St. Michael And All Angels

This year, the official feast day of St Michael and All Angels fell on 29 September. It was the Tuesday

which preceded the feast of St. Francis last Sunday; we did not get to celebrate God’s angels and talk about them.

There are about six hundred references to angels in the Bible, but we seldom talk about them.

Last Sunday, I spoke about the “parallel universe or the divine life that overlaps, if not present to us in the

immediate. In short, angels are God’s servants who are the go-betweens for us and Heaven. Today, I want

to tell you more about angels.

First, let me share a very beautiful story with you. This story encouraged me to take the theme of St

I will mention Michael and all angels for today's message and tell you about angels. I heard the story on 30 September at a study group meeting (via Zoom) based in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. This study group is dedicated to studying personages in the Bible who are mentioned only once or twice, which has left us wondering who they were and what had happened to them.

For example, we explore questions such as: who was Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God Most

High, who blessed Abraham? (Genesis 14; Ps.110:4 & Hebrews 7:1-1); what happened to Dinah, the

daughter of Jacob’s second wife and Joseph’s step-sister? (Genesis 46:7); what was the future of the

Ethiopian woman, Moses married early in his life. (Numbers 12:1); who were the wise men from the

East? (Matthew 2:1-12), and so on. One person in the group extensively searches for characters like

these and shares them with the group.

At our previous meeting in June, it was decided that Ella (a professor in Biblical Studies and a group member) would talk to us about the three angels named in the Bible. They are Gabriel, Raphael,

and Michael. Although these angels are known to be archangels and are present in much Christian

literature, they only get mentioned a few times in the Bible. Since the feast day of the angels falls on 29

September, our meeting was arranged for the 29th evening (the 30th morning for me in Melbourne)

Unfortunately, Ella was called out on a family emergency over the weekend, and the group convener

had to have a substitute speaker to talk about angels.

Tricia, the lady who stepped in for Ella, was not a scholar but a volunteer at a Food Bank named Angel

Network Charities (Hawaii). The Food Bank was started in 1989 by Ivy Higgins Olson.

Tricia told us the most beautiful story of Ivy. It is the story that inspired Ivy to start the Angel

Network Charities and made Tricia volunteer at the Charity since 1999. Ivy’s story is incredible and

true, which, I believe, will help us celebrate God’s angels. I recorded the story as Tricia narrated

the story.

Ivy was the daughter of Seventh-day Adventist missionaries, and shortly after graduation in 1960 married

Michael is also a Seventh-day Adventist. The Adventist sect, as it is today, was strict then, too. No dancing, no movies, no parties, and so on. Although the young couple obeyed all the rules, Ivy became restless after their second son's birth. Her life was rigid and restricted; all she did was work in a doctor’s office and then go home. She longed for friends, for new experiences, for laughter and fun. Ivy couldn’t imagine a God so harsh that he would prohibit the pleasure of music. Michael was furious when she began bringing home library books that presented worldviews different from their own.

Nothing worked out despite every effort Ivy made to keep up the marriage. Eventually, the relationship

between Ivy and Michael fell apart. One day, she packed up the boys and some possessions in her car and left. Ivy and the boys found a one-bedroom apartment with no furniture, and all three slept on the floor together. Divorced ensured. Neither Michael nor her parents, who were away in the mission field and upset over her decision, offered help.

Ivy only had her job at the doctor’s surgery. But her financial struggle was exhausting. By the time she

had paid for daycare and all the bills, the only thing left to skimp on was food. Iv applied for food stamps,

but the clerk said she earned two dollars above the cut-off point and wasn’t eligible. She fled the

welfare office, tears streaming down her cheeks.

As Thanksgiving neared that year, life got even more challenging. No one was going to invite her, and the

boys for a holiday dinner because they had no friends, and no one knew about their situation.

On Thanksgiving morning, Ivy woke up knowing she had only three hot dogs and three buns in the

refrigerator. There was no money, and payday wasn’t until next week. It was the lowest Ivy had felt. She