| 27 July |
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| Berthold |
At some point, every man will inevitably have to give an account to God. One day he must be accountable, whether he wants to be or not.
How necessary it is to remember that we are all but stewards, stewards of many pounds besides the one pound that is God’s, our soul.
Thus God’s first question to man is: “What have you done with your soul?”
If we only think about what we have done with our soul in the hour of our accountability at the special judgment, only then, when it is the day of trial for eternity, then we will probably begin to tremble.
How good and caring the Heavenly Father is that He sent us His Son, Who gave us back the opportunity to reach the Father’s House. How good the Father is that He gave us eyes and ears and a living heart to be able to recognize, see, hear and love Him, the Triune God.
How good is our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave His Blood and His Life for us so that we can stand in the Judgment. How good is the Lord that He reaches out to us in the Sacrament of Penance at any time and tears our certificate of guilt.
How good is our Lord that He does not leave us alone but admonishes us and draws us, not resting until grace finds its entrance in us and the holy angels can assist us.
How good is Mary, the Mother of Mercy, and the Gate of Heaven, who is always there.
How good God is in His Angels and Saints who are with us day and night, just waiting for us to call upon them for help.
From this perspective, we must look at these seven great angels that God presents to us today as helpers and admonishers that everyone encounters at some point.
It is good to know them and to make friends with them beforehand.
The first is:
Saint Hariel,
Angel of Power, the door opener to God. He violently tears the soul’s gaze away from the earth and all the things of earth and turns it towards justice and the judgment of God. He opens the door—the view—to eternity for the soul. He is not the angel of death—who also opens the door to the judge and to accountability for the living man who voluntarily faces the judgment of God. It is Saint Hariel who awakens us to deep repentance, however, warning us that we should face the judgment of God whilst we are still living in order to partake of God’s eternal love.
The second is
Saint Samaliel,
the Cherub, the Intercessor. He stands here in the Name of Mary, with the wide, blue Mantle of the Queen. In him the intercessions of all the angels and saints and of the whole struggling Church are united and focused, and this power of intercession joins with that of the Heavenly Mother Herself.
We need intercessors. O do not believe that anyone can defeat God’s justice on the basis of his good deeds alone! Can we offer a single drop of the Our Lord’s Blood, which denounces our indifference and irreverence, to relieve us? How grateful we will be one day to have recognised so many angels and to have called upon their intercession in time! How we will thank the Heavenly Mother, our everlasting Help, who is always there where the child’s need is greatest.
The third is
Saint Michael,
the Archangel-Prince, the fighter against the powers of darkness, who intervenes wherever the soul surrenders to the Lord… for the evil one is always there with his power to prevent the soul from binding itself to God. In fact, the evil one smiles at his intercession, but when the angel tears open the door to God, the evil one does not see it because he is blind to the Light of God. Wherever Saint Michael stands, however, there is a battle that will not cease until the end of time. Lucifer will never get over his defeat. That is why Saint Michael, in protecting man, is always besieged by the devils of vengeance, the furies of guilt, the millions of tempters to despair and the sallow demons of the creature’s fist raised against God, the “no” to God.
Saint Michael is victorious, however: he is the angel of humility and readiness to the last. He binds the free will of man—who willingly surrenders himself to God for judgment—indissolubly to his Lord. No hell and no devil can tear him away as long as man wants to belong to God.
The fourth is
Saint Sederim,
the Angel of Contradiction, the centre of all the angels and cornerstone of the Sealed Powers. Mary is reflected in all the angels, but Saint Sederim is probably the clearest reflection of God’s greatest love in its truly divine contrariness. Mary stands Immaculate (oh, so tender and pure, almost translucent!) above Saint Sederim and yet she is the Strong Woman clothed with the sun who is victorious over death and the Devil and hell.
So Saint Sederim also stands here in this divine dichotomy. In one hand he has the seal, the power of the divine Word, Come, and in the other hand he seals the power of the divine Word, Begone. Whilst Saint Michael fends off all devils, Saint Sederim tears the soul with a jerk from the embrace of all the powers of darkness. Now it stands there, naked, and covered in wounds, its whole life visible on its body.
The fifth is
Saint Gabriel,
the Archangel-Prince. He carries the Book of Account. Do not be frightened, O soul! Look into the kind eyes of this angel! It is not only your guilt that is written in this book, but also all of the tiny and smallest deeds, done with a pure heart and in the love of God, are carefully recorded. All the intercession of Mary and all the help of the angels and saints are recorded there. These heavenly treasures will bring you home. Have faith!
The great administrator of the earth is also the administrator of all the books of account brought by the guardian angels. He is the angel of trust, obedience and quiet faithfulness. With his good hands he embeds the soul, full of believing trust, in the righteousness of God. For God’s righteousness is love.
The sixth is
Saint Haleochim,
the angel Mary. He is the angel of the Church, the angel of the entire Corpus Christi Mysticum. He accompanies man beyond justification to salvation. Just as the Church does not abandon the soul, neither does Saint Haleochim abandon it. He establishes the divine right of the Church’s power to redeem and bind before God’s Throne, according to the words of the Lord: “Whatever you bind on earth… shall be bound in heaven.” God will never forget his Church.
And so the Holy Church is our defender in the hour of judgment and turns God’s justice into forgiveness.
Finally, there is one more who stands before the kneeling guardian angel of man, waiting to receive the soul again: this seventh is
Saint Jophiel,
the angel of transformation to God. The task of this silent archangel is not inferior in size to that of Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel or Saint Raphael, except that he always works at depth.
Saint Jophiel doesn’t perform a merely superficial transformation, however, he pulls the last veils separating the soul from the knowledge of God from its eyes. He transforms it in such a way that, from the depths of its repentance, it becomes accustomed to the sight of God’s righteousness in the fullest trust and deepest adoration. Then he makes the sight of God’s love bearable for it, even if it had to return to earth once more. He places the soul back into the arms of the guardian angel, who carries it to where God wants it: to bliss, to the place of purification or back to the battlefield of earth.
The Angels of Reckoning are great reminders to us:
- To strive for the knowledge of God’s will;
- To use the means of grace of the Holy Church;
- To abandon ourselves willingly to the Hand of God;
- To assure ourselves of heavenly intercessors in good time;
- To be ready every day and every hour;
- To never leave the hand of the Holy Guardian Angel; and
- To always keep our account book in order.
Prayer: O ye great, holy Angels of Reckoning, may you not be my accusers, but my helpers and defenders. Amen.