Archbishop’s Homily on the Feast Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael’s.

The bible records the angels ascending and descending. Jews understand the cosmos as having three planes; the world, the world of spirits, and heaven. Gen. 28:12 And Jacob had a dream about a ladder that rested on the earth with its top reaching up to heaven, and God’s angels were going up and down the ladder. Jn 1:51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” The word ‘angel’ comes from the Greek angelos and simply means a ‘messenger’. Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named. Michael appears in Daniel’s vision as “the great prince” who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God’s armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honouring Michael and the angels in the fifth century. Gabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel’s visions, announcing Michael’s role in God’s plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah. Raphael’s activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit’s son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah’s marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit’s blindness, and the restoration of the family fortune.

Each of the archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides.

Members of the Fiji Catholic security: you take your mission guided by the Archangels. To defend God’s Kingdom – truth, justice, love, peace, common good & good of the planet, to announce God’s plan, and to heal.

A little history of the Fiji military – established 1871.

Colonel Jim Sanday who was second in command of the RFMF in 1987, wrote: “The Politicization of the Military Professionalism in Fiji,” in The Military, the State, and Development in Asia and the Pacific, 1991. Col. Sanday stated that the RFMF primarily served the interests of the ruling class, namely European expatriates and chiefs. He stated that class interests were also reflected in the military ranks and composition. From 1871 to the 1920s, Europeans dominated the top ranks of the military. After the 1920s, the RFMF favored chiefs for military commission positions. Sanday argued that tribalism and regionalism were the criteria for military recruitment. The appointment of RFMF commander also reflects the influences and interests of the elite classes. Sanday: military served the ruling class; colonialists, chiefly system, ruling government. Sanday adds that the patron-client relationship forged between the I Taukei political establishment and the RFMF denied the military its professionalism and made it vulnerable to policitization and ethnicization. We have also observed that military and police have becomes institutions of violence and torture.

As Catholic Military officers and Law enforces, the celebration of the patron of the Catholic Security Forces Association should remind us the of the purpose of the police and military, that is the serve the people of the nation, the common good and not the interest of the few.

Like the Archangels: The Catholic police and military are to protect common good, uphold the law, uphold truth, justice, freedom, love and peace.

Let us pray to the Archangels to guide our work, particularly with the coming elections, where we exercise our rights to vote for leadership, to lead our nation in peace, justice, truth, freedom and love.