26 December 2023: Legion Handbook Chapter 24.6

Today’s reading talks about angels, something that we hear so very often in the Bible. They are termed as pure spirits and personal beings with intelligence and free will. They are immortal beings and often appear to humans as apparitions with a human form. There are 9 choirs of angels, as mentioned in the reading. There is the seraphim, which means the “burning ones”, have the most intense love for God and comprehend him with the greatest clarity. Then there are also the Cherubim, which means “fullness of wisdom”, and they often contemplate God’s divine providence and plan for his creatures. Then there is thrones, which contemplate on God’s power and justice. Dominions govern the lesser choir of angels. Virtues implement the orders from the dominions and govern the heavenly bodies. Powers confront and fight against evil forces opposed to God’s providential plan. And the least 3 choirs are directly involved in human affairs, such as the principalities, archangels and guardian angels. So as we can see, the angels too follow a sort of hierarchy, each serving a specific purpose designed by God himself. And we can also look more into what the Angels do.

Firstly, the angels praise and worship God in his Divine presence. They contemplate on God’s plan, they love God with all their heart, and this is a clear representation of how much the Angels praise and worship God, who created them. And this is also mentioned in the Bible, in book of Revelations 7:11, “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God”. In Luke 2, “Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests”. All these shows how much the angels praise God. And I would assume that is also why they are termed as “choir” of angels, as how a choir sings beautifully, the angels too sing beautiful praises of our Lord for all to hear.

The angels second purpose is as “messenger”, which describes their role of interacting with this world. As we have discussed in the previous 2 chapters of the archangels, it is clear of their role as messengers of Good news.

And they also act as our guardians. It is believed that all of us have a guardian angel with us. Our parents provide for us in the physical aspect, but God assigns us his guardian angels to attend to our spiritual needs. Giving us an astute mind, a resolute spirit, generosity to the common Good. These are the qualities God want for each and everyone of us, and his angels are ever ready to come to our aid to help us attain that goal. Without our angels, we would have easily fallen prey to the hands of the devil, who is always out and about to seek the destruction of our soul. And we can also be rest assured that as long as we call out to our guardian angel for help, they will always be there to help us with haste.

So having known about the purpose of angels, what can we learn from them? Like the angels, we are given free will to worship and praise God. We are called to express Joy in our worship, we are called to express gratitude to God for his many blessings. We are also called to have fear of the Lord. To understand God’s infinite greatness, to have a real sorrow for sin and to be vigilant to avoid near occasions of Sin. Just like how God can cast down angels, he too has the power to cast our souls to the eternal flame. Angels are also always on our side, they too have a vested interest in the salvation of our souls. Since God is goodness itself, he wants us all to share in the joy and happiness, and that is through us joining him in eternal paradise. And the angels being his facilitators in this grand project, they are also working hard to help us achieve that goal.

And lastly, being Legionaries, we know that the angels have a special relationship to Mary, with the Church giving Mary the title of queen of the Angels. The angels see the place that God has given to Mary in this great plan of redemption. They rejoice in her being chosen as Mother of God and Mother of all mankind. Having seen Mary’s motherhood and love for all mankind as her children, the angels share and support this maternal role of Mary. And thus, they join the Legionaries in our great battle for souls. This brings about great comfort for us, knowing that we have the angels by our side to help us in this great battle, and to never give up and turn to them for help. So let us rejoice in our vocation as legionaries and appreciate the importance of the Legion of Angels as a companion in our journey.