THE ANGEL OF THE LORD

A MESSAGE FOR THE FEASTS OF ST. GABRIEL & THE ANNUNCIATION

It is no coincidence that the feast of the great Archangel Gabriel happens to fall on the very eve of the Annunciation. For it is with this primary event in the story of our Redemption that St. Gabriel shall always be first and foremost remembered. In our prayer life the Archangel has a prominent role, appearing in both the first Joyful Mystery of our Rosary, and if we dutifully observe this hallowed tradition, then three times a day in the Angelus as well.  In fact the word Angelus, as you might expect, refers directly to Gabriel, the "Angel of the Lord, who appeared unto Mary."

In spite of his importance, Catholics are not quite as familiar with the other role Gabriel played in God’s plan to prepare for the Incarnation of his Son.  This happened earlier in St. Luke's Gospel, when God  sent St. Gabriel to announce the conception of St. John the Baptist, our Lord's cousin and Forerunner who would “prepare the way of the Lord, making every valley to be filled, and every mountain and hill to be brought low; and the crooked to be made straight, and the rough places plain.”

Tomorrow, we shall read in our daily Gospel, the story of the apparition of St. Gabriel to our Lady, hailing her as full of grace, and announcing that God had chosen her to be the Mother of his only-begotten Son. This is not the beginning of St. Luke’s Gospel, however. The Gospel of Luke actually begins inside the Temple of Jerusalem, the House of God, a fitting place if ever there was one for the story of our Redemption to begin. As the priest Zacharias is offering incense there, he too is visited by the Angel Gabriel, who tells him that his barren wife shall conceive and bear a son, a son who shall be called John.

Unlike Mary, Zacharias asks for a sign from the Angel, failing to recognize that the apparition to him of an angel was itself the sign. For this lack of faith, he is struck dumb by Gabriel, and will not speak again until the birth of his son, when Zacharias would confirm that, in spite of all family tradition, “he shall be called John.” 

Even less familiar to Catholics is St. Gabriel’s appearance in the Old Testament, when he was sent by God to the prophet Daniel to explain a vision he had experienced. In all three apparitions, he is met with fear—in the case of Daniel, he fell on his face in a swoon and was sick for days afterwards. We must believe from this that Gabriel’s appearance must be quite terrifying, as indeed would be that of any great Archangel sent from God. This is no ordinary “saint”, no holy man who lives a godly life of virtue and is then rewarded. This is an Archangel, most powerful of the angels, created in the dim recesses of time before ever the earth was. Unlike other saints, therefore, we are not asked to emulate St. Gabriel in his virtue and godliness, but rather in his power to intercede for us at the very throne of God.

Let us stand in awe of the Archangel as we read the story of Zacharias in today’s proper Last Gospel, and prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s great feast of the Incarnation.