We have seen the great reward the good angels received for remaining faithful to God. What did the bad angels lose by their infidelity? It was to them a final impenitence, which means the loss of the power of ever turning to God; which will in its turn be an eternal regret at the loss of God. Listen to the sentence of the reprobate: “Depart from Me, ye accursed, into everlasting flames, which was prepared for Satan and his angels.” In Holy Scripture we often read of the worm that gnaws and dies not; by this is meant the continual anguish and grief of a soul which has lost God—a passionate regret that will seize on it, and never leave it, because the loss is an everlasting one. God spoke, and the depths of hell sprang into existence. Bossuet says that the curse of God against the reprobate contains within itself an imprecation against the unhappy soul, which tears out from the minutest fibres of its being all the capacity it once had to receive enjoyment from bliss, as well as the power to perform the least good action capable of meriting any mercy. This example of the fall of the angels should strike terror into our hearts, and should incite us to pray to the good angels, especially to our guardian angel, so that we may ever remain faithful to the service of God.
Prayer.
O angel of God, etc., etc.
Fifteenth Day.
It is an inexhaustible subject, the marvels which theology teaches of the holy angels; who can properly describe the power of these pure spirits, the greatness of their intelligence, the fire of their holy love? Their graces, their powers, their gifts, their operations, their works, are so diversified that it is with difficulty the mind of man can conceive them and intelligibly speak of them. In several places in the Scriptures we read of the choirs of angels, archangels, principalities, powers, virtues, dominations, thrones, cherubim, seraphim. Dionysius teaches that there are three orders of angels—three superior, three inferior and three middle: the superior, cherubim, seraphim, and thrones; the middle, dominations, principalities, and powers; the inferior, virtues, archangels and angels. These names are given to them, not for their own sake but for ours; and the individual orders are called from the gifts of grace which they possess. O that we realized that our future eternity is to be with the angels in heaven; that our glory depends on our life here; greater glory for greater work! We should strive to deserve a great place in heaven for the glory of God.
Prayer.
O angel of God, etc., etc.