Angels & Dragons XX: “War in Heaven” (Rev. 12:7)
The Book of Revelation describes
the “War in Heaven” (Rev. 12:7) between
St. Michael and his angels against the Red Dragon and his angels, when a vision
of a woman about to give birth is shown to them.
What was the first battle
like? Why did it happen? What was the trial of the angels? Are there any revelations via the saints,
mystics, or from exorcisms where the devil is forced to confess what happened? St. Faustina reminds us that St. Michael was
the first Christian to do God’s will when he believed in the incarnation, fights
for God, and thus passes the test,
“I have great reverence for Saint Michael the Archangel; he had no example to follow in doing the will of God, and yet he fulfilled God’s will faithfully [667].”
The mystic Venerable Mary of
Agreda, who bilocated more than 500 times to America, writes in the Mystical City of God about this great battle
that occurs in the heavens; however, not the real heaven where God abides,
“It was a wonderful battle…Saint Michael, burning with zeal for the honor of God and armed with divine power and with his own humility, resisted the arrogant pride of the dragon…”
Every creature has be tested
before entering the beatific vision where God dwells, and the angels were no
different. Patricia Devlin (blind
mystic) captures the words of St. Michael concerning the great tribulation that
all the angels faced before the battle,
“But the temptation to follow
Lucifer that we all faced was so great. He could and did make it seem
so logical that God’s way was crazy, that His plan for creation made no
sense. ‘How,’ he asked us, ‘could we think for a moment that suffering
and sorrow could bring any good?’ …Lucifer showed us a vision of Christ crucified
and jeered, ‘See! This is the King you would follow, a King who has no
followers, who does not raise a finger to protect Himself against those
who will torture Him to death. What kind of God is this?’…He asked us,
‘If you open yourself to love, what will happen to you but that you will
be hurt? Look at this: The God of the Universe will come to earth to
dwell among the lowest of the creatures who could knowingly praise Him,
and what will they do but kill Him? And He knows beforehand that they
will do this!’ …He asked us how we could trust a God who could ask us to
do such a thing. Was that God concerned for us at all, that He would
ask it?’”
Continued
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