Four Archangels

Four Archangels, James Powell and Sons of the Whitefriars Foundry, 1888. St John’s Church, Warminster, Wiltshire, England.

Questions

-What do you know about angels? The archangels?

-What symbols and images are within each depiction of the archangel? What does this reveal about each of them?

-How has the media and culture affected the way you view and understand angels?

-Where have the archangels shown up in the Bible?

Reflection

I must admit that angels are something that I know very little about. Growing up Protestant, I thought that angels were created when people died and were floating on clouds in happiness being in heaven. They were impersonal and far away. Guardian angels were just to ask for help and protection in scary times, not to be thought about but to be thanked when they intervened. Becoming Catholic, the idea of a hierarchy of angels or that they were created by God but not human or nature was over my head. It seemed too large to understand, so it was a truth that I just accepted and moved on. There are several truths of the faith that we are asked to accept, even if we cannot understand and that is good. We do not have to understand to believe, which is a great gift and relief in our faith. Even writing this I have to remind myself that I do not have to fully understand to talk about or reflect upon the truths of our faith, such as angels.

What I do know now is the importance of angels and their power. They are the Lord's hands and feet in the world, sent by Him to do His work. Like the saints and Mary, they are an in between and mediators that can bring us closer to the Lord and bring Him closer to us. There are three named archangels in the Bible - Raphael, Michael and Gabriel. Although we only know the names of three, the Church recognizes that there are seven that are revealed in Scripture. There is importance in names, a revelation of purpose and mission. I think it is important to note that we should not seek out the names of angels, as the reality of demons who want to trick us and bring us further from the Lord exist. We should only call upon the angels who the Lord tells us to, specifically Raphael, Michael and Gabriel. So who is this fourth archangel that is named in this stained glass? The other archangels names have come from apocryphal texts outside of the Scripture included in the Bible. These texts can be helpful to us, but we do not need to believe or rely upon them fully in our faith. My guess is that the creators of the stained glass or the priests at the parish had a special interest or care for Uriel, which is why He is included.

If I can choose a favorite, the archangel Gabriel would be it. He is God's messenger, sent to declare and share His Word to those who are chosen to hear it. He brought messages to prophet Daniel, Zechariah the father of St. John the Baptist, and most importantly - the Virgin Mary. Gabriel was the one who brought the good news of the coming of Jesus Christ to the world. He brought the beautiful words "Hail Mary, full of grace" into existence. It is also tradition that he went to St. Joseph in his dream to help him stay the course with Mary. Gabriel means "God is my strength" which I think is truly beautiful, considering how Gabriel is the messenger. There is strength in the Word of God because His Word creates. Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, so to bring the good news of God to the world is to have God behind you in power and in strength. In the stained glass Gabriel is clothed in blue, a color that reminds us of Mary. He also holds a banner that says "Ave Maria" which means "Hail Mary" as well as holding a lily, a reminder of purity. He is so intimately connected with Our Heavenly Mother and this stained glass window reminds us of his role in salvation history, bringing the good news to Mary who will bear the Good News to the world.

As a new Catholic, I felt like I needed to catch up on reading the books that are not included in the Protestant Bible. This included the book of Tobit, where we meet the archangel Raphael. He first appears as a human, keeping his identity a secret. He journeys with Tobias, the son of Tobit, to help him heal his father, restore family honor, and become married to Sarah who was possessed by a demon. Throughout this whole journey, Tobias does not know who Raphael truly is. How often does this happen to us? That the Lord sends us someone in our life that we really need, but are not actually aware of their influence and importance until much later? Even if they do not end up being angels, the Lord still desires goodness for His people. I have been blessed more times than I can count for a friend who reaches out when I need them, a family member sending me a thoughtful gift and receiving it on a bad day, or my husband looking at me with a particular glance of love that eases my burdened heart. Raphael's name means "Healing Power of God" and the best healing comes from presence. The presence of one who carries God within them and loves you with the purest charity that can only come from Christ is powerful. God is the Divine Physician and desires for His people to be healed. His creatures, angels or humans, can bring about this healing by allowing the Lord to work through them intimately and powerfully. In this stained glass, we can see Raphael walking with Tobias, who looks like a young child, and carrying a sword. Although Tobias would have been much older when Raphael walked with him, it is a reminder that the angels are much older than we are. The angels walk with us and protect us as if we are all little children, and to heal sometimes requires defending the innocence and perfection of a childlike faith and heart.

The archangel Michael's name means "Who is like God?" which is a powerful question that we must ourselves ask. We are called to be like God, but never be God. Michael is like God as a pious warrior and soldier of Christ. He is the one who led the forces for heaven against the evil one and darkness that invades the earth. Michael is shown slaying the dragon who represents Lucifer and the evil that follows him. While God Himself can defeat evil, He wants us to experience that victory and work with Him. We defeat evil by being like God, but never grasping equality with Him. The prayer to Saint Michael has become increasingly popular and recited after many rosaries and masses. I think that this is because as we see more evil in the world, we feel a need to respond. We must hold on to the hope that evil will not prevail and have faith that we will not have to fix it all ourselves. Lucifer fell from the rank of angels because he wanted to be God - he wanted to be in complete control and have the order of grace be the same as the order of nature. In the order of nature, angels would be higher than man because they are pure spirit and are more powerful than humans. But in the order of grace, God raised man higher than angels. He gave us bodies and souls to serve Him and partake in His creation in a special way. We must remember this as we ask for assistance from the angels, since they can only do what is God's will. If we ask for assistance, our will must be in accord with God and His work if we are to become like Him.

The stained glass portion of Uriel is quite interesting to me, because he is not in Scriptures. Let us first try use clues from the art itself to see what his role is, or who he might be. We see him holding a book with a cross on it, which makes me think that he is holding the Bible or another text. There is also rays behind his head and halo, which makes me think that he is connected with light somehow. There are also fields behind him, instead of the other stained glass windows that have buildings or nothing at all. Digging into more about him, I found that Uriel's name means "God is my light". How beautiful of a meaning! This makes sense of the light rays behind him, shining forth. How spectacular it would be to see actual light pouring into this window, lighting up the rays. It is in the stain glass that we see how God can be our light shining within us, lighting up our entire lives, illuminating His presence within us. Traditionally, Uriel is thought to guard the Garden of Eden as well as being a guide to those God desires to lead. The garden would be an interpretation of why there is fields behind him, reminding us of the perfect garden of heaven that we will one day inhabit. Holding the Scriptures could be a reminder that the Bible is the wisdom of God shared with the world to light our way. We can learn how to listen carefully and hear the Lord in our life when we need direction.

These windows are frankly beautiful even beyond the ways they teach or reveal beliefs of the faith. The power of the angels I am so thankful of, even when I do not fully understand it. Celebrating their influence and protection in our lives is a worthy cause. Often it is easy to forget that the heavens are not just populated with saints, the choirs and hierarchy of angels exist to praise God. The archangels that we know about lead the way, revealing one specific, unique and beautiful aspect of who God is and how He desires to know us. We can all experience the healing power of God, see His light, lean on His strength, and strive to be more like Him. I think we have something to learn from the archangels: that we are all called to reveal a specific piece of God's being. All of us are unique and unrepeatable creatures that were made by God in His likeness and image. In heaven we will experience the width and depth of the greatness and magnificence of God, spending eternity learning new things about His majesty. We can partake of this in a small way on earth, allowing God to work through us and letting our very being show the uniqueness and power of God.

Information

These beautiful stain glass windows were created by James Powell and Sons of the Whitefriars Foundry, a well known glassmaker and stained glass manufacturer in the 18th century. They became quite popular for their 19th century Gothic Revival stained glass windows, such as these we see above. Stained glass in churches have been incredibly important, often being referred to as visual Bibles and spiritual aids. They were used to teach the faithful when the faithful could not read the Bible. They could only listen to the Word of God, retell stories they have heard before, be taught by the priests and religious they knew, and learn from looking at what was around them. Stained glass commonly depicted Bible stories to remind them of their importance and pass on the faith. They were also ways to have beauty and draw the eyes towards heaven. Light would pour in and the stained glass scenes would come to life. The colors would shine down upon the congregation and across the church, bringing beauty and the warmth of light down upon them. The light would not blind them, but allow them to look how God illuminates their own lives and hearts just the same as the stained glass.

The Gothic Revival that took hold in the 18-19th centuries drew upon the medieval art and architecture, returning to its glory and splendor. The flying buttress, pointed archways, rib vaults, stained glass windows, and general grandeur became in use again. There was a renewed sense of the importance of beauty and intricacies within architecture and created massive spaces for worship. The movement in the Anglican and Catholic church was to move back towards an importance of high church in ways such as hierarchy, grand spaces for worship, and God. The rest of the world was moving towards new ways and things to worship, losing a sense of the centralized church and rising sense of evangelical small movements.

More Questions

-Which archangel do you feel a connection to? Why?

-Do you know what your name means? What is the importance of your name?

-What clues has your life given to how you reveal the Lord to the world? What attribute of God do you find yourself relating to the most?

Let us pray -

Lord, thank you for all of your creation - what we can and cannot see. Help us to have faith in what we do not understand or fully know, trusting that your goodness and power are there. Thank you for the archangels that protect us and reveal you to the entire world. May we be attentive to the uniqueness of every being and the role that they have in salvation history. Lead me to your heart through the beauty of other people's unrepeatability, especially my own. I want to be like you Lord and glorify your name in the way that only I can. You have given me everything and I want to give it all back to you, just like the archangels.

Holy Archangels, God's hands and feet in the world, pray for us!

Amen.