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Revelation 12:7-12
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.”
The Word of the Lord.
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Growing up, my mother, brother, and I huddled together each week on the family couch to watch one of our favorite feel-good tv shows, “Touched by an Angel.”
Each episode included a person suffering for one reason or another, leaving them on the verge of despair.
Heeding their cries, the Lord sent an angel – veiled as a human being – to open their eyes, revealing how intimately God was working in their life, even in their suffering.
By the end of the show, the person was healed; a doubter came to faith; a broken heart found peace. Someone learned they were, “touched by an angel.”
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Throughout the bible, we see angels working in people’s lives.
In the Old Testament, the archangel Raphael serves as an agent of healing.
In the Gospels, the archangel Gabriel appears to Mary, telling her that she’ll bear the Son of God in her womb.
Shortly thereafter, an anonymous angel appears to Joseph in a dream, telling him that Mary’s pregnancy is, in fact, God’s will, softening his heart to welcome her into his home.
A second angel appears to Joseph in another dream, telling him to flee with Mary and Jesus from Palestine into Egypt as King Herod was trying to kill the Christ-child.
And, in the Book of Revelation, we read of the archangel Michael slaying Satan, casting him out of heaven forever.
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Today’s feast of the Archangels reminds us that God is still working in this world, even in our own lives.
But the “angels” we see are often veiled by flesh and blood; they are ordinary people like us willing to be God’s agents of grace.
When has someone been an “angel” for me? Or when have I felt God working through me as an angel for another?
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May the Lord use each of us today, allowing someone else to be touched by an angel.
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Image credits: (1) Touched by an Angel, Rotten Tomatoes (2) Archangel Michael Defeats Satan, Guido Reni (3) QuoteFancy