It was only on the sixth day of Creation that Adam and Eve, our first parents, came into existence, like everything else, by the hand and will of God. Before them, God had already created all of the angels. To learn more about angels themselves, read "What are Angels?" in the Angels stained glass window of our Cathedral.

Like the rest of God's creation, including human beings, angels are created in a hierarchy. This means that not everything and everyone are equal, but there is an order of gifts and authority. God, in His infinite wisdom knows how boring and awful it would be if everything was the same and all creatures were equal. This is especially true with angels and humans. Angels are far superior to human beings in the gifts and strengths that God has endowed them with. But even within the world of angels, there is not equality. God created each one different according to His plan for them. God made human beings the same way.

The hierarchy of angels is constructed of nine different choirs. A choir is kind of a type or rank of angels, grouped together according to the type of work God has created them for. One of these groups, or choirs, is called Archangels. It is the second lowest group of angels that God created. It is from this group that Saint Michael comes.

After God created the angels, He revealed to them His plan to create mankind. He showed them how weak and simple our minds and bodies would be. The angels saw how inferior we humans would be compared to them. God then revealed that He wanted the angels to serve us and help us. He was testing their humility. He showed them that one day He would set a man and woman as King and Queen over all the angels. The man is Jesus, the Second Divine Person of the Most Holy Trinity. The woman is His own Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Lucifer realized that he had many wonderful gifts. For example, his ability to love was greater than any other angel. His very name means "One who brings light". He had been created to be one of God's best friends and most powerful helpers. Among his other gifts, he was the most handsome, the most smart, and the most powerful of the angels. When God asked him to use these gifts to serve human beings he was tempted to pride. Pride is when we give ourselves credit for the good we have or do. Pride is when we put ourselves first and think we are better than others. Pride is when we love ourselves most of all and only want to do what we want to do.

Why should he, as the greatest of the angels, serve lowly, pitiful creatures like human beings? It would be like God asking us to serve worms or bugs. But when he was told that he would have to obey and respect two human beings as his King and Queen for all eternity that was too much. To serve was bad enough. But to obey any human being and say that anyone was greater than he? Yes, that was too much. Poor Lucifer. He was so smart that he made himself stupid. His pride blinded him. He forgot to give God credit for all of his gifts. He forgot to be grateful. He forgot that God was infinitely greater than all the angels and humans put together. He did not understand that by obeying and respecting Jesus and Mary, he was obeying and respecting God and His Holy Will. He did not understand that we can only be truly happy by obeying the wonderful, loving God that made us. In his pride he made the greatest mistake any angel or human can make. He chose to love and obey himself instead of God. It was the worst mistake he could make. And then he began to go amongst the angels, encouraging them to do the same.

When Lucifer, the leader of the bad angels, rebelled against God, he shouted "NON serviam!" This means I will NOT serve!. And then, the horrible sound of the first lie in the history of creation was uttered. Lucifer, filled with pride, shouted "I am God's equal ! I am also a god! I should rule as King! I am God's equal !".

While this horrible sound echoed throughout the heavens, almost immediately another sound was heard. A voice, even louder and stronger, rang out "Who is like God?" It was the beautiful sound of someone who wanted to love God and do God's Will more than anything else. It was Saint Michael, a lowly Archangel. Lucifer had been created by God with many more gifts and was much more powerful than Saint Michael. But in his pride Lucifer thought he was as special as God. Saint Michael was from the second lowest group of angels that God created. In his humility he realized that God alone is good. Whatever good any creature has is from God and has been given to them by God.

Saint Michael said to himself "Everything in me that is good has come from God. God gets all the credit. I had nothing to do with it. I need to be grateful that God created me. Before He created me I did not exist! I was nothing. What gifts He has given to me I will use to try to please Him. I can please Him by obeying His laws and doing what He asks me to do."

Saint Michael saw Lucifer, with all his great gifts, getting other angels to disobey and rebel against God also. He became very angry. He went right up to Lucifer and challenged him. Even though he was not created as powerful as Lucifer, his love and gratitude to God was very great. That made Saint Michael very powerful. Lucifer on the other hand, used his great gifts not to love God but to love himself. That made him much weaker.

So a lowly Archangel stood firm and told the greatest, most powerful angel - Lucifer - that he must stop speaking badly about God. Or else! Lucifer, in his awful pride, looked down on the simple Archangel and laughed.

His evil laughter began to roll through the heavens. Before it faded away though, it was drowned out by a new sound. It was the voice of Saint Michael. He began calling out loudly all the ways that God is good. His wonderful voice filled the heavens as he began to cry out the many reasons why God deserves to be known. To be loved. To be served. To be obeyed. It was a foreshadowing of those times in human history when small and humble men, women and children - filled with a true love for God - would rise to defend God's One True Catholic Church. They would give their very lives to defend the Divine truths and rights. They will stand firm against overwhelming odds and powerful enemies of God. Vastly outnumbered or overmatched, they will unite themselves to the Almighty God. Then, just like the little, weak David against the huge, powerful Goliath, they will miraculously rise up and crush their opponents.

The sound of Saint Michael's voice was soon joined by the voices of all the other good angels, crying out as one voice. It was a most beautiful harmony. They sang the praises of God, The Most Holy Trinity. With those eternal truths, they crushed the wretched lies of the rebellious angels. God had created all things to live in peace and harmony. Suddenly, that deep and joyous serenity was shattered by the clash of two great armies locked in deadly combat.

... and the fiercest battle that has ever been fought began to fill the heavens. In time, Saint Michael led the Holy Angels to a total victory over the evil Lucifer and his wretched followers.

Lucifer was given the names of Satan and Ancient Dragon. The bad angels were given the names demons and devils. Then they were all thrown into hell where they will suffer horrible punishments forever and ever. All because they wanted to do their own will and not obey God. Pride is called the mother of all sins. When Lucifer and his followers had to choose between being humble and being proud they sadly chose pride. Human beings have to make the same choice.

We can choose to be prideful. That means that we think we do not have to obey God and do what He says. We think we are equal to God because we do not have to obey God. If we stay like this and never change we will become like Lucifer and all the other devils. When we die, we will lose our soul and go to hell. We will be forever trapped in a dungeon filled with beings that hate God and hate us. There, we will suffer miseries that are greater than we could ever imagine ... suffer forever ... without end.

Or we can choose to do what God wants us to do. If we do, we will grow in our love for God. This love will make it easier and easier to obey Him. When we die, we will be happy with Him forever in Heaven. We will be surrounded by all the angels and humans that love God more than anything else. They will also love us very much and we will love them the same way. There, we will enjoy delights that are greater than we could ever imagine ... enjoy forever ... without end.

This battle for the control of Heaven was the first battle between good and evil. A long time ago, Saint Michael led the forces of good to a great victory over satan and the powers of evil. But this battle for Heaven was just the beginning of one long, great war. This war will not end until time on earth comes to an end.

In the meantime, the battles rage on. Satan and the demons hate us because God loves us. They want us in hell with them and they never tire of doing everything they can to get us to sin. But Saint Michael and the Holy Angels love us very much. They are always ready to help us do what God wants us to, so that we will save our soul. But we have to ask them for this help. It is not easy to do what God wants, because we are weak.

We need lots of help to be good. But God gives us many helps. Everyone in Heaven wants to help you. Read good books about Heaven and everyone that lives there. We have good books on our Holy Family Press website and in our catalog. We have good books about Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph and the Holy Saints, your Guardian Angel, Saint Michael and the Holy Angels. The more you learn about them the more you will love them. They will help you to know, love, serve and obey Almighty God. Pray to them often to help your parents, your family and friends. Pray for them to bring all people to know and love God and His Truths. Ask them to protect God's Holy Catholic Church from of all of God's enemies who want to destroy her.

Finally, pray every day for them to help you fight satan and anyone else who would try to convince you to sin. Fight these enemies with the strength, courage and virtues of Saint Michael and the Holy Angels. They crushed him once before and want nothing more than to stand beside you when, with God's grace, you also crush all the enemies of your soul. Their voices will fill Heaven with joyful songs when you emerge victorious from your own great battle in the war between good and evil - the battle for your eternal salvation.

After St. Michael led the Holy Angels to victory, God made him the great Prince over all the good angels. He had proven to God that he wanted to love God more than anything else. He showed that he was not afraid to fight anyone or anything that tried to go against God or His Holy Will. God rewarded St. Michael by giving him other very important jobs to do.

After having been thrown out of Heaven, with his foolish followers following close behind, satan desired to have revenge against God and find a way to show and spread his hatred. One day, he found his next victims. His wicked eyes grew jealous when they beheld, in the beautiful Garden of Paradise, two innocent creatures who were blissfully happy in the Love of God. The rest is history. Adam and Eve, our first parents, fell and lost their right to Heaven. God, in His mercy and love, took pity on them and planned a way to restore to Mankind, the chance they had lost- that of eternal happiness with God in Heaven.

So, one day, God looked down on earth and found a man who was very good. God changed his name to Abraham and told him that one of his descendants would redeem the whole human race. This person would be God's only Son, Jesus, sent to earth to become a man. Jesus would suffer and die for our sins. In this way, the love of God would reopen the gates of Heaven for us. However, only our love for God will carry us through them when we die. We are redeemed but we are not saved. Only we can save our own souls by obeying God's laws.

Abraham's family grew through the years. Over time, this family developed into a nation called the Jews. God continued to teach them and guide them through special men called prophets and judges. Through Moses they were formed into a formal religion with clear laws written down for them to follow. Meanwhile, satan was furious and fought with all his might for the ruin of the human race. He and his demons were always trying to get the people on earth to worship them under the appearance of different false gods. The Jews were weak and many fell away from the True Faith. Also, the devils would often inspire other groups of people to wage war on the Jews. To help protect these people from the dangers of demons and the attacks of bad men, God sent Saint Michael and made him the Guardian Angel of the God's true church. Who else would be more worthy and capable of leading and protecting the children of God, than humble Archangel who had led the fight against evil, when evil first began. Saint Michael would lead the Holy Angels in comforting the descendants of Abraham in times of sorrow. He did the same to protect them from the attacks of demons and bad men. When Jesus, the Second Divine Person of the Most Holy Trinity of God, came to earth to become a man, St. Michael was assigned to be his main Guardian Angel. After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, St. Michael was assigned to continue guarding God's Church on earth.

The Bible tells us that not everything that Jesus said or did was written down in the Bible. Another way we know what Jesus said, did or taught is called Tradition. The tradition of the Church tells us many of the things which St. Michael has done, especially for God's Church. There are many examples of his patronage in the Holy Bible. In the fourteenth chapter of Exodus, St. Michael is the angel who took the form of a dark cloud which lit up at night. He prevented the Egyptians from attacking the Israelites, while God sent a wind all night to separate the waters of the Red Sea. Later, early the next morning, St. Michael retreated, after the Jews had begun to cross the dry land between two walls of water. Then, just as the Egyptians were about to catch up to them, St. Michael killed their leaders. The rest of the Egyptian army fled from St. Michael but God caused the sea water to collapse back upon them. Not one Egyptian survived. St. Michael had protected the people of God's Church of the Old Covenant. In chapter 23 of the same book we read of St. Michael again. Here, God is talking to Moses on Mount Sinai about the covenant God is offering to the Jewish people: "Behold I will send my Angel, who shall go before you, and keep you in your journey. and bring you into the place I have prepared (the Promised Land)... if you will hear his voice and do all that I will tell you to do (through the angel) I will be an enemy to your enemies and will afflict those who afflict you."

Tradition again tells us that in the book of Numbers, chapter 22, we find St. Michael again. Balac, the king of a nation called Moab, was fearful of the Israelites who were conquering one nation after another. So the king called on Balaam, who was a type of prophet. The king wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites so that they would be unable to conquer his nation. Balaam is on route to the Moabites when his donkey stops three times. Driven by frustration and anger, the prophet beat the animal every time it refused to walk. What Balaam does not know is that each time the donkey has seen St. Michael holding a terrible sword in his hand. Finally, God has the donkey speak to Balaam miraculously and his eyes are opened. He then can see St. Michael who tells him "I am sent by God to stop you because what you are doing is against God's Will. If your donkey had not stopped each time she saw me I would have killed you with this sword."

In the 19th chapter of the fourth book of Kings the story is told how all of Jerusalem was terrified of the approaching Assyrian army. This army was unbeatable and they had decided to make the kingdom of Juda their next conquest. Through a prophet, God assured the King of Jerusalem that He would protect His city. St. Michael was the fulfillment of God's promise. "And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord came and, in the camp of the Assyrians, killed one hundred and eighty-five thousand men."

As stated before, God made St. Michael the Guardian Angel of God's Church on earth. Before Jesus Christ came to earth to redeem the world, the Church of God was called the Hebrew religion. God had established what is called the "Old Covenant" with Abraham and his descendants, the Hebrews. That covenant, or promise, of God was that from their race He would send a man to redeem the world. To fulfill this, God sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth. When Jesus redeemed the whole world and reopened the gates of Heaven, God's Old Covenant with the Hebrew people was completed. Then God entered into a New Covenant with all the people of the earth. God changed the name of His Church to the Catholic Church. "Catholic" means universal or world wide because now anyone could join not just people that were from the Jewish race of people. It is also called the Roman Catholic Church because God put one man, St. Peter in charge of the whole Church and sent him to Rome in Italy to be the Bishop of Rome. God always places just one person to be in charge of a group of people. For His Church on earth that one person is the Pope. That is why we say we are the "Roman" Catholic Church. Because the Bishop of Rome is the most special bishop on earth. He is the Pope of the Catholic Church. God uses him in a unique way to protect and defend God's Laws and His Truths.

So the religion God began on earth through Abraham was now offered to all the people of the world. And the Church that God began with Abraham is now called the Roman Catholic Church. Now, although the exterior, members and name of God's Church had changed, it had the same Guardian Angel. St. Michael continues to protect and lead God's One True Church, just as he has for the past four thousand years.