Feast of the Archangels and a Testimony!

Today, 29th September, the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Archangels, St Michael, St Gabriel and St Raphael.

 For my non-Catholic friends, you may remember that Archangel Gabriel was sent to the young virgin Mary to announce her being chosen as the mother of the Messiah. You will also find St Raphael in the Book of Tobit, as the angel who accompanied young Tobias on his journey. St Michael, of course, is the angel who rallied the angelic troops to defeat Satan and throw him and his minions from Heaven and who, in the Book of Revelation, is the one who will lead the angelic forces once again as Christ comes to claim His Bride on Judgement Day.

Click on the pictures for more detailed information on these Archangels from the catholic culture website.

St Gabriel

St Raphael

   
Each one of these archangels has its own beloved place in our hearts but St Michael has always been a favourite in our household.  My youngest has had a devotion to him from a young toddler and would make me play a youtube video of the St Michael prayer daily before I took he to pre-school. I wrote about this last year in this post giving a testimony of how I had personally felt the protection of an angel or angels in my life.

Today, I have a more recent testimony and a very timely one which I want to share with you. If you could ever be in doubt about the protective services of our guardian angels, I hope you will change your mind after your read this.

A few years ago, during a painful trial in my life, I was turning to God more and more, absorbing myself in His Word, the Eucharist and daily, lengthy visits to the Blessed Sacrament. It was in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel that I felt that I was being instructed to place myself and my family under the protection of St Michael and the Blessed Mother.  I purchased St Michael and Miraculous medals and gave to each member of my family.

Last week my husband was away on a business trip. I had to drop everyone to work and school and to pick them up in the afternoon as well. This meant three trips into town with our 'vintage' car. By Wednesday afternoon, when I had parked the car after my second trip to pick up my youngest from school, I heard a bubbling in the radiator. When the car had cooled down, I checked it and realized that my radiator was empty! With some alarm, I topped it up with water and some little voice prompted me to check all of my car's fluids. I discovered that my power steering fluid was also empty! I topped that up too and headed out for my third trip, which was rather lengthy since I had two stops and had to wait half an hour both times for my girls to come out.

The following morning, I should have checked the car, but in my haste to leave on time, I didn't. When I returned home, I decided to leave the car out of the garage and check the floor to see what had leaked out of it. There, all over the garage floor was coolant. I waited for the car to cool down and sure enough, the radiator was empty again!

I called my mechanic and explained the situation. He he told me that something was definitely wrong, I was losing water too fast and to top it up and bring it over to him, which I did. (He lives a short distance from my own home.) After checking, he told me that a water jacket had burst . In reply to my asking if this meant I shouldn't drive the car, he said "You CANT drive this car" and instructed me to take everything I needed out of it and he would drive me home. He also told me that my power steering pump was leaking badly.

I arrived back home in a daze, mentally calculating what this would cost me and how much of a setback it would be to my finances this month. I absentmindedly began scrubbing the gunk off the floor and spotted a shiny object where the car had been parked.

There on the floor, where it had no right to be, was a St Michael Medal.

Suddenly, like a ton of bricks it hit me!  It all fell into place for me at that moment. I had driven my car into town, a distance of 10 miles from my home, in awful traffic conditions at least three times and had waited over half an hour twice...WITH A BURST WATER JACKET. (I don't even KNOW what that is!)  Those words "You CANT drive this car." echoed in my brain. I'm no mechanic and I didn't do Physics, but my common sense tells me that my car could and probably should have shut down anywhere during that time and I would have had to have a tow truck take me to the mechanic.  Another thing...why in the world would I decide to check the Power Steering fluid? I have learned to check my water and oil after some mishaps but not that!

I only have one answer friends. Finding that medal (which by the way is not one that my children use so it cannot be easily explained how it would get underneath my car) is a reminder to me that God has his special angels protecting me and that, in my turning to St Michael's protection in those prior years, I am still the grateful recipient of his vigilant guardianship.

Praise God and thank you St Michael!

If you would like to read testimonies of how angels are daily protecting and guiding God's faithful you can subscribe to the weekly newsletter by Joan Wester Anderson here and you can also read her wonderful compilations by ordering them here.

Hope you enjoyed reading and may the angels walk with you!


Footnote: I DO NOT receive any commissions for recommending these books. I just happen to be a fan and wanted to share my love of them with you.