Today’s readings: Tobit 5, Tobit 12, Revelation 12:7-12, Matthew 1:18-25
Today’s feast: Vigil of Ss. Raphael, Michael and Gabriel [Vigil Mass Celebrated for the School Children]
What is a hero? The dictionary tells us that heroes are people of great courage or ability, admired for their brave deeds and noble qualities. They are people who seem to be able to do more than we can possibly imagine, people who are bigger or stronger or smarter than everyone else. I remember when I was your age I admired Superman and Batman, and sports heroes like Dick Butkis and Mark Spitz who was a great Olympic swimmer. You probably have heroes too. Maybe your heroes are people like Brian Urlacher or fictional people like Lightening McQueen or Spiderman.
You may never get to meet any of these heroes, and many of them are imaginary, just people we see in the movies or on television. But I think the world gives us all kinds of heroes, people who may never be real famous but people who do ordinary things with great ability and who have values and a sense of right and wrong that is a great example to all of us. Today’s feast of the Archangels Raphael, Michael and Gabriel gives us a great look at heroic qualities that we see in the Angels, but might also see in other people.
Some heroes lighten the load for other people. Like St. Raphael, they are people who can walk with us on long journeys, real journeys or even on the journey we call life. They teach us things and help us to see new possibilities. They are the people we can go to when we have a problem. The person who will get up and help us in the middle of the night when we have a bad dream or aren’t feeling very well. The friend we can tell anything to: all of our fears and worries and dreams. The teacher who helps us find out that we have abilities and talents we never knew we had. The sister or brother who holds our hand when we’re scared. There are lots of angels like St. Raphael who journey with us and bring us safely home.
Some heroes keep us safe. Like St. Michael, they defend people who cannot defend themselves. The police officer who teaches you how to say no to drugs or who helps you cross the street or catches a thief. Firefighters or paramedics who rescue people who are in an accident or whose houses are on fire. Soldiers who fight for our freedom so that we won’t have to face terror near our homes. It might be the lawyer who defends someone who has been unjustly accused of a crime. It could be the person who reaches out to feed the poor or someone who fixes up homes for the homeless. There are lots of angels like St. Michael who keep us safe from anyone or anything that can harm us.
Some heroes speak the truth. Like St. Gabriel, they are people who proclaim the Gospel and are the voice of God for us. They are people who tell us things that we need to hear, even if we don’t necessarily want to hear them. They are prophets and preachers and ordinary folks who just give witness to their faith. The priest giving the homily. The teacher talking about our religion. The parent who teaches us right from wrong. The person who speaks out when our government or society is heading the wrong way. The one who urges us to serve the poor. Like St. Gabriel, there are lots of angels who speak the truth and are God’s voice in our world.
In our society today, it’s almost like we don’t need heroes at all. Science can explain so much of what might be mysterious in our world. But we still need heroes, and we need saints like Raphael, Michael and Gabriel to bring God’s protection, communication and guidance in ways which defy description. And we might never get to meet Brian Urlacher, Lightening McQueen or Spiderman, but chances are we know people who have been like angels to us. Chances are we have experienced the protection of the angels in all sorts of ways.
How wonderful for us to celebrate the feast of St. Matthew. Because Matthew was qualified to be a disciple of Jesus in much the same way that we are qualified to be disciples of Jesus-which is to say, not at all. Matthew was a tax collector, working for the Roman occupation government. His task was to collect the tax from each citizen. Whatever he collected over and above the tax was his to keep. Now the Romans wouldn’t condone outright extortion, but let’s just say that they weren’t overly scrupulous about what their tax collectors were collecting, as long as they got paid the proper tax.
Korea was introduced to Christianity in the late 1500s when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers who invaded Korea at that time. It was not until the late 1700s that a priest managed to sneak into Korea, and when he did, he found about 4000 Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were over ten thousand Catholics.
Whenever you hear the stories of the saints, if you can’t read between the lives that they are always and everywhere pointing to Christ, then you’re missing the point. That’s a general rule of thumb when it comes to studying the saints, which by the way, is a very praiseworthy endeavor. One of the very best illustrations of that rule of thumb is the life of St. John the Baptist. Of course, it’s easier to see that in him, because he’s prominently mentioned in the Gospels. 
Faithfulness was a virtue that St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross held dear. Born into a prominent Jewish family in Breslau as Edith Stein, she abandoned Judaism in her teens. She studied philosophy under Edmund Husserl, a leading proponent of the philosophy of phenomenology. Edith earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1916. She became a Catholic in 1922, and the following year entered the Carmelite convent at Cologne, where she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
St. Dominic sensed the need for the Church to combat this heresy, and was commissioned to be part of the preaching crusade against it. He saw immediately why the preaching was not succeeding: the ordinary people admired and followed the ascetical heroes of the Albigensians. Understandably, they were not impressed by the Catholic preachers who traveled with horse and retinues, stayed at the best inns and had servants. Dominic therefore, with three Cistercians, began itinerant preaching according to the gospel ideal. He continued this work for 10 years, being successful with the ordinary people but not with the leaders. Eventually, he founded his own religious order, the Order of Preachers, or Dominicans, that was dedicated to preaching the Gospel to ordinary people.
Today we celebrate a feast of great importance to our Church. Saint Peter, the apostle to the Jews, and St. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, come together to show how the Church is truly universal, that is, truly catholic. There are similarities between the two men. Simon’s name is changed to Peter after he professes belief in the Lord Jesus, and Saul’s name is changed to Paul after he is converted. Both men started out as failures as far as living the Christian life goes. Peter denied his Lord by the fire and swore that he didn’t even know the man who was his friend. Paul’s early life was taken up with persecuting Christians and participating in their murder. And both men were given second chances, which they received with great enthusiasm, and lived a life of faith that has given birth to a Church.
Today we celebrate a feast that is a bit unusual for us. First of all, it’s a saint’s feast day, and saints’ days don’t usually take precedence over a Sunday celebration. Secondly, whenever we do celebrate a saint’s day, it is usually celebrated on the feast of their death, not their birth. But today we do gather to celebrate the birth of a saint, Saint John the Baptist, and the fact that we’re celebrating his birth and his day at all on this Sunday points to the fact that St. John the Baptist had a very special role to play in the life of Christ. In fact, the only other saint for whom we celebrate a birthday is the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that tells us something about how important John the Baptist is.
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