LOVERS of God

St. Francis of Assisi prayed this simple prayer, "O Lord Jesus Christ, two favors I beg of you before I die. The first is that I may, as far as it is possible, feel in my soul and in my body the suffering in which you, O gentle Jesus, sustained in your bitter passion. And the second favor is that I, as far as it is possible, may receive in my heart that excessive charity by which you, the Son of God, were inflamed, and which actuated you willingly to suffer so much for us sinners."

Our Lord answered his prayer by appearing to him in the form of a seraph, a six-winged angel of love. As he knelt in the ecstasy, Christ imprinted the wounds of His person in the flesh of St. Francis. At once, in his hands and feet marks like nails began to appear; and, in his left side the image of a lance-thrust appeared, red and bleeding. St. Francis had been marked with the love of Christ- the Stigmata.

After bearing these wounds of Christ for two years, St. Francis died in the year 1226. He left the Church and the world a great legacy--the Franciscan Order. For more than seven hundred years, through the grace of God, this Order has produced many outstanding Saints. .

The Seraphim are usually considered the highest order of angelic beings, immediately above the Cherubim. Their special duty is to love God. Seraph wings and seraphs are symbolic of the Franciscan Order, which is often referred to as the Seraphic Order. At times, Franciscan and Seraphic are synonymous.

Let us pray today and ask the Lord to help us lead holy lives as the person He has created us to be in the small spot in the world where He has placed us. Let us no longer be content or satisfied with the way we are, but strive to be holy. As holy men and women of God, we will experience happiness both here on earth and for all eternity, for sanctification will lead us to live lives that are simple, less complicated, and focused on the things that really matter. Pray for metanoia this Advent -- an inner transformation -- to be drawn closer to the Heart of God and His Holy Mother.

"If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might the heart of man become in its journey toward the stars."

~ G.K. Chesterton

Holder of the Key to the bottomless Pit

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while.

-- Revelation 20:1-3

BEARER of Plagues

Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and wonderful, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended.

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and wonderful are thy deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, O King of the ages!

Who shall not fear and glorify thy name, O Lord? For thou alone art holy. All nations shall come and worship thee, for thy judgments have been revealed."

-- Revelation 15: 1 - 4

Reaper of the Harvest

Then I looked, and lo, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat upon the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe." So he who sat upon the cloud swung his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

And another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has power over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Put in your sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe." So the angel swung his sickle on the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

-- Revelation 14: 14 - 19

Holder of the Scroll

Then the voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, "Go, take the scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, "Take it and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth."

And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.

And I was told, "You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings."

-- Revelation 10: 8 - 11

Bearer of Seals

Then I saw another angel ascend from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads."

And I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, out of every tribe of the sons of Israel,

-- Revelation 7: 2 - 4

Worshipers of God

All the angels stood round the throne and round the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying,

"Amen! 

Blessing and glory and wisdom 

and thanksgiving and honor 

and power and might 

be to our God 

for ever and ever! 

Amen."

-- Revelation 7:11-12