| IX. Choir | 5 January |
|---|---|
| Who opens doors | Emilie |
A guardian angel is set before us today by the mercy of God.
Are guardian angels something different from the angels of the ninth choir?
Yes and No. All guardian angels serve in the ninth choir of holy angels so that no soul on earth can ever say that it had a more powerful guardian angel and is therefore somehow more chosen, or vice versa, that its guardian angel was weaker than others and that it thereby had less joy in its deeds.
All guardian angels have the same power, none more or less, but they do not all come from the same choir, because every angel is allowed to be a guardian angel once. Even if they have always been angels of the ninth choir, this choir is also divided into seven parts and assigned in these parts to other, higher choirs as helpers. In particular, however, all the guardian angels are gathered into seven great spheres of Mary’s power. Mary is the Mistress of all guardian angels and still gives each guardian angel the direction of vision proper to each sphere of power—through reverence, joy and obedience—in which he can lead his protégé more closely and more easily to God.
We can see it today in this angel, Saint Jairiel, who opens the gates.
He may be an angel of the ninth choir, but he belongs to that seventh part which serves as a helper to the Dominions, the fourth choir. This gives this angel a special character as an angel of love, like the Dominions. He serves Saint Viraguel in the group of the bearers of the bowls of the Holy Ghost; Saint Viraguel carries the bowl of the water of grace, and all his helpers share in this task, and are in some way bearers of the water of grace too.
This is so also for Saint Jairiel. He opens the doors to the house of grace, the Holy Church. The Holy Church alone is the bearer of grace. In her the spring of eternal life gushes forth and will not run dry until the end of time. How many people pass by the gate of the Holy Church indifferently or ignorantly! But how often does it happen too that they are suddenly and unconsciously driven to “take a look at this church,” and there is already the beginning of grace knocking on this heart! Once the angel Saint Jairiel stood on Golgotha, when the heathen struck at the Heart of the Lord with the lance and thus opened the door to the source of eternal life and love. Now this angel wants to show the Heart of Jesus to everyone who is of good will, and his love wants to open the gate to the true and eternal home in the Heart of the Lord for him… and also for you, O man.
Prayer: Lord, let Thy holy angels open the gates of my soul so that I may find favour in Thy sight. Amen.