Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels
The saying goes that if you want something done right, you do it yourself. But this is not the way God operates. God seems to delight in giving jobs to others–even vital jobs. The saints we remember today, the archangels, had among the most important jobs in the cosmos. Gabriel brought the message of the Incarnation to Mary, telling her of her role in salvation history. Michael leads the armies of God to defeat Satan in the war in heaven. God entrusted these great roles to the archangels, and they carried the roles out.
God does the same for us. God could just raise all children Himself, to make extra sure they are all brought up to be good people and faithful disciples of His Son. Instead, He lets human parents share in His Fatherhood, form families, and raise their children. God could care for creation or manage the goods of the world just fine, but from the outset entrusted us with dominion over the earth. Even after the Fall, God never stopped trusting us or giving vital roles to us. Everything we have is a sign of God’s trust in us, and a charge from Him to care for what He has made. We, like the archangels, have been entrusted with critical roles in creation, and are asked to respond as they did.