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Text Box: ANGELIC EXAMPLE St. Raphael The battle between the good Angels and the Devil and his followers, was a battle for Heaven. It was a real battle, a real war. It was not a war between God and the Devil, for there can be no war between God and anyone. It is possible to fight another living creature: one can fight a wolf, a human, a good or bad Angel, and even a bacteria. But one can not fight a mountain. One can challenge the obstacles a mountain presents, but one can not fight a mountain. Similarly, one can challenge God, but one can not fight God. It is important to remember these things, for our journey to salvation includes both fighting against the Devil, and challenging our evil inclinations and the evil inclinations presented to us by the Devil. We fight with prayer, and with reception of the Sacraments, especially Holy Communion and Confession. These give us the spiritual energy needed to challenge the evil inclinations which originate from ourselves and those which originate from the Devil and his followers. We challenge these evil inclinations by doing and being good. During the time of Saint Tobias, the king had issued an order that the dead were not to be buried. This order was partially in denial of the resurrection of the dead, and to deny the sanctity of human life. It was an open revolt against the Mosaic Law which required respectful treatment of the dead in recognition of the sanctity of human life and the body’s housing of the immortal soul and the Spirit of God. Saint Tobias buried the dead in violation of the king’s order. He did not just go dig a hole and dump the dead bodies into the hole. He buried the dead in accordance with proper religious ritual and observances and prayed for the dead. He therefore not only fought against the Devil with prayer, but also challenged evil

Text Box: inclinations with doing and being good. We know very little about the war for Heaven between the Angels and the Devil and his minions, but we can be sure it included spiritual fighting of Angelic prayer against whatever it is that the Devil does which is comparable. And whatever that fighting is it must be something so awesome that human storytellers could not begin to describe it. But it also must have included challenging of the Angelic comparable to human evil inclinations. Some think such evil inclinations are not possible in the spiritual makeup of an Angel, but something comparable must exist because whatever it is, the Devil and his minions succumbed to it and embraced it rather than embrace God. When Saint Tobias buried the dead, and did good which challenged the evil which originated from within himself and from other sources, the Devil and all evil fought back with additional temptations. Evil, which is a force which emanates from fallen Angelic nature and from fallen human nature, seeks to maintain its power, not only through obvious temptations such as lust, pride, desire for power, and the other basic sins, but also through more sophisticated means, such as loss of livelihood, loss of home, health, family, family member’s health, and unjust persecution. But Tobias was so holy that the temptations he faced were not just the ordinary ones which evil emanates; he was so holy that God actually allowed Saint Tobias to be targeted, so that Tobias’ rejection of temptation would prove to all of Heaven, Earth, and Hell, that Saint Tobias was a man of God. Tobias was steadfast in his prayers and in his good works, and so God blessed Tobias in this life and in eternity. The Angels of God continue their war against the Devil and his minions even to this day. The Angel Raphael offered to God the prayers which Tobias prayed for the dead, and offered his own Angelic prayers in union with the prayers of Tobias. In so doing the Angel Raphael continued his opposition

Text Box: to the Devil, challenging the evil inclinations to abandon burying the dead which were constantly before Tobias. Saint Raphael and the other Angels of God continue challenging evil to this very day. But they do not just fight the Devil, and challenge temptation. They also know the mind of God as much as it is possible for anyone other than God to know the mind of God. Because they know the mind of God, they constantly engage in charitable works for the benefit of mankind. When the Angel, who is believed to be the same Archangel Raphael, moved the waters at Bethsaida, so that the first to enter the moving waters would be cured, he did so out of Divine Love, out of Charity. When a child is mysteriously pulled out of danger, or when on impulse you take a route to some place which is different from the route you usually take and by so doing you avoid a danger which is awaiting you, it is the Angel of God, your Guardian, who, as God’s messenger, and as one who loves you more than you can begin to imagine, who has acted. Follow the example given to us by Saint Raphael and the other Angels of God, by being ever vigilant against evil and ever vigilant in accepting, doing, and being good. And when you weary of the battle against evil, think of the energy, effort, time, and all else Saint Raphael and his brothers in arms have exerted on your behalf in the very same battle. Can you abandon a brother in arms who has been so faithful to you? Ref: Tob. 12:7-15; John 5:1-4 +

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