Friday, September 29 : Saint Albert the Great

Watch that you don’t despise one of these little ones for, I tell you, their angels see the face of my Father in heaven. » With these words Christ is saying to us something like this : « Be vigilant, take care that you don’t despise people who are simple, poor or weak. As for me, I esteem them greatly to the extent that, to protect them from all evil, I have placed my angels at their service. And what angels! Don’t think they are to be compared to the scullery boys working my kitchen. No. They are equal to the officers in my own palace, for” “they constantly see the face of my heavenly Father”… Now, these angels see the face of God for several reasons. First, angels must offer and present our good works to God. To this we have a testimony in the words Raphael addressed to Tobias: “I have presented your prayer before the Lord” (Tb 12,12). In the Book of Revelation, too, we read: “An angel with a golden censer came and stood before the altar. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne of God,” (8,3). Let us note that this altar is the heart of whoever is truly faithful to God; before this altar the angels stand. Their censer represents the feelings of joy with which they gather up our thoughts, prayers, words and actions so as to offer them, all aflame with the fire of charity, on the golden altar that stands before the throne of God. And the offering rises up to the Son who is in the bosom of the Father. Therefore it would be good for us always to have some good thing to place in the angels’ censer.

Roman Extraordinary (Tridentine) Daily Readings – rosary,team