| II. Choir | 15 August |
|---|---|
| The Companion | Assumption |
He is known as the Power of the Divine Mission and leans on the cross that towers above him. If a cherub can be towered over, then it must be something truly heavenly. This cross is also impossible to see: it stands in Saint Peter’s in the Vatican and towers up to the Ring of Adoration. It is foolishness to the pagans and the whole world, but to us it is the sign of victory. And every mission must be anchored in the cross, otherwise it stands on sand and loses itself in castles in the air and colourful soap bubbles.
Saint Muriel,
companion of the apostles from Pentecost onwards, is a cherub of the Holy Spirit. The Choir of Cherubim is the second of the nine choirs of holy angels and bearer of the Power of the Word, which became Flesh to redeem mankind and make it eternally blessed. All cherubim are thus devoted to redemption.
The choir is divided into three parts according to the three Divine Persons: one third is assigned to the Father, one to the Son, and one to the Spirit. Each third fulfills its task in a manner peculiar both to its choir and to its part within the choir.
The cherubim of the Father, for example, fulfill their task with a static power, those of the Son with a dynamic power, and those of the Spirit with a flying, burning power. In the reflection of the Triune God, however, the cherubim are always threefold in their expression, and as a symbol of this, each cherub has a triple face: one turned toward the Father, one toward the Son, and one toward the Spirit.
We must also see Saint Muriel in this context with the other cherubim:
- Saint Jesod, the Cherub of the Father, who carries the living clarity of the Word that was in the beginning, and which became flesh in Mary, the Most Beautiful;
- Saint Malachiel, the Cherub of the Son, who carries the Word as the foundation of salvation, the clarity of the Triune God; and
- Saint Muriel, the Cherub of the Spirit, who carries Mary on his wings in the fullness of time as Ancilla Domini to earth, and at the end of Her life he carries Her back before God’s Throne as Queen of Heaven and Earth, as the Bearer of the Word for all eternity.
Thus, the Word is always at the centre, to which every word in Heaven and on Earth is subject; and the Word is always the foundation on which we build our path to God, always a mission, from God to man, and from man to God.
When we see Saint Muriel carrying Mary up before the Triune God today as the Power of the Divine Mission, let us pray in our faltering words:
Mary, Most Beautiful, Most Glorious, who has been taken up Body and Soul into Heaven, pray for us who take refuge in Thee. Amen.