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The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday that 133 people were diagnosed with HIV in our city in 2023 – the lowest number in decades, far below the 2,000 diagnoses per year in the peak of the AIDS epidemic, when diagnosis nearly always equaled death.
15,544 people live with HIV in San Francisco. Perhaps you or someone you know is among these resolute souls. I’m glad you’re alive.
All Saints’ AIDS-epidemic necrology lists 33 members and friends of this congregation who died. The longer-tenured among us today remember them with love and fond affection. Soon you’ll hear their names read, and you’ll be able to add the names of anyone else you know who died from this disease.
Not long after I arrived at All Saints’ and learned of our tradition of naming these saints of the church every Saint Michael’s Day, someone suggested to me that it might be time to move on – to let go of death and the convulsive trauma this parish suffered decades ago.
Perhaps that day will come. But not yet.
We still rely on the faith of these dearly-departed saints; their courage, their vulnerability, and their witness. And not just theirs – these thirty-three dead – but also the faith, the courage, the vulnerability, and the witness of the devoted members and clergy of this congregation who, stigma-be-damned, held them in their countless hours of need, and buried them when the strife was o’er and the battle done.
And we need their reminder of our great and present need for the intercession of Archangel Michael, just as these beloved-dead called on Michael, the defender-of-the-defenseless, in their great battle to hold to their hope for everlasting-life, even as their present life was passing away.
Theirs was an affliction to be feared, and with good reason. It was capricious, brutal, and deadly.
And in Saint Michael they found a patron who fought with them against their fear – a fear personified in the Book of Revelation as the dragon, the ancient serpent, the Devil, Satan: the deceiver of the whole world whose sole purpose is to turn the faithful from God.
I trust our faithful thirty-three, with Saint Michael at their side, won the war even as they lost a hard battle. They did not cling to life even in the face of death, and they rejoice now in heaven.
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Today there remains ample reason to be afraid. There remains much in our society, local to global, that is capricious, brutal, and deadly. The same is true in our own lives and the lives of those we love.
What are you afraid of? What fears did you bring with you this morning? How might St. Michael help?
God created other angels to deliver divine messages.
Are you wondering what God’s will is for you? How might St. Gabriel help?
Are you seeking spiritual wholeness? How might St. Raphael help?
I’ll leave you with the words of this ancient hymn to help you on your way.
O Lord, the angels’ sheer delight!
Their life reflects your splendor bright;
As we today their praise declare,
May we their joy forever share.
Saint Michael, be our refuge here,
Preserve us from all useless fear;
Through you may God his peace bestow
On all the nations here below.
Saint Ga’briel be with us this day,
Reveal God’s will to us, we pray;
As Mary once did answer you,
May our response be firm and true.
Saint Ra’phael, heal our sinful heart,
May God to us his grace impart,
And may you guide us on the way,
That we may never go astray.
Most loving Father, hear our plea!
You rule the world with equity!
Come, Paraclete and Son divine,
Within our hearts your love enshrine.
(Festiva vos archangeli)
†
Fr. Daniel S.J. Scheid, SCP
St. Michael & All Angels: September 29, 2024
All Saints’ Episcopal Church, San Francisco
“Can I Get a Witness?”
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