| VII. Choir | 11 July |
|---|---|
| The sacrificial power of love | Benedict, Patron Saint of Europe |
“Lord, my God, let me become a victim of your love!” This is the word above this day that the angel speaks it to us. We should not just repeat it but we should also live it and make it come true in ourselves.
If only we can love God so much that we trust Him completely in whatever He has planned for us… If only we can allow God to be Lord over us and over everything of us and in us in such a way that everything is praised and glorified… then we can honestly repeat this word of the angel.
Saint Ravanael
stands today as our intercessor up there, where the longing of our love rushes: before the Eyes and the Heart of God.
Of the three choirs of holy angels that Our Lord has taken into His special service to bring people home, the Choir of Virtues is the highest. There are thirty-three such great angels who form the Choir of Virtues, and each of these thirty-three has legions of servants, that is, angels, under him. The Choir of Virtues is divided according to its task into:
- seven angels of the virtues of faith,
- seven angels of the virtue of hope,
- seven angels of the virtue of love, and
- twelve angels of the virtues of the Holy Church.
Saint Ravanael is one of the seven who bear the virtue of love over the whole work of redemption. He bears the virtue of the sacrifice of love.
The first sacrifice of God’s love was probably God Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered Himself to His Heavenly Father for us men. And did He not say: “If anyone loves Me, let him follow Me”? So if God calls us to follow Him, He also calls us to follow Him in the sacrifice of love. Man doesn’t like to hear the word sacrifice when it applies to him. That God sacrificed Himself for us and that others also sacrifice themselves for us is something we want to recognise. Let us therefore reach for the hand of this angel who makes it easy for us and shows us that there are also sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise and consecration and sacrifices of atonement, not just sacrifices of pain. Let us allow ourselves to be showered and burnt by the love of God through this burning, shining angel, for such love is bliss!
Prayer: Lord and God, who died for me on the Cross, and who became the sacrifice of Your Love for the sake of my salvation, give me through the hand of this angel of Yours, Saint Ravanael, so much love that I am able to make every sacrifice for You and that, out of love, I may become capable of becoming the sacrifice of Your Love. Amen.