| VI. Choir | 10th Sunday after Pentecost |
|---|---|
| Angel with the fishing net |
How beautifully the task and symbol of this angel, Saint Asmodel, the High Prince, fit in with today’s meditation on the Mass texts! He is the angel of filiation in God—through the blood of devotion and the water of tears of repentance—in the midst of the battle of life. His symbol is the fishing net.
“He humbled them, He who is before all ages and remains forever,” we pray in the Introit, and: “Thou wilt accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and holocausts, upon Thine Altar, O Lord.” In the Gospel we can recognise with gratitude how the Lord pardons the repentant publican and sets him above the Pharisee, “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
How many unknown martyrs and saints—recognised by God alone—there are even in our day in the countries of Christian persecution and behind the Iron Curtain. Those who, poor and abandoned, enslaved and martyred, have sealed their loyalty to God with the blood of their devotion. We, who live in the midst of rich countries, must be able to stand by their side with the water of tears of repentance. We must weep and atone twice over for those who forget God in the midst of their good living, finding no tears of repentance. We must hold the fishing net with the guardian angels of these poor, rich people in order to save what can still be saved from the maelstrom of hell. This is our duty at this time, a sacred duty of neighbourly love according to the will of God.