build a true edifice, something that is going to stand, something that is going to be strong, something that is going to be correct. And we desperately need that in our day and age.
Humility and God's Will
Now, this is even more true now that we are going through the situation we're in. First of all, there is the infiltration and invasion of the church with the vices of liberalism and modernism. See, Michael is the one that Leo the 13th called upon for the defense of the church. The leonine prayers at the end of a low mass are precisely that. They are the prayers by which we invoke the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Michael specifically for the protection and the glorification of the church, because we need his help. The church has been infiltrated. The enemy is within people who are declaring, I will not serve while wearing Shepherd the Shepherd's clothing.
The Infiltration of the Church
Modernism. Even more perniciously has redefined theology to make it into a base, a pseudo theology, transforming all things, making it so that doctrine truth, God himself evolves according to the situation. St. Michael is the remedy. So Michael is the one who destroys these lies and brings them to light so that we don't fall into the trap. Society has thoroughly rejected God, his nature, the nature that he created. Society has rejected truth has rejected the the whole concept of nature and how things really are. Reality itself is now a pliable, flexible, malleable thing, and as such doesn't really exist according to the real world.
Modernism and Liberalism
St. Michael is the one who will bring these lies to light and he will burn them before the altar of God. Even inside the church. Regrettably, we even have a situation where the pope himself has declared a specific heresy. Syncretism. All religions are a path to God. This is against the first commandment and it is a heresy. Period. And he is wrong. So when the errors and lies have gotten to that point, how badly we need St Michael now.
But what we need from, say, Michael, we can't fight all of these wars all at once in the same way we have to. That that would split us apart. It would tear us down because we don't have that kind of strength. We don't have the kind of weapons. We don't have the intelligence. We don't have the contacts. We don't have everything that we need to be able to accomplish the conquering of all of these these areas all at once. But we do have St. Michael, who can do all things because he is the right arm of God. He is the one who gives the weapons to us to fight.
St. Michael's Protection in Our Lives
But we have to understand, the first battle is always in our own soul, which will we choose when we are confronted with the inexorable will of God? Will we say I will not serve, at least not that way. I'll serve my way. Or we try to reconstruct God as the modernists did, and try to say what God really wants. Is this I know because I said so. Or are we going to try to lie to ourselves and tell ourselves that this is not actually what God wants, but it's rather this because that's what I prefer. How are we going to respond for? Are we going to humbly accept the fact that we are not God? And we cannot dictate to him. Rather, we must mold ourselves to his will.
The Final Battle: Our Choice
Now and forever. And not just in the big events of the day where we're looking at the the great tragedies around us. But in each and every moment of our lives where we have to make decisions, any decision that could be what we have for breakfast. Those with heart diseases. Let's face it, having a fatty breakfast is probably not the best for you, so probably not the thing that I would want you to do. So as much as you might not like giving it up seems like a small thing. But it's one of those things where we choose to look at reality and we choose to accept the fact that God is the one that we are following and not ourselves. This is a battle that St. Michael is willing to take on for us.
If it comes down to laying down our lives to hold down, hold to the truth that God exists and that we serve Him to death and beyond. St. Michael will fight that battle for us as well, because his constant refrain of his name, Mikhail Cleese, who today who's who is likened to God, is the greatest weapon that we can possibly wield that casts the light onto every corner of darkness, that destroys all shred of lies and failures and all weaknesses, strengthens every single point of weakness that we have within ourselves. All of our vanity, all of our pride, all of our selfishness, every part of our being that rebels against God or wants to. Will find its answer in those three simple words. But we must embrace the spirit of battle.
I've seen Michael. He was one of the lowest of the angels. And he stood up to the highest and most important. Not because there weren't others who weren't readily do willing to fight as well, but because that was his calling. Because we all must stand up to evil, even within ourselves. We all must choose the right path, even when it's difficult. We must all confront the enemy, no matter how strong and powerful he is and how small and insignificant we are. We must all fight back because no one is like God. And He asks us to defend His honor and to fight for His rights and to proclaim Him our King, no matter what the cost.
A Saint Ignatius pointed out in this beautiful prayer that we ask God to fight and not to heal the wounds to give and not to count the cost. Each and every one of us must have that spirit of battle within us. This is the Chapel of Our Lady of Victory. She has won that victory. And one of her greatest lieutenants is St Michael. He is the one who fights by her side in all things and in her name and all things. We want the victory. We must fight for it. They've already won it. But will they win it with or without us? That is the question. It's enough that the world is losing the battle. It's enough that so many in the church are losing the battle. It's enough that so many souls are lost to the darkness in the world hates. It's enough that there are so many problems and failures all throughout us and within us and all and outside in the worlds. But we are done giving even another millimeter of space to the darkness within our own souls. We are going to let St. Michael do his great work and fight behind him so that we can conquer for the light and become the saints that he wishes us to be. And he can lead us from battle to battle and victory to victory so that we can, under his great cry of who is like to God and finally enter with Him and be perfectly united to God Himself.
In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Ghost, Amen.