First Day.
The name angel means a messenger; this name is given to these spirits because they have been [pg 405] used by almighty God for that duty; they have been sent by God to disclose His will to man. God could, of course, do His will by His own power. He needs no angel, but for that matter He needs no creature. Still, in His infinite kindness, He called rational creatures into existence, and has given them a most honorable employment. Their ordinary work is like what our own will be, or like that of the saints now in heaven: “to see, love, bless, and enjoy God forever by a blessed immortality.” Penetrate, then, in your mind, the eternity of time, when God in His love created pure rational creatures, who had a spirit like His own, intelligence unencumbered with a body, and having no necessities. He placed them near His throne in heaven, and now they announce in their celestial adornments the omnipotence, love, and wisdom of their almighty Creator. They sing perpetually of the sanctity of God, and render Him glory. “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of armies.” Hence the Council of Lateran teaches authoritatively, “God created together, at the beginning of time, out of nothing, both classes of creatures, spiritual and corporal, the angelic and material, and then the human.”
Prayer.
O angel of God, my guardian dear,
To whom His love commits me here.
Ever this day be at my side,
To light, to guard, to rule, and guide.