| IV. Choir | 25 July |
|---|---|
| Angel at the Gate of the Penitents | James the Greater, Ap., Christopher |
Twelve times a year angels stand before God’s Throne, with an archway from the heavenly Jerusalem beneath them. These are the twelve angels who stand at the gates of this heavenly City (Acts 21:12). They are from the Choir of the Dominions, the fourth of the nine choirs of angels, and they are angels of love, angels of the Holy Spirit.
They are unlike other guardians of holy gates:
They all wear a breastplate like the high priests of the Old Covenant. This is to signify that they are waiting here at the gates of the New Jerusalem for the hosts of the Old Covenant who, led by the Twelve Tribes of Israel, will enter eternal glory here after the Last Judgement. There are twelve precious stones in this breastplate, one for each tribe, and each angel keeps a special one of these twelve stones, which he then wears on his hand as a fisherman’s ring. This fisherman’s ring refers to the apostles, and so each of the twelve angels is also waiting for an apostle who will enter through this gate with his hosts of the New Covenant. The stone is then represented a third time as the foundation stone of the archway of one of these twelve gates.
So today we see:
Saint Sachael
standing before God’s Throne as our intercessor. He is the patron saint of penitents and he guards the fifth of the twelve gates, the gate of the penitent and the burdened. Through this gate will enter the least, who will then be among the first, the burden bearers who wash away their guilt with tears of repentance. The stone that Saint Sachael wears beneath him in the archway and as a fisherman’s ring on his hand and again in the centre of his breastplate is the sardonyx. It stands for the Israelite Tribe of Levi and it also stands for the Holy Apostle James the Greater, who was with the Lord on Mount Tabor and later became one of the first blood witnesses among the Apostles.
Two angels stand on either side of Saint Sachael, two princes: Saint Jophiel, the bearer of the idea of atonement and penance, the guardian of the Holy Sacrament of Penance, the Ploughman; and Saint Ezechiel, the faithful one, who carries the one denarius, the one reward for all: God. All three angels will open Heaven to the multitudes of the penitent and the burdened with jubilant thanksgiving to God: “Come, you blessed ones!” They will open this gate over which it is written:
O Mary,
Ye House of Gold,
Mother of Good Counsel,
Help of Christians!
Prayer: O Mary, Mother, help us with your faithful Angels that we, sinners and publicans, may by Your Hand, find our way home to the peace of the eternal Home of Heaven. Amen.