A message from your Interim Rector 10/14/2026
I hope you enjoyed the opportunity to look for angelic references in the Bible and perhaps you found references did not include. If you found some angelic stories that I did not include, feel free to e-mail them to us and we will share them with others in the coming weeks.
Remember that angels are God’s agents and they come to us unbidden. We are not told to pray to angels and we can’t demand angels to come protect us; however, scripture tells us that we may encounter angels in our lives without even realizing it, until we reflect back on events. Angels and Archangels and all the host of heaven praise God and serve God; and on a rare occasion an angel of God may come see us with a message so important that God wants it delivered in an unmistakable way. Yet even in those times of encounter, the holy power of the angelic messenger may be veiled from our human sight so that we have the capacity to say yes or no. God always honors our free-will.
Blessings on your week.
Mo Pat+
Angel quiz answers
In the Old Testament angels appear in a variety of forms. Sometimes angels appeared in dreams like Jacob’s dream (Gen 28:10-17), and at other times angels came as men to Abraham and Lot (Gen chapters 18 & 19). An angel of God appears to Moses (Exodus 3:2)
In the New Testament, angels appear at important times in Jesus’ life - Angels announce his conception to Mary (Luke 1:26), reassure Joseph (Matt 1:20-24), and proclaim his birth to the shepherds (Lk 2:9), they minister to Jesus in the wilderness (Mt 4:11), strengthen him in His agony (Lk 22:43), are ready to defend Him when he is captured (Mt 26:53); and are the first witnesses to his resurrection (Mt 28:2-7). Jesus also refers to angels in his teaching: they are spiritual beings, Jesus says, (Mt 22:30) who always enjoy the vision of God in heaven (Mt 18:10) and angels will accompany him at his second coming (Mt 16:27).
Angels continued to act opening prison doors (Acts 5:19), giving guidance to Philip (Acts 5:26), freeing Peter from prison (Acts 12:7) and of course angels will announce and enact the final days (Revelation 7:2)
Number of archangels: 7 (see Tobit 12:15 for the number of archangels)
Names of the archangels: Michael (Jude 1:9 & Rev 12:7), Raphael (Tobit 12:15), Gabriel (Luke 1:26), Uriel (2 Esdras 4:1), Jeremiel (2 Esdras 4:36), and the last two are in some dispute as to their names since we have no biblical sources but Ariel or Arael and Barachiel seem the most common names cited in sources; but heaven only knows for sure.
