ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael is one of the principal angels; his name was the war cry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against the enemy and his followers. In Hebrew his name translates as “Who is like GOD”. Four times his name is recorded in Scripture:

(1) Daniel 10:13, Gabriel says to Daniel, when he asks God to permit the Jews to return to Jerusalem: "The Angel [D.V. prince] of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me . . . and, behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me . . . and none is my helper in all these things, but Michael your prince."

(2) Daniel 12, the Angel speaking of the end of the world and the Antichrist says: "At that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people."

(3) In the Catholic Epistle of St. Jude: "When Michael the Archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses", etc. St. Jude alludes to an ancient Jewish tradition of a dispute between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses, an account of which is also found in the apocryphal book on the assumption of Moses (Origen, De Principiis III.2.2). St. Michael concealed the tomb of Moses; Satan, however, by disclosing it, tried to seduce the Jewish people to the sin of hero-worship. St. Michael also guards the body of Eve, according to the "Revelation of Moses" ("Apocryphal Gospels", etc., ed. A. Walker, Edinburgh, p. 647).

(4) Apocalypse 12:7, "And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon." St. John speaks of the great conflict at the end of time, which reflects also the battle in heaven at the beginning of time. According to the Fathers there is often a question of St. Michael in Scripture where his name is not mentioned. They say he was the cherub who stood at the gate of paradise, "to keep the way of the tree of life" (Genesis 3:24), the angel through whom God published the Decalogue to his chosen people, the angel who stood in the way against Balaam (Numbers 22:22), the angel who routed the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35).

Following these Scriptural passages, Christian tradition gives to St. Michael four offices:

* To fight against Satan.

* To rescue the souls of the faithful from the power of the enemy, especially at the hour of death.

* To be the champion of God's people, the Jews in the Old Law, the Christians in the New Testament; therefore he is the patron of the Church, and of the orders of knights during the Middle Ages.

· To call away from earth and bring men's souls to judgment.

On Sunday April 24th 1994, Pope John Paul II recommended this prayer be used by all Catholics as a prayer for the Church when he said:’” May prayer strengthen us for the spiritual battle we are told about in the Letter to the Ephesians: 'Draw strength from the Lord and from His mighty power' (Ephesians 6:10). The Book of Revelation refers to this same battle, recalling before our eyes the image of St. Michael the Archangel (Revelation 12:7). Pope Leo XIII certainly had a very vivid recollection of this scene when, at the end of the last century, he introduced a special prayer to St. Michael throughout the Church. Although this prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask everyone not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world."'

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -by the Divine Power of God -cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits, who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

On top pf the central image of St. Michael is an image of the Holy Spirit. In the border of the window are twenty light blue circles that represent the twenty mysteries of the rosaries. In between the twenty circles are twenty yellow–orange diamond shapes that represent all the angels that St. Michael leads in the fight against Satan and his fallen angels to the immediate left and right of the central image are two circles. Each circle contains the five-pointed Star of David that represents the Old Testament and the eight-pointed star that represents the New Testament. These stars point to the work and role of St. Michael in the old and new covenant.