Sometimes when I have trouble falling asleep, I pray the Rosary. (That is not a knock on the Rosary; I just find it comforting.) One recent Monday night, I began a mental recitation of the Joyful Mysteries. I only got about half-way through the Visitation before falling asleep, because I had spent quite a long time on the startling details of the first Joyful Mystery, the Annunciation.
This hinge-point of human history, marking the moment when God became one with us, opens with the following words:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
Lk 1:26-27. I found myself wanting to know more about Gabriel, so I have been “reading up” on him. (Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture notes and essays cited in this post are authored by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch and found in the Ignatius Study Bible – New Testament (Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition) (Ignatius Press 2010).)
First and foremost, I have learned, all angels work for and belong to Jesus: “Christ is the center of the angelic world. They are his angels[.]” CCC ¶ 331. Furthermore, names in the Bible aren’t casual; they have descriptive power. The name “Gabriel” means “God is strong” (https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2017/09/29/on-archangels-and-the-greatest-miracle/). The prefix “arch” in “archangel” means “high-ranking,” and Gabriel is one of the three archangels of scripture, along with Michael and Raphael. (Although they are “high-ranking,” according to medieval thought, archangels actually rank eighth out of the nine “choirs” of angels, just above our own guardian angels. P. Kreeft, Angels and Demons: What Do We Really Know About Them?, Question 45 (Ignatius Press 1995). If you have access to the excellent FORMED website, this title is available to download.)
What I discovered as I dug deeper leads me to contemplate the connection between Gabriel and the Jerusalem Temple, God’s Old Covenant dwelling place on earth. Gabriel’s divine task seems to be to prepare Israel to worship Jesus, the Messiah, whose body is the new Temple. Jn 2:21; CCC ¶586 (“[Jesus] even identified himself with the Temple by presenting himself as God’s definitive dwelling-place among men.”). This task unfolds in stages and across centuries.
Gabriel and Daniel
Gabriel makes his (named) debut in the apocalyptic book of Daniel, appearing to the prophet to explain a vision (Dn 8:15-25) and again in answer to Daniel’s prayer for the Jewish people (Dn 9:20-27). In the latter, Gabriel reveals that “the desolating abomination” (pagan worship) will for a time replace the sacrifices and offerings in the Jerusalem Temple, as happened during the persecution of the Jews under the Gentile ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes (167-164 B.C.). But the prophecy foreshadows more: the cessation of Temple worship altogether. Gabriel “explains to Daniel events that will accompany the Messiah’s coming[.]” Note to Lk 1:19. Jesus himself cites this passage from Daniel to foretell the destruction of the Temple under the Romans (A.D. 70):
“So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains[.]”
Mt 24:15. This passage, and the entire Olivet Discourse in which it appears (Mt 24-25), also has an eschatological meaning that points to the end of time and Christ’s Parousia. More on this below.
Gabriel and Zechariah
Gabriel’s next appearance is within the Temple itself, as the Old Covenant is about to give way to the New. It takes place on what is possibly the most important day in the life of Zechariah the priest. It fell to him on that day to offer incense within the “Holy Place,” the second most sacred chamber within the Temple, usually a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Lk 1:8-10 & Notes. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth are advanced in years and childless, but an angel appears to him, standing next to the altar of incense, and announces that they will become the parents of a son and are to name him John (later known as the Baptist, last of the Old Testament prophets and precursor to Christ).
We can’t know what was in Zechariah’s mind at that moment, but let’s just say that, though he is described as “righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly” (Lk 1:6), he . . . doesn’t handle the announcement well. Instead of showing docility and gratitude, he issues a challenge: “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” Lk 1:18. That strikes me as the biblical equivalent of, “Yeah, right – prove it.”
Do angels get peevish? It seems this one did. Zechariah hears in reply:
“I am Gabriel, who stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
Lk 1:19. Ouch. Thankfully for Zechariah, his speech returned once he obeyed Gabriel and named his son John when the appropriate time came. Lk 1:63.
Gabriel and Mary
Gabriel’s final attestation in scripture is the most glorious: His visit to Mary to announce the coming of Christ. Gabriel’s name is appropriate to his task: He tells her that she will conceive and bear the Messiah by the power of the Holy Spirit. To her question, “How will this be, since I do not know man?” (which we must assume was delivered in a spirit of honest inquiry, not scoffing doubt as with Zechariah), he tells her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be called
holy,
the Son of God.”
As further reassurance, he tells her that her once-barren and aged cousin Elizabeth is then in her sixth month of pregnancy (hence, the “sixth month” of verse 26). He adds, underscoring the meaning of his name, “’For with God nothing will be impossible.’” Lk 1:34-36. Nothing! God is strong indeed!
The dwelling place of God, or “Temple,” in this tableau is the Blessed Mother herself. Indeed, the verb Gabriel uses, that God will “overshadow” Mary, “is the same used in the Greek version of Ex 40:35 to describe how Yahweh ‘overshadowed’ the Tabernacle, making it his dwelling place in Israel.” Note to Lk 1:35. (A fuller development of the Lucan theme of Mary as the “Ark of the New Covenant” appears on page 107 of the Ignatius Study Bible.) This beautiful moment marks the last time Gabriel is identified by name in scripture.
Gabriel and the End of Days
Some non-scriptural traditions name Gabriel as the angel who will blow the trumpet to signal Christ’s return at the end of time. Perhaps these traditions flow from his foretelling of the Temple’s destruction and the fact that Jesus cited the warning in his Olivet Discourse. Whatever Gabriel’s future role, here is how the Ignatius Study Bible interprets Jesus’ discourse in the essay, “End of the World?” (p. 50; citations omitted):
With the dawning of the New Covenant, God had to clear away the central symbol of the Old Covenant, the Temple. The Church is God’s new and spiritual Temple, built with the living stones of Christian believers. In this light, the devastation of the Temple and the judgment of Israel in A.D. 70 can be seen as an overture to greater things. That is, the termination of the Old Covenant world prefigures the destruction of the universe, God’s macrotemple, and the judgment of all nations by Christ. Thus, Jesus’ Olivet Discourse is initially fulfilled in the first century as he said. But imbedded in Christ’s words are spiritual truths that point forward to his Second Coming in glory and the end of the visible world.
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I wonder what Gabriel, who “stands in the presence of God,” understands about our present age. As investigations continue into the burning of the California mission church that bears his name (https://www.sgvtribune.com/2020/07/12/catholic-leaders-vow-to-rebuild-after-fire-tears-through-san-gabriel-mission/), we might be forgiven for feeling like we are experiencing the “end of the visible world.” I try to focus, however, on being a better “living stone” and Christian believer. That’s about all I can control.
St. Gabriel the Archangel, pray that we may be worthy “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19) while awaiting Christ’s coming in glory!