Michael vs. the Dragon

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

At the fullness of time, according to the will of God, Mary, the Mother of God, appeared in midst of the heavens, clothed with the radiance of the sun, bedecked with the royal garments of God, because she, having been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, was greatly pregnant with none other than the eternally uncreated, only-begotten Son of God come into the flesh. She is borne aloft by the moon, the lesser light, and encircled by the twelve stars, the witnesses of the one Holy Church from ages past and in time to come.

The Angels of the Little Ones

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Not like a man with intellect and reason and experience, not like a seasoned veteran of war, not like a teacher with initials and degrees come down from the ivory tower, or even like a man who has run a business and shown a profit, but like a child, a little one, you must become. You must give up your airs, your status, your independence and control. You must be vulnerable. You must turn, repent, be converted and risk all on the simple trust that God is good, that He knows best, and that He will take care of you. That, dear friends, is faith.

So it is that greatness in the Kingdom of heaven is measured differently than greatness in the kingdoms of men. For the greatest and most wonderful thing in the Kingdom of heaven is the most despised and pitiable thing in the kingdoms of men, even the unjust, brutal, and bloody execution of Our Lord. In Christ's kingdom, where Grace rules, weakness is strength, poverty is riches, and dependence and vulnerability are virtues.

"He Has A Short Time"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What are angels? Just the mention conjures up myriad images in the minds of Christians and unbelievers alike. A great deal of the time, angels are portrayed as some variation on the image of Shirley Temple with wings. Naked, winged babies are another popular image. In general, popular imagination sees angels as something cute, something beautiful, something peaceful and calm. But what are angels, really?

To begin with, angels are not Shirley Temple with wings. Angels have no gender – no male or female – and who knows if they have hair. Angels are spiritual beings, and the Scriptures make no representation that they look anything at all like human beings. Cupid is a fictional character, a product of the Roman mythological world, and he bears no connection to real angels. Angels have much better things to do than wander around and zap humans with love-arrows.