Bless the Lord, all you his angels, who do his bidding

Gospel of the Day (John 1:47-51)

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him."

Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."

Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Jesus answered and said to him, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this."

And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

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Reflections:

«Bless the Lord, all you his angels, who do his bidding» (Ps 103[102], 20)

That angels exist is attested by many pages of Holy Scripture... It must be realized that the word 'angel' is the name of an office, and not of a nature... since they are angels only when something is announced through them. Those who make minor announcements are called angels, those who make important ones are called archangels. Hence it is that not just any angel was sent to the Virgin Mary but that Gabriel the archangel was sent: it was right that the proper one for this role should be of the highest rank of angels since he was to announce the greatest news of all...

Whenever a mighty deed is in question, Michael is assigned, so that by his actions and name, which means «Who is like God?», it may be made known that no one can do what God can do. So in the case of our ancient enemy, who in his pride wanted to be like God when he said: 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will make myself like the Most High' (Is 14,13): when he is shown to be condemned to eternal punishment at the end of the world, he is described as about to do battle with Michael, as Saint John says : 'War broke out with Michael the archangel. The Dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and it was thrown down to earth' (cf Rv 12,7-9).

Gabriel was sent to Mary, for Gabriel means 'Strength of God'. He came to announce him who deigned to be lowly so as to wage war on the spiritual powers of the air. He who came as God of power and as one strong in battle (Ps 24[23],8) was to be announced by Gabriel, the strength of God. Finally Raphael is interpreted as 'Healing of God', since he wiped away the shadows of blindness from Tobias when he touched his eyes to cure him. The one who is sent to cure, was indeed worthy of the name 'Healing of God'.