September 29th, The Feast of the Archangels

September 29th is the traditional Feast of the Archangels Michael, Raphael and Gabriel.  This year the feast is not on the liturgical calendar because it falls on a Sunday, but there is no reason that we cannot still take the opportunity to teach our children about these great protectors.

Catholic Culture gives the following description of the Archangels:

Michael (Who is like God?) was the archangel who fought against Satan and all his evil angels, defending all the friends of God. He is the protector of all humanity from the snares of the devil. Gabriel (Strength of God) announced to Zachariah the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist, and to Mary, the birth of Jesus. His greeting to the Virgin, "Hail, full of grace," is one of the most familiar and frequent prayers of the Christian people. Raphael (Medicine of God) is the archangel who took care of Tobias on his journey.

In the past our family has observed this feast with making a simple devil's food cake.  We placed our statue of St. Michael, our defender against the devil, next to the cake and said the following prayer to St. Michael:

After the prayer, I give my three boys little plastic cocktail swords and let them stab the cake to symbolize St. Michael conquering the devil in battle.  It may seem like a silly thing but my boys love it!  I hope your kids do too!