Friday, March 24 was the original feast day of St. Gabriel the Archangel. You might know that he delivered the message to Mary saying that she was going to be the Mother of God, but what else do you know? Most saints are people who started out just like us. They made mistakes, but they key was that they got back up and got closer to God because of it.

But St. Gabriel the Archangel is an angel, making him very close to God. In fact, he was a very important angel. One could say that he had the most important job in history, besides perhaps, Mary. Gabriel was the messenger to Mary. He delivered the message to her from God that she had been chosen to carry and deliver the Son of God. However, not many people know that that was the last job he had that was mentioned in the Bible.

Before that, he had to deliver some other messages too. First, Gabriel appears to the Prophet Daniel in his sleep to explain the visions he was having. Then, he appears to Zacharias to tell him that his wife Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, is pregnant. After this visit is when he appears to Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the Son of God.  Originally, his feast day was on March 24, the day before the Annunciation. However in 1969, after Vatican II, it was changed to September 29 so that the feast day would be together with the other archangels, Michael and Raphael. It can be good to pray through the intercession of St. Gabriel because is obviously very close to God.

God entrusted Gabriel with the delivering of the most important message of the Catholic faith, as well as other messages. Because of this, he is the patron saint of messengers, telecommunications workers, and postal workers.