t prevail, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, who led astray the whole world (Rev. 12. 7-9). The archangel Michael led the other angels in a victory for heaven and God resulting in the opinion theologians have that Michael surpasses in the glory and power of all other angels (Medeiros 8). Two great events bound the history of the world according to the Christian tradition: the War in the Heaven and the Last Judgment. In both episodes Michael plays a leading role (Underhill 97). The archangel Michael, St. Michael, is the most venerated of all the angels therefore he was the first angel the Catholic Church granted special observance. Angels, His appointed helpers, His right hand; invisible to the living, or are they? Gallup polls say more than one half of Americans believe in angels and one in seven believe they have had a personal encounter with an angel (Tada 15). People vary in their willingness to trust in the supernatural. Angels do not submit to test, testify in court, or slide under a microscope for examination; their existence cannot be “proved” by any means humans call valid. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart” (Keller).The multitude of heavenly host on that long ago Bethlehem hillside has relevance in present day life. The promise of God to send angels to protect and rescue each of His children is a faithful pact. The Talmud says, “every blade of grass has an angel bending over it saying, ‘grow, grow’” (Tada 45). Angels guard people from danger or drift in and out of their lives to help them at fortuitous moments. Sometimes they come in disguise, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware” (Hebrews 13:23). Angels come to t...
