Today happens to be the feast day for the three Archangels. I was blessed to be able to attend Mass today, which I no longer take for granted like I have in the past. Apparently, up until the sixties each Archangel had their own feast day, but they decided to give them one to share so people did not get too confused about which day was for which Archangel.
Michael is the most famous of the three angels. Michael means who is like God. Most people usually associate him with being the leader of the good angels to send Satan out of heaven. He is also supposed to play a huge role at the end of the world to help bring peace to the world. He is the patron saint of Police.
Gabriel is known as the messenger. Gabriel means God's able-bodied one or hero of God. In the old testament he came to Daniel and gave him skill and understanding. He was the one to tell Mary that she was the chosen one to be Jesus' mother. He also came to Zacharias and told him that his elderly wife, Elizabeth, would have a son and to name him John. He is the patron of communications through technology.
Raphael is known as the healer of the three. Raphael means healer. He is the one that we have the smallest of information on. He is mentioned by name in the book of Tobit, which as the majority of people, know happens to be one of the books removed from the protestant Bibles, which I find very sad because it happens to be one of my favorite books to read from the Bible. Songs of Solomon and Proverbs come pretty close to it that one... anyway I went off topic there... Anyway, in the book of Tobias Raphael comes and cures Tobias from his blindness and then rescues his wife from the devil. The only other part of the Bible which speaks for certain of Raphael is in Revelations 8:2. Some people believe that the "angel of the Lord" mentioned in John 5 is quite possibly Raphael as well, but there is no way to really know that for certain.
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