| IX. Choir | 14 January |
|---|---|
| Angel of the good home | Hilary, Felix |
He stands before us like a bright summer day and there is a buzz about him as of bees around a blossoming tree or like rustling woods. He has beams over his shoulder and a saw and an axe beside him, for he is building a house. He is known as
Saint Galaad,
the good home. The choir of angels is divided into seven parts and yet the number of angels in each seventh cannot be over-estimated because there are so many angels in each choir. Saint Galaad is assigned to the eighth choir of Archangels, to the angel of youth and joy in God, Saint Ariel, the rainbow-coloured one. Through him, Saint Galaad is joyful and enthusiastic whereas according to his nature, he is otherwise rather dreamy and quiet.
He is a builder; he builds us a house from the earth up to the Heart of God. He builds it under the protective mantle of Mary; there is our true home, in Mary and in the Heart of Jesus. He lets us know where our true home is and reminds us that we are only strangers and guests, and that we are homeless everywhere except up there. He also gives us the necessary strength, though, because the Archangels are under the Powers and these again are under the Cherubim and all of them are angels of power of the Word. He raises our hearts in longing for this true and only home and gives us the necessary momentum and enthusiasm that may we rise from our stupor and seek out this home, to build it with the angels and dwell there. He helps us so that we may not mock this home nor waste our opportunity to find it.
Prayer: O Thou Angel of the Home, Saint Galaad, who not only protects our home but also points, with thy hand raised like a signpost, to the eternal and only good home, see the manifold, crying misery of all the homeless and downtrodden! Pray for these poor ones and also for us sinners that we may never lose sight of our true home, but that with thy help we may make it a truly good home for us all. Amen.