RCIA SESSIONS IN THE PRESENTATION ROOM OF THE PARISH OFFICE FROM 7:00-8:30

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“As the visions during the night continued, I saw one like a son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). This vision of Daniel is found 5 chapters before the depiction of “Michael” (12:1-3) and the eternal condition of those “found written in the book” (“shall live forever”) and those not (“an everlasting horror and disgrace”). St. Michael emanates humility as the means to overcome the proud enemies of God. Before that we see Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, whose “dominion” is “everlasting” and served by “all peoples, nations, and languages”. Rightly do we establish with Daniel the eternal Lord and King of All at the center of our adoration, worship, and praise; as well as the foundation of our hope. Following this are we rightly able to honor and imitate Michael, who leads us in conquering the enemies of God through the humility that follows the recognition we celebrate at today’s Solemnity to conclude the liturgical year. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the “Alpha and the Omega” (Revelations 1:8), worthy of all praise and source of all joy. Eternal is the reign of the humble “Son of man”. Through this humility mankind discovers who we are: our great dignity and freedom. “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen” (Revelations 1:5-6). What were Adam and Eve and through them all of humanity to do? Through disobedience we have merited an inability to be obedient to what will make us happy, eternally! But through the humility and obedience of the “Son of man” we find the solution, lived out by sharing the cross he bore for our freedom. Through obedience and suffering with the “Son of man” we find anew what we cannot obtain by our own fallen power: virtue, freedom, and happiness that lasts!
In Christ, son of Mary,
Fr. Russell