Michaelmas
This Friday (29 September) is the feast of St Michael and all Angels, also known as ‘Michaelmas’.
It has given its name to the new academic, legal and financial term that starts for many institutions at this time, it is associated with the change of gear in the autumn season that often happens at this time, but primarily it remembers the victory of the angelic forces over the forces of Satan (letter of Jude v 9).
Here is a sonnet by the contemporary poet and priest Malcom Guite:
St Michael and All Angels
Michaelmas gales assail the waning year,
And Michael’s scale is true, his blade is bright.
He strips dead leaves, and leaves the living clear
To flourish in the touch and reach of light.
Archangel bring your balance, help me turn
Upon this turning world with you and dance
In the Great Dance. Draw near, help me discern,
And trace the hidden grace in change and chance.
Angel of fire, Love’s fierce radiance,
Drive through the deep until the steep waves part;
Undo the dragon’s sinuous influence
And pierce the clotted darkness in my heart.
Unchain the child you find there, break the spell
And overthrow the tyrannies of Hell.
Bernhard Schunemann
24 September 2017
