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ST. MICHAEL
THE ARCHANGEL story
 God
had made Heaven and the Earth and all the Angels and all the extra
important Angels,called Archangels. (Like an extra important Bishop
is called an Archbishop.) The Archangels were God's very special
friends and were Shining and Strong and Powerful. One Archangel
was called Gabriel. He was the one that God sent to tell Our Blessed
Lady that She was to become the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus
Christ, our Lord and Savior. Another Angel was called Raphael; he
was the one who helped Tobias in the Bible. Another Archangel was
called Michael. Michael was "the Angel of the Lord", who
was sent to Moses and Jacob and Abraham and to other people throughout
the history of the world. Another Archangel was Lucifer, who was
so beautiful that the other Angels called him the Son of the Morning.
Well, everybody was very happy because they were with God, and they
all loved him, because he had made them so Strong and Shining and
Lovely. Then one day Lucifer, Son of the Morning, said to himself:
"Why should God be the most important person in Heaven? Why,
shouldn't I be? I can fly and I can change into other things, and
I am beautiful and I am powerful. In fact, I am just as Important
as God, and I shan't do what He tells me ever again. I shall fight
Him and have Heaven for mine!"
So, Lucifer
went around Heaven, and he collected a lot of other Angels who also
didn't want to be less Important than God, until he had a Great
Army. Then they marched up to the Throne of God and said Proudly:
"We are just as Important as You. Why should You be the King
of Heaven any more than one of us? We are Strong and Proud and Beautiful,
and we will fight You for the Kingdom of Heaven." God looked
at them; then He said: "Lucifer, I thought that you were My
friend, and I trusted you. Be sensible now, and think about what
you are doing." "I have thought," said Lucifer, "and,
I'd rather not be in Heaven at all than have You for my King, and
so would all of us!" And behind him all the Rebel Angels shouted
with a great shout: "We will follow Lucifer! Long live Lucifer!
Let him reign over us in Heaven! WE DO NOT WANT GOD!" "Very
well," said God, "if you don't want Me, you needn't have
Me. But, if you want to fight for Heaven, you can if you think it
will be any good." Then, God called Michael the Archangel,
and made him gather together a Mighty Army of Angels who were on
God's side.
So, now you know why we sometimes say in our prayers, "Holy
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the Day of Battle,"
because he is so good at battles.
But, what happened
to Lucifer and his Rebel Angels? Well, he was so furious and enraged
at having lost his Battle with God that he has never gotten over
it. You see, he is never allowed inside Heaven anymore forever and
ever and ever; and, now that he can't go into Heaven anymore, he
is angry about it. So, in Revenge, he does everything horrible to
God that he can. His worst feeling is Jealousy; whom do you suppose
he is jealous of? Us! Why? Because when Our Lord Jesus was Crucified,
He opened the Kingdom of Heaven for us to go in! So Lucifer, whose
other name is Satan, or the Devil, is furious because we Ordinary
People are allowed into Heaven, and he, an Archangel, is not. So,
he and his angels (or demons) try always and always to stop us going
into Heaven by giving us bad Ideas, and making us do things that
we know are wrong, so as to hurt God. So, whenever you want to do
or say something horrid, think of the Great Battle in Heaven and
remember that it is Lucifer trying to keep you on his side. If you
don't do or say it, you have won and have stayed on God's side.
St. Michael's
Special Day is September 29th; it is the Feast of St. Michael, St.
Gabriel and St. Raphael, and of All Angels, because of all the Angels
who helped him win the Battle with Lucifer.
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| LIVES
OF THE SAINTS |
MAY 1
ST. JOSEPH THE WORKER
This is St. Joseph's second feast day on the Church calendar of celebrations. We honor him also on March 19. St. Joseph is a very important saint. 
MAY 2
ST. ATHANASIUS
St. Athanasius was born around 297 in Alexandria, Egypt. He devoted his life to proving that Jesus is truly God.
MAY 3
ST. PHILIP AND ST. JAMES
Both of these saints were part of the original group of Jesus' twelve apostles.
MAY 4
BLESSED MARIE-LEONIE PARADIS
Blessed Marie-Elodie Paradis was born in the village of L'Acadie in Quebec, Canada. It was May 12, 1840.
MAY 5
ST. JUDITH OF PRUSSIA
St. Judith lived in the thirteenth century. She was born in Thuringia. This was in what is now central Germany. She wanted to model her life on the example of St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
MAY 6
BLESSED FRANCOIS DE MONTMORENCY LAVAL
Blessed Francois was the first bishop of Quebec City, Canada. He was born in 1623 in a small town in France.
MAY 7
BLESSED ROSE VENERINI
Blessed Rose was born in Viterbo, Italy, in 1656. Her father was a physician. Rose entered the convent but returned home after a few months.
MAY 8
BLESSED CATHERINE OF ST. AUGUSTINE
St. Catherine was born on May 3, 1632, in a little village in France. She was baptized the same day.
MAY 9
BLESSED NICHOLAS ALBERGATI
Blessed Nicholas was born in Bologna, Italy. Nicholas' family could afford to send him to the university where he began to study law.
MAY 10
ST. ANTONINUS
St. Antoninus lived in the fifteenth century. Even as a boy he showed that he had good sense and will power.
MAY 11
ST. IGNATIUS OF LACONI
St. Ignatius was the son of a poor farmer in Laconi, Italy. He was born on December 17, 1701.
MAY 12
ST. NEREUS, ST. ACHILLEUS AND ST. PANCRAS
Sts. Nereus and Achilleus were Roman soldiers who died around 304. They were probably Praetorian guards under Emperor Trajan. We know little else about them.
MAY 13
ST. ANDREW FOURNET
St. Andrew Fournet was born on December 6, 1752. He was from Maille, a little town near Poitiers, in France. Andrew's parents were religious people.
MAY 14
ST. MATTHIAS
St. Matthias was one of Our Lord's seventy-two disciples.
MAY 15
ST. ISIDORE THE FARMER
Saint Isidore was born in 1070, in Madrid, Spain. His parents were deeply religious. They named their son after the great St. Isidore, archbishop of Seville, Spain.
MAY 16
ST. UBALD
St. Ubald lived in twelfth-century Italy. He was an orphan raised by his uncle, a bishop. Ubald was given a good education.
MAY 17
ST. PASCHAL BAYLON
St. Paschal, a Spanish saint, was born in 1540. From the time he was seven, he worked as a shepherd. He never had the opportunity to go to school.
MAY 18
ST. JOHN I
St. John I was a priest of Rome. He became pope after the death of Pope St. Hormisdas in 523. At that time, Italy's ruler, Theodoric the Goth, was an Arian.
MAY 19
ST. CELESTINE V
Peter di Morone was the eleventh of twelve children. He was born around 1210 in Isernia, Italy. His father died when he was small.
MAY 20
ST. BERNARDINE OF SIENA
St. Bernardine of Siena was born in 1380 in a town near Siena, Italy. He was the son of an Italian governor.
MAY 21
BLESSED EUGENE DE MAZENOD
Blessed Eugene was born in France in 1782. He became a priest in 1811. Father Eugene was sensitive to the needs of the poor and he ministered to them.
MAY 22
ST. RITA OF CASCIA
St. Rita was born in 1381 in a little Italian village. Her parents were older. They had begged God to send them a child. They brought Rita up well.
MAY 23
ST. JOHN BAPTIST ROSSI
St. John Baptist Rossi was born in 1698 in a village near Genoa, Italy. His family loved him. They were proud when a wealthy couple visiting their town offered to educate him. His parents knew the couple and trusted them.
MAY 24
ST. DAVID I OF SCOTLAND
St. David was born in 1080. He was the youngest son of St. Margaret, queen of Scotland, and her good husband, King Malcom.
MAY 25
VENERABLE BEDE
Venerable Bede, the English priest, was famous as a saint, a priest, a monk, a teacher and a writer of history. He was born in England in 673.
MAY 26
ST. PHILIP NERI
St. Philip Neri was born in Florence, Italy, in 1515. As a child, his nickname was "Good little Phil." He was always so jolly and friendly that everyone he met loved him.
MAY 27
ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY
St. Augustine was the abbot of St. Andrew's monastery in Rome. Pope St. Gregory the Great chose him and forty other monks for a mission dear to his heart.
MAY 28
BLESSED MARGARET POLE
Blessed Margaret was born in 1471. She was the niece of two English kings, Edward IV and Richard III. Henry VII arranged her marriage to Sir Reginald Pole.
MAY 29
ST. MAXIMINIUS
St. Maximinius was a bishop who lived in the fourth century. It is believed that he was born in Poitiers, France. As a young man, he heard of a saintly bishop of Trier, in Gaul.
MAY 30
ST. JOAN OF ARC
St. Joan was born in 1412. Her hometown was Domremy, a little village in France. Jacques d'Arc, her father, was a hard working farmer.
MAY 31
THE VISITATION OF MARY
Visitation means "visit." The Archangel Gabriel told the Blessed Virgin Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was going to have a baby.
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PHOTO OF THE MONTH |
Tour
of the Relics of the Passion
(International Center
for Holy Relics)
www.HolyRelics.org
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| REFLECTIONS |
 “Jesus’
Baptism”
Why did Jesus, the sinless one sent from the Father in heaven,
submit himself to John’s baptism? John preached a
baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke
3:3). In this humble submission we see a foreshadowing of
the “baptism” of Jesus bloody death upon the
cross. Jesus’ baptism is the acceptance and the beginning
of his mission as God’s suffering Servant (Isaiah
52:13-15; 53:1-12). He allowed himself to be numbered among
sinners. Jesus submitted himself entirely to his Father’s
will. Out of love he consented to this baptism of death
for the remission of our sins. Do you know the joy of trust
and submission to God?
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