Many Christians are unaware of the meaning and significance
that Saint Michael’s name bears.
Throughout the entire history of the Church, Saint
Michael has been viewed as a protector and guardian.
Our current prayer to Saint Michael, penned by Pope Leo
XIII, states specifically:
“Be our protection against the wickedness and
snares of the devil.”
But what about his name itself?
The name “Michael” is a question, and it bears a great
deal of significance for us, and is perhaps
most understood in our current age of debauchery and
death.
“Michael” means, “Who is like God?”
It may seem rather odd that Saint
Michael’s name would be a question, but the meaning of this question will become
evident after a few brief readings from the Scriptures.
Saint John, in the Book of Revelation, describes the rebellion
in Heaven:
“Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels
battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but
they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.
The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the
Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth,
and its angels were
thrown down with it.” (Revelation 12:7-9)
As we know from Tradition, and also from Saint John,
it was Michael the Archangel who cast Satan out of Heaven. But what
was the nature of the
Rebellion itself?
The prophet Isaiah says:
Lucifer said in his own heart:
"I will ascend above the height of the
clouds, I will be like the most High .”
(Isaiah 14:14) The choice of words “like the most High”
are very interesting, especially considering
who it was that cast Lucifer out of Heaven. If Lucifer
said:
“I will be like the most High,” then Michael’s name is
a question directly aimed at
Lucifer’s declaration.
In effect, he is asking Lucifer, “Who is like God?”
But this isn’t a question without an answer.
In the book of Genesis, Holy Moses explains,
“Then God said: Let us make man to our image and likeness.”
So, when Michael announced his own name by asking
the question, “Who is like God?” he is pointing to man, because man was
made in the image and likeness of God.
The fact that we are made in the image of God is clear.
Our Blessed Lord is the Word through whom all of
creation came into existence.
When Adam was created, in the image of God, he was
made in the physical reflection of God. But what about the
"likeness?”
The image refers to visual similarity, but likeness
has more to do with the nature of the thing.
There is only one way by which man is like God, and
that is our participation in
creation.
The one power man possesses which NO angelic being
possesses is the ability to participate in creation.
In other words, people can make more people, but
angels cannot make more angels.
This places an interesting perspective on the
rebellion in Heaven.
Lucifer’s desire to be “like the most High” is a sign
of his rejection of God’s plan for Creation.
And since man is created in the image and likeness of
God, it stands to reason that the strongest attacks of the devil would be
focused on the one thing that man can do, which the devil cannot.
In short, the devil wishes to destroy us through our
likeness of God. Today, and more specifically throughout the 20th
century, we have seen a steady and unwavering
assault on man’s participation in creation. The first wave
of attacks came in the form of the birth control movement of the early
1900’s. Through this movement, the devil deceived men by convincing them
to rebel against God’s gift of the power of co-creating more people. This
rebellion was a direct assault on the power God gave to man by creating
us in His likeness.
The second wave came through the rise of no-fault divorce.
It was through a series of legislative decrees in early 1918, under the
revolutionary government of Russia, that no-fault divorce was introduced
to the world. Lenin’s revolutionary government in Russia produced the
Russian Family Code of 1918.
The code introduced “mutual consent of both spouses
as well as the wish of one of them” as grounds for divorce.
It is no coincidence that Our Lady of Fatima warned
that “Russia will spread her errors throughout the world” just a few months
before no-fault divorce was legislated into existence by the Russians.
Through birth control and no-fault divorce, the devil
attacked both the structure and the power of man’s participation in creation.
Then came war and abortion. There is not a single
year since World War I where there has not been a state of war or
rebellion around the globe.
And with the introduction of abortion, the devil has
launched a third assault on the likeness of God by attacking the very fruits
born out of this likeness.
But what we face today is the very crown of the devil’s
assault on the likeness of God.
The Book of Genesis says, “male and female He created
them.”
Through this complimentary likeness, the human race
is able to participate in the creation of new people. But through the
deception of the devil, man’s concept of the masculine and the feminine has
become twisted.
The very concept of a homosexual “person” is an
assault on the likeness of God.
While all of mankind was cursed with concupiscence,
struggling against the temptations of the flesh, in truth, there is no such
thing as a “gay man” or “lesbian woman,” because the dignity provided
to ALL human beings includes the image and likeness of God.
But homosexual acts (by which self-proclaimed gay men
and lesbian women identify themselves) are a full and complete rejection
of man’s likeness to God. In its very essence, the idea of homosexuality is the
complete rebellion of man’s own nature bec ause in rejecting man’s likeness to
God it attempts to remold man into the likeness of the devil; barren, twisted,
and seeking to be something other than what he was created to be.
Now, society and the courts are fighting to entrench
sodomy under the guise of a sacrament.
This satanic revolt will be the devil’s most
ferocious assault against humanity, but as Satan was cast out of
Heaven by Saint Michael.
The prophet Daniel tells us that Saint Michael
holds a particular significance in our time today.
“But at that time shall Michael rise up, the
great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a
time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even
until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved every one that
shall be found written in the book.” (Daniel 12:1)
There can be no doubt to the satanic nature of so
called same-sex ‘marriage,” but just as St. Michael cast the dragon
out of Heaven, we join Pope Leo XIII in his prayer:
“Do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, cast
into Hell, Satan, and all the evil spirits who prowl throughout the world
seeking the ruin of souls.”