Homily for Saturday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time - Feast of the Archangels

For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/092907.shtml

Admittedly, this is an emotional day for me. My first three years as a priest were at St. Michael the Archangel parish in Leawood, Kansas, and taking nothing away from my new position as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese, I miss my old parish greatly. It will get easier year after year, but this first year, as I think of all the fun the parish is having with their annual outdoor Mass and picnic celebrating the great Feast of the Archangels, it is like being away from family on a big occasion. It stinks!

All the kids at St. Michael the Archangel, of course, and all the families for that matter, are urged to memorize the great prayer to St. Michael, which is a tremendous prayer within the piety of the Church. From time to time, mothers in the parish would complain that the prayer was too heinous, and caused nightmares for their children, as they contemplated the ‘evil spirits lurking around the world seeking the ruin of souls.’ I have to admit that I love the prayer, and from a very young age, children learn about life as a struggle against evil, and so this prayer puts that struggle within the great context of our Catholic faith. It is, in my opinion, the most ‘macho’ prayer in the Church, and I love to pray it. If you don’t have it memorized, you just have to do it! I’m biased, of course, being a former associate pastor for St. Michael the Archangel Parish.

Satan’s best weapon against us is to desensitize us to the urgency of doing good and avoiding evil. May St. Michael protect us against this complacency, and as he drove Satan out of heaven, may he help us drive Satan out of this earth, into the depths of the netherworld. Here is the prayer for easy reference. Learn it!

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle! Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do you, O prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits seeking the ruin of souls. Amen!