“Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights above. Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts.”
(Psalm 148; 1-2)

Praise is my favourite prayer. Praising God is joy and good cheer, is faith and trust, is petition and thanksgiving, is promise and fulfilment, is heaven and earth together. And the angels are masters of praise. That is why they head the list of all the elements in the whole of creation which are going to be called upon to make up the choir of praise in the realm of the cosmos.

“Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars; praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens.”

All these are angels’ domains, and the angels translate the silent witness of all the creatures of the universe into the heavenly language of canticles of praise. Sun and moon praise the Lord because the angels of the sun and the moon admire their splendour and their majesty and their beauty, and so they present their wonder and their joy to the Lord of creation who made such marvels and maintains them in all their glory. The sun and the moon have no voice, but the angels who govern them and contemplate them do have voice, and their voice reaches the throne of God in the perpetual harmony of heartfelt praise.

It is not only the heavens that are the domains of angels, but the earth too with all that is on it, and so it also is the object of their thought, their care, their love. The list of the creatures of praise that was headed by the angels in heaven continues now with all beings on earth.

“Praise the Lord from the earth, you sea monsters and ocean depths; fire and hail, snow and ice, gales of wind that obey his voice; all mountains and hills; all fruit trees and cedars; wild animals and all cattle, creeping creatures and winged birds. Let kings and all commoners, princes and rulers over the whole earth, youths and girls, old and young together, let them praise the name of the Lord.”

The angels are in the wind and in the fog, in the snow and in the fire, in the sea and in the mountains, in the plants and in the animals, in the young and the old and princes and rulers, and in them all and through them all they preside and conduct the canticle of praise that the whole of creation sings before the Creator. We can praise the Creator because the angels praise him and we are with them. We can sing in harmony because they lead us. We reach the throne of God because they are in front of it and we join with them in the universal choir of cosmic praise. The music of the spheres.

I praise you, angels, because you praise God. Because you allow me and teach me to praise God with you, because you steady my voice and tune my song, because you vibrate with me and make me feel part of the heavenly host that sings with one voice the marvels of creation and of the Lord who created them. Thank you, dear angels, for having given me some of the happiest moments in my life in those symphony concerts that we practice here on earth to enjoy for ever with you in heaven.

Praise the Lord, you angels of the Lord!