20180929
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
29 SEPTEMBER,
2018, Saturday, The Holy Archangels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour:
White.
EITHER:
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First reading
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Daniel 7:9-10,13-14 ©
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His robe was white as snow
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As I watched:
Thrones were set in place
and one of great age took his seat.
His robe was white as snow,
the hair of his head as pure as wool.
His throne was a blaze of flames,
its wheels were a burning fire.
A stream of fire poured out,
issuing from his presence.
A thousand thousand waited on him,
ten thousand times ten thousand stood
before him.
A court was held
and the books were opened.
I gazed into the visions of the night.
And I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven,
one like a son of man.
He came to the one of great age
and was led into his presence.
On him was conferred sovereignty,
glory and kingship,
and men of all peoples, nations and
languages became his servants.
His sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty
which shall never pass away,
nor will his empire ever be destroyed.
OR:
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Alternative First reading
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Apocalypse 12:7-12 ©
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Michael with his angels attacked the dragon
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Now war broke out in heaven, when Michael
with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels,
but they were defeated and driven out of heaven. The great dragon, the primeval
serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had deceived all the world, was
hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him. Then I heard
a voice shout from heaven, ‘Victory and power and empire for ever have been won
by our God, and all authority for his Christ, now that the persecutor, who accused
our brothers day and night before our God, has been brought down. They have
triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the witness of their
martyrdom, because even in the face of death they would not cling to life. Let
the heavens rejoice and all who live there.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 137(138):1-5 ©
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In the presence of the
angels I will bless you, O Lord.
I thank you, Lord, with all my heart:
you have heard the words of my
mouth.
In the presence of the angels I will bless
you.
I will adore before your holy
temple.
In the presence of the
angels I will bless you, O Lord.
I thank you for your faithfulness and
love,
which excel all we ever knew
of you.
On the day I called, you answered;
you increased the strength of
my soul.
In the presence of the
angels I will bless you, O Lord.
All earth’s kings shall thank you
when they hear the words of
your mouth.
They shall sing of the Lord’s ways:
‘How great is the glory of the
Lord!’
In the presence of the
angels I will bless you, O Lord.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps102:21
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Give thanks to the Lord, all his hosts,
his servants who do his will.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 1:47-51 ©
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You will see heaven laid open, and the
Son of Man
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When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he said of
him, ‘There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.’ ‘How
do you know me?’ said Nathanael. ‘Before Philip came to call you,’ said Jesus
‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ Nathanael answered, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of
God, you are the King of Israel.’ Jesus replied, ‘You believe that just because
I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.’
And then he added ‘I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and,
above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.’
SPIRITUAL WARFARE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ DAN 7:9-10, 13-14 (OR REV 12:7-12A); JN 1:47-51 ]
It is a beautiful
Catholic tradition to pray the Prayer of St Michael for divine protection
against the snares of the Evil One.
Even I make it a point to pray this prayer at least once a day as I go about
fulfilling my responsibilities for the day. Turning to St Michael for
protection is encouraged by the tradition of the Church because St Michael the
archangel is seen as our protector from the Evil One. In the book of
Revelation, St Michael is depicted as the Prince of the Heavenly Host who
fought back the Dragon and his angels and drove them out of heaven. “The great
dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil of Satan, who had deceived all
the world, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with
him.” Following this tradition, Catholics would seek the intercession of
St Michael to shield them from all evil and the temptations of Satan and his
angels.
This is even more urgent
today, especially when there is a growing skepticism of the presence of the
Evil One. Because of
science and technology, many of us are misled into thinking that Satan and Evil
Spirits do not exist; that they are mythological figures and only for
children. They are not real and so we do not need to be alert or be on
the defensive. This is precisely what the Evil Spirits want us to believe
so that we will not be aware of the subtle influence they have on us and on the
world. This is the deception of the Evil One. Those who claim
to be wise in the world, those who are intellectually brilliant in world
sciences, have become so arrogant to think that such spiritual powers do not
exist.
On the contrary, the
scriptures are full of admonitions to withstand the temptations of the Evil
One. The whole life of
Jesus was a warfare against the Kingdom of Satan. Jesus revealed to us
who the real enemy of God’s rule is. He cast out the devils and spoke of
His victory over the devil as a sign of God’s rule making itself felt. He
said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the
kingdom of God has come to you.” (Lk 11:20) For Jesus, the real enemy was Satan
who was tempting them to sin and idolatry, not the Romans, as the Jews
thought. St Peter reminds us, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a
roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to
devour.” (1 Pt 5:8) St Paul
himself declared, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may
be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is
not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the
whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and
having done everything, to stand firm.” (Eph 6:10-13)
In recent times, the
Popes, from Pope Paul VI to John Paul II, Pope Benedict and Francis, have spoken quite often
about the existence and the work of the Evil One. They never
failed to remind us of the need to take the existence of the Evil Spirits
seriously. According to a renowned Vatican exorcist, “Of course the
Devil exists and he can not only possess a single person but also groups and
entire populations… The Devil resides in the Vatican and you can see the
consequences. We need to pray for every single soul of bishops and
priests in our world with special emphasis for those that have been deceived
beyond rational thinking by the master of confusion. Lost sheep are increasing
by thousands daily as evidenced in rampant narcissism, materialism, immorality,
and violence. It is also essential that we pray and fast for our bishops and
priests who are under constant demonic attack since Satan knows that clouding
the clarity of our shepherds and seducing them into watering down truths will
destroy many souls that rely on them for guidance.”
Most of all, we must be
careful of any involvement, even passive participation in the occult. The consequences can be
disastrous. A person who plays with the devil and engages in occult
activity can be affected physically, psychologically, spiritually, and
morally. Often the manifestations of occult involvements would include
anxiety, panic attacks, nightmares, self-mutilation, suicidal thoughts and in
severe cases, occult activity leading to demonic possession. It often
starts out of ignorance and curiosity. Some even participate out of fun
or amusement in Spiritism and then get themselves trapped. Quite often
too, people are misguided into making contact with the spirits of their
deceased loved ones when in fact the devil and evil spirits come under the
guise of them. They are misled into believing and welcoming them into
their lives.
Consequently, today, we
must be discerning about what we do and whom we believe. We need to discern the movement of
the spirits, distinguish between good from evil spirits. How often, as St
Paul warns us, the evil spirit comes to us under the guise of the angel of
light. He wrote, “For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one
we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received,
or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily
enough.” (2 Cor 11:4) That
is why we need to be alert and watchful of how evil is spreading its influence
in the world today through ideologies that advocate sensuality, individualism,
relativism and humanism.
Such are the subtle ways
the devil seeks to confuse us and mislead us by making his temptations appear
to us as good, as in the case of the temptations of Jesus when He was asked to change stone
into bread when He was hungry after 40 days of fasting, to use His divine
powers for Himself and not for others; or to display His power by jumping down
from the pinnacle to attract attention and command respect; or worse still, to
worship him in exchange for power and glory and wealth. Such
ideologies will lead one to deny the reality of the spiritual world and our
nature as body and spirit. Once we come to reduce ourselves to pure
matter which is extinguished upon death, we deceive ourselves because we
believe we are created in the image and likeness of God, and we have an
immortal soul.
The best way to defeat
the devil is to follow the examples of the archangels. Angels are denoted
by their functions rather than by their nature. This is what Pope St Gregory the Great
taught. They are called to reflect the nature of God. Thus
their names reflect what they are called to do. Hence, “Michael – Who is
like God”, “Raphael – God has healed” and “Gabriel – Power of God”.
Through their actions and services, they make known to us the glory of God and
proclaim His majesty. God works through His angels and they are therefore
considered His messengers and intermediaries.
In the gospel, Nathaniel
presented himself as an angel because of his sincerity in love and in truth. Jesus said of Nathanael, “There is
an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable of deceit.” He was a
man who was able to see and discern Jesus as the Son of God, the King of
Israel. He was a man of prayer and contemplation as Jesus found him under
the fig tree, a symbol of prayer. The Lord said, “You believe that just
because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than
that I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son
of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.” For those of us who
manifest the glory of God in our lives, we too become His angels and messengers
of love and hope.
So the best way to
overcome evil is to do good.
This is the way we fight with evil. This is what St Paul urges us,
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the
sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live
peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room
for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,
says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they
are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap
burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome
evil with good.” (Rom 12:17-21)
Indeed, victory is
certain when we fight the battle with Christ. This is what the book of revelation
says, “Victory and power and empire for ever have been won by our God, and all
authority for his Christ, now that the persecutor, who accused our brothers day
and night before our God, has been brought down. They have triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb and by the witness of their martyrdom, because even in
the face of death they would not cling to life. Let the heavens rejoice and all
who live there.” Christ, by His death and resurrection, has won victory
over death and Satan, and having forgiven our sins by His death on the cross,
He enables us to share in His death to sin and the new life in His
resurrection.
Let us in our battle
against the Evil One and his angels implore the help of St Michael. He will bring our prayers to the
Lord as the responsorial psalm says, “I thank you, Lord, with all my heart: you
have heard the words of my mouth. In the presence of the angels I will
bless you. I will adore before your holy temple. I thank you for your faithfulness
and love, which excel all we ever knew of you. On the day I called, you
answered; you increased the strength of my soul.” May the Holy Angels,
especially St Michael, protect us from all evil and harm, especially division
and deception.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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