Saint Michael and the Angels: A Month with St. Michael and the Holy Angels

O God, Who in ineffable providence do deign to send Your holy angels for our defense, grant to Your suppliants both to be defended always by their protection and to rejoice in their eternal company. (Collect for the Feast of the Angels Guardian from the Roman Missal)   Of the members of the Church Triumphant, none are perhaps more mysterious than the orders of the heavenly spirits, created before the foundation of the earth and destined for all time "to serve . . . those who shall inherit salvation" (Heb. 1:14). In truth, the angels, who are made to reflect very closely the glory of God, are destined to be the servants of the righteous of mankind in heaven! That is why Mary is Queen of the angels (and she can send them to our aid, if we ask her!). And yet, while we are on earth, some of the most powerful intercessors we have before God are the angels. Divided into nine choirs, they guard both the material world, directing the operations of nature, and individuals and societies, serving