David G. Bonagura Jr. 9/29/23
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It is the most aggressive, most intrepid, most thunderous prayer in the Catholic tradition, and it takes no prisoners from its very first line: “St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!”
What battle is this? Isn’t Jesus supposed to be the Prince of Peace? And isn’t Catholicism about love, not fighting?
Jesus is indeed the Prince of Peace, who will rule triumphantly over His creation when it is brought to fulfillment before the Blessed Trinity at the end of time. Then the Lord “will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
But we are not there yet.
On Good Friday, Christ definitively won the war over sin and evil. As we pray in the Easter season, “By dying He destroyed our death. By rising He restored our life.” But, as if the news of Central Command’s collapse has not yet reached the minions of Satan, pockets of resistance to the King of Kings hold out everywhere—first, in human hearts inclined toward sin, and, second, in our world that refuses to surrender peacefully to the King. This internal resistance—called concupiscence by the Church—manifests itself in multiple ways, according to St. Paul: “immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like” (Gal 5:19-21).
To fight these battles in our souls and in our world before Christ the King’s return, we need martial reinforcements. Enter St. Michael the Archangel, whose feast day we celebrate, along with his fellow archangels Gabriel and Raphael, on September 29.
St. Michael appears twice in the Scriptures; both times, he is leading armies against evil. In the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel receives a vision of how the final battle between warring kingdoms on earth will be resolved: “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time; but at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book” (Dan 12:1-2).
In the Book of Revelation, Michael again appears as the decisive leader in the cosmic battle between Heaven and the forces of evil: “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him” (Rev 12:7-9).
An inescapable component of the Christian life is our struggles against sin within us and against evil looming in the world. In these travails we are never alone: St. Michael fights with valor alongside us. He reminds us that the Lord is close at hand, even if we do not see Him or sense Him. And with him we know that Satan does not have a prayer in this contest.
What are the weapons that St. Michael supplies as reinforcements? Again St. Paul supplies the list: “[L]ove, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).
In one of the faith’s great ironies, Christians fight wars with the weapons of the Prince of Peace, the same ones He wielded in His sorrowful passion. Virtue defeats vice, holiness conquers evil, love overcomes selfishness.
As we pray for St. Michael’s intercession, let us remember that though the war is won, the battle for holiness rages as fiercely as ever—and other souls depend on our docility to the Holy Spirit to help them win their battles. Let us pray, therefore, in the beautiful words composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1886:
“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.”
David G. Bonagura, Jr. teaches at St. Joseph’s Seminary, New York. He is the author of Steadfast in Faith and Staying with the Catholic Church.
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