#three archangels

The Feast of the Three Archangels

Today, September 29, the Catholic Church honours Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. This year the feast coincides with a Monday, a day under the Moon, consecrated to Mary and marked by the voice of Gabriel. The coincidence draws the memory of the angels into the rhythm of the week; it is as if the lunar and Marian presence magnifies the mystery of the Annunciation and ties it to the liturgical remembrance of all three.

The Archangels are living forms of the primordial elements described in the Sefer Yetzirah by the three mother letters in Hebrew: Shin, Mem, and Aleph. Fire, Water, and Air stand at the origin of creation, whereas Earth emerges only afterwards, shaped as clay by their action. When we contemplate the Archangels on this day, we recognise that they embody the same principles as those letters; they are the forces of Divine formation, Angelic powers of Briah, the world of creation, where the elements are conceived as Spiritual realities before they descend into Assiah, the material plane.

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