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Florida Catholic September 2020
YOUR MIAMI COMMUNITY
Art at his namesake church in Pompano Beach includes shrine for the Annunciation
JIM DAVIS
Florida Catholic correspondent
POMPANO BEACH When you send the most important messages, you send the most important mes- senger. For God, that messenger is St. Gabriel, whose feast day falls on Sept. 29. Gabriel was chosen to reveal fu- ture history to Daniel toward the end of that prophet's life. He also appeared to Zacharias in the New Testament, to announce that Eliza- beth would bear John the Baptist. Then he told Mary that she would become the mother of the Son of God. Gabriel is mentioned first in Daniel, where he interprets the prophet's vision of battling goats as the warring kingdoms of the Mid- dle East. Gabriel also gave a codi- fied prediction of when the Jewish people would return from exile to Jerusalem. He took a dim view of those who doubted his authority. When he said in the New Testament that Elizabeth would bear John the Bap- tist, her husband Zacharias replied with skepticism: "How am I to know this? I am an old man, and my wife too is advanced in age." The reply: "I am Gabriel, who stand in attendance before God!" He then struck Zacharias mute un- til John was born. Although Gabriel is named only twice in the New Testament, the Catholic Encyclopedia reports that Christian traditions make him the unnamed messenger to Joseph and to the shepherds. They also identify him as the angel who strengthened Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,
St. Gabriel: God's personal envoy
Gabriel announces the future birth of Jesus to a pensive Mary. Someone has placed a flower in her lap.
the night before the crucifixion. Because of his role as a divine envoy, Gabriel is the patron saint of messengers and of workers in the postal and telecommunication fields. He's also the patron of diplo- mats and stamp collectors. Gabriel is one of only three arch- angels mentioned in the Bible, along with Michael and Raphael. Those three, in fact, share the same feast day of Sept. 29. Gabriel is honored also by Mus- lims, who know him as Jibril. It was Jibril, they say, who spoke for Allah in instructing Muhammad to "recite in the name of the Lord" - starting a series of messages that built up into the Quran. Jibril is also said to have accompanied Muham- mad in the Miraj, a nighttime jour- ney to Jerusalem. From the Byzantine era in the 15th century, Gabriel has been por- trayed as the unnamed archangel in I Thessalonians 4:16, who will blow a trumpet to herald the return of Jesus to Earth. That trumpet is prominent in an expansive, wire- frame sculpture of Gabriel on the front of the church in Pompano Beach for which he is the patron saint. St. Gabriel Church's roof of blue tile has served as a landmark for the beach area since its dedica- tion in 1968. So admired was the roof that when it needed replacing, Msgr. Francis Fazzalaro, pastor for 20 years ending in 2003, put on an- other blue roof. A gold-colored crucifix domi- nates the chancel area at St. Gabri- el's, but the church also has other artworks. One is a shrine for the Annunciation, with Gabriel telling a somber Mary that she will be- come the mother of Jesus. Another is a wall behind the baptismal font spelling out religious phrases in fac- eted glasses. Still another distinctive feature at St. Gabriel is its dozens of clere- story windows. They depict saints,
St. Gabriel Church faces the well-traveled A1A in Pompano Beach. A relief sculpture based on "The Last Supper" painting by Leonardo Da Vinci stands in front of the altar table.
sacraments, biblical events, even civic holidays like Labor Day and Memorial Day. Many of St. Gabriel's 1,000-plus members are seasonal, but the parish still runs a range of min- istries. The works include Serra and Knights of Columbus, and a Council of Catholic Women. The women's club sponsors social and fundraising events, with help from the men's club. The church's Good Neighbors club serves elderly resi- dents of neighboring condos.
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At left, children play, blissfully unaware of a guardian angel hovering protectively. At right, construction and transportation symbols fill the Labor Day window. (PHOTOS BY JIM DAVIS) St. Valentine is widely trivialized as a symbol of romance, but the real man was a cleric who was martyred in the third century. A penitent receives ashes in the Lent window.
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