| IV. Choir | 21 August |
|---|---|
| He seals duty | Jane Frances |
Once again, an angel from the Choir of the Dominions stands before the Lord as an intercessor, one from that third part which bears the seal of the end times, one of those seven who go forth to seal the communities of God for the Lord before the onslaught of evil.
Strange as it may sound, the angels of the end times are also angels of love. Love and justice are the two arms of the scales on which every man is weighed after his last hour on earth. And we know exactly what they signify: if we voluntarily surrender ourselves to God’s justice, we will encounter God’s love… but if we presumptuously trust in God’s long-suffering love and sin, we fall prey to God’s justice.
There are seven angels with the seal of the end times. They stand beneath the seven high angels with bowls full of flame and light and water and oil and wine and incense and fire, in which rest the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. They stand above the seven angels with the sacrificial bowls of mankind: the praise, the consecration, the thanksgiving, the blood, the supplication, the atonement, and the reconciliation. They themselves go forth and seal the peoples, the lands, and the communities for the Lord.
Saint Jerumiel
as the fourth, stands in the middle of the seven. The first to seal is named last: he seals order in the churches of God. Thus, the law of God will no longer reign over the world, but the law of the prince of the world, which leaves as much room for disorder as for weeds. The last to seal will seal growth and becoming, all growth on earth. Of him it is said: “He will lift the course of time out of its joints,” but he will seal the hearts of God’s children from the onslaught of evil.
Saint Jerumiel seals faithfulness and duty in the communities of God: here faithfulness should be at home, since unfaithfulness is everywhere in the world. Therefore, all should be reminded of their duty to let themselves be sealed by this angel for the Lord of Heaven and Earth, lest the work on earth be done in vain. It is to God that we owe our first duty of loyalty. Disloyalty cannot be healed without visible scars.
Saint Jerumiel bears a crossed stole as a visible symbol and holds a fishing net in his hand. O angel, is this a reminder for us to work in love, full of loyalty and awareness of our duty?
Prayer: Holy Angel, Saint Jerumiel, when you go forth to seal the communities and the hearts of men with love, so that they may remain faithful and never forget their duty, remember me also and bend down, seal my heart with the imperishable stamp of God’s love, so that I may one day be recognized by the Lord and His angels and brought home for all eternity. Amen.