In today’s popular culture expressed through books and movies, dragons have different personalities. Some are mean and nasty while others are friendly and even funny. There’s Puff the Magic Dragon who lived by the sea. There’s the trio Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion from "Game of Thrones." How about the Hungarian Horntail that menaced Harry Potter in "The Goblet of Fire?" Who can forget Mushu from the Disney movie "Mulan?" There’s Toothless in "How To Train Your Dragon." "The Hobbit Trilogy" featured Smaug. Even "Sleeping Beauty" had a dragon. Remember Maleficent and her transformation to a dragon threatening to kill Prince Charming?
We’ve all grown up with fire-breathing dragons in our dreams. They seemed so real, and they are.
We all have dragons in our lives but they don’t have wings and fly. Today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation explains: “War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.”
The dragon is portrayed as the Devil or Satan who roams the earth with his angels (demons). Clearly, the biblical dragon was no Puff, Mushu, or Toothless. On the contrary our image of evil takes the form of dragons like Smaug who haunt and pursue us daily.
On this Feast Day we’re reminded that we don’t battle these dragons alone. God sees to that. We have protectors to whom we can turn for help: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and all the angels.
We also have flesh-and-blood angels in the form of family and friends who care and comfort us in our times of great need – when we feel the dragon’s breath. We are touched by those angels who travel with us along our highway to heaven. They reach out to us and help us slay our dragons.
Deacon David Pierce
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