| VI. Choir | 31 January |
|---|---|
| Prince of Victory | Don Bosco |
The struggle began among God’s first created and has continued throughout creation at all times and places. Without struggle there is no victory. Even then, when Saint Michael, the humble Archangel, threw the light-bearer, Lucifer, the first of all angels, into the depths with all his followers, God wanted to defeat the strong with the weak. After all, we recall that the Choir of Archangels is the penultimate choir, whilst Lucifer fell from the ranks of the first one, close to God. In Our Lord on the Cross and in His Mother, this judgement of God, a spectacle for the whole of creation, reaches its climax. To defeat the strong with the weak is foolishness to the world, but to us it is the highest wisdom and a happy realisation, whereby we, poor and weak, may also take part in the battle for the kingdom of God.
Saint Methusiel,
who stands before God’s Throne today, is one of the twenty-four High Princes who shine like twelve double-stars around the Head of their Queen, the Mistress of Heaven and Earth. The High Princes always stand in pairs. They symbolise the doubly-sanctified creation: once sanctified through its pure creation and pure orientation towards God, and once again sanctified by its liberation from the yoke of evil through redemption. Redemption is the purest, holiest joy for Mary. The High Princes are thereby a reminder and an adornment for Her.
God has placed Saint Michael with Saint Methusiel, and their task is the harmonious complement of their wonderfully coordinated existence before God. If Saint Michael, the humble, strong one, bears the battle, Saint Methusiel, the triumphant one, holds out the victory in the symbol of the palm. If Saint Michael is the unshakeable believer, then Saint Methusiel’s foresight, intuition and determination complements his humble, unshakeable faith to form a great force. Saint Michael conveys the power of God to the fighting man whilst Saint Methusiel teaches ruling, dominating man that victory is God’s alone through His will and His merciful love. Both angelic princes ward off from man the demons of faithlessness, doubt, megalomania, spiritual aridity and desecration, arrogance and sensual passions.
Prayer: Thou great holy angelic princes, Saint Methusiel and Saint Michael, stand with us in our struggle against the powers of darkness. Hold the shield of faith over us… and one day hand us the palm of victory. Amen.