The Glories of the Holy Angels
Venerable Henri Boudon, Archdeacon of Evreux
MOTIVE SEVENTH
The Angels assist us in spiritual things.
Properly speaking, man has but one affair—that of eternity. All that tends not to this great end is not worth a single thought. O ! how wretched and contemptible are all things which the world calls great! how unworthy the occupation of a Christian soul are its honours and pleasures ! It were well that this truth, “the world and its concupiscence passes away,” never departed from our minds: eternity would then occupy us, and the means of acquiring a happy one, among which the patronage of the Angels is not the least, would be more fully appreciated.
It is indeed true, that these blessed Angels do all that they can to procure for us a glorious immortality. They have been known to press apostolic men, as St. Paul and St. Francis Xavier, to announce the Gospel to those who sat in the shades of death.” They have often assisted evangelical labourers. How many children receive baptism by their means, who would otherwise perish in original sin ! Behold a wonderful example : In January, 1634, in the city of Vienna, three souls, freed from Purgatory, appeared, says Father Loret, of the Society of Jesus, to one of our religious, to thank him, for having by his prayers and mortifications, procured their release. On the day of your birth, said they, our good angels revealed to us, that you would one day be our liberator; and know that you are greatly indebted to your Angel Guardian, for without his care you would have been suffocated, through the carelessness of the attendant, before you received baptism.
After procuring for us the life of grace, the Angels endeavour to conserve us therein; and hence they prompt us to receive often the adorable Eucharist, which is the life of lives. They have often carried this vivifying sacrament to solitaries and recluses—St. Stanislas Kotska, S. J., received this favour. Nor do they forget the other means of our salvation. Prayer is one of the most powerful ; and it is by the Angels our petitions are carried before the throne of God : there is no exercise in which they are more present with us than this. Mortification is the sister of prayer—and what have not the Angels done to engage us to practise it? They have often visibly given their clients instructions thereon, suitable to their great lights, and convinced them of the absolute necessity of this virtue in all true Christians.
They are most anxious to inspire us with a love for that virtue which assimilates us to them, virginal purity.—What have they not done in its defence ? They have sometimes combated and destroyed those who attacked it—they have rendered invisible those who possessed it, to preserve them from danger—they, in fine, have sometimes procured from their Creator a temporary suspension of nature’s laws, to preserve a virtue, which, raising man above himself, causes him to live in a mortal body a life wholly divine.
But their great object is to inspire us with love for Jesus and his amiable Mother, knowing that the love of these sacred persons is the source of all good to our souls. St. Dominic, being one of the most fervent lovers of Jesus and Mary that ever existed, was in consequence the great favourite of the Angels. He received from them all sorts of assistance, during the long nights that love chained him to the altar steps, whilst pouring out his soul in the presence of his good Master, and invoking the patronage of his glorious Mistress. They were once seen, when the Saint happened to lodge in the house of the Bishop, lighting him with flambeaux from his chamber to and from the church, the doors of which they opened for him.
But this is not all. As for the practice of virtue, it is necessary that the will should be moved and the understanding enlightened, they often effect both. Thus they reveal the sublimest mysteries. It was an Angel who gave the law to Moses—an Angel who announced to the glorious Virgin the incarnation of the Word—to the Marys his resurrection, and to the apostles his last coming. They endeavour to preserve us from sin, or to free us from it, after having fallen into it.—Those lights which sometimes beam suddenly on the soul a clear knowledge of holy truths— those unforeseen movements which surprise us when we least expect them, and which move us so efficaciously to good, come to us by the agency of these blessed spirits.
In those happy moments, wherein we find ourselves strangely pressed to give ourselves to God, without knowing why, let us recognise the exertions of the Angels. They obtain for us a victory over our passions, the conquest of our bad inclinations, a knowledge of our faults and imperfections, and of our most hidden oppositions to grace—they invite us to penance, solicit us to make a good confession, and fully satisfy the divine justice. In fine, they support us in the way of virtue, console us in sufferings, quiet our fears, remove our scruples, and impart to us that holy joy and “divine peace, which surpasses all understanding.” When Raphael met Tobias, he wished him continual joy, and in leaving him, everlasting peace – Let us disengage ourselves from all created things, and the wishes of these holy Spirits for our happiness will be accomplished. To enjoy true and continual peace, it is necessary to live to God alone.
