Thursday September 29, Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, archangels (Jn 1, 47-51)

How to live this feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, and receive, with our sometimes quite rational mentalities, the Gospel of this day, which evokes a vision of angels surrounding the Son of Man? It should first be noted that John introduces this vision within the framework of the relationship that Jesus establishes with Nathanael. What is first is that Jesus saw this man from afar under the fig tree and it is the relationship of mutual esteem and trust that is tied between the two. Jesus, recognizing Nathanael’s faith, tells him that an unexpected and wide horizon opens up for him. He confirms that, since the baptism in the Jordan, “the heavens are open” and the vision gives an image of this: that of a permanent communication between the world of God and that of human beings.

Symbolically, angels are those spiritual beings sent from God to humans, accompanying them in their trials. They can also carry calls or requests from us. This vision means, from the beginning of the Gospel of John, that the movement of incarnation which, in Jesus Christ, connects God and every human being continues in multiple, sometimes mysterious ways. This can happen through those who are sent (“angels”) from God to us. Do we know how to see them, receive them and give thanks?