29/9: Feast of St Michael, Archangel…
The St Michael Prayer is said at the end of every traditional Mass…
defend us in the day of battle.
Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host –
by the power of God –
cast down into hell, Satan and all wicked spirits,
who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
Comment:
In my own experience from discussion with modernist/liberal types, angels are generally dismissed as “mythical”. I can think of at least a couple of the self-styled “experts” on all things Catholic and theological, who have appeared on TV to participate in a conversation about angels, only to mock the very idea that angels exist. Yet there they are, throughout Scripture, both Old and New Testaments. If you’ve noticed this reluctance to acknowledge or speak about angels, tell us. And tell us, too, if you have a devotion to a particular angel – maybe your Guardian Angel: tell us about it, and share any stories, novenas or special prayers you may know about, which will cultivate devotion to the angels – and to St Michael, in particular, in the days leading up to his Feast on Thursday, 29th September.
Comments (41)
I have noticed a singular ignorance of the existence of angels amongst modern Catholics. Shocking really. I’m absolutely devoted to my Angel Guardian and send him on many missions daily. I always pray to him to keep me safe and then send him over to my children’s Guardian Angels to ask them to keep my children safe. My children call it “Angel parties”.
Crofterlady,
Your comment about “sending your GA over to your children’s angels” reminds me of an occasion when I was telling a friend that I was preparing for a job interview, and she said to be sure to pray to the Guardian Angels of everyone on the interviewing panel. I did. I got the job. Go figure! (RCA Victor and Margaret, don’t you think I’d make a great American?) 😀
That’s a fabulous idea – praying to all the Guardian Angels of the persons who interviewed you. And yes, you would be a great American. Too bad we can’t vote for you for President.
I too love my angel! I was pleased too, when present at my little grandsons’ bedtime, that my son was teaching them the prayer to their Guardian Angel. And my son is called Michael!
Elizabeth,
That’s beautiful.
My beloved little Great-Niece, whom you met on your visit in June, to attend our Conference, has a picture of an angel in her bedroom and speaks about her GA so innocently. I think it is beautiful to inculcate that devotion in their early years. I am convinced of the power of the angels and it will be no surprise to me in eternity to discover how often my own GA has kept me safe.
Ed just as a we advert In The Diocese of Motherwell there is now a T. Latin Mass every Thursday at 7.00 PM in Saint Mary’s Cleland . As regards Angels I of course have no doubt they are there . Ones thing for sure if there are no good Angels there are certainly plenty of Demon Angels. In fact they have their own home in Edinburgh. Its called The Scottish Parliament.
FOOF,
That’s fine. The bill for the ad will be with you shortly! 😀
You are right to remind us – as does the St Michael prayer – of the existence of the evil spirits as well as the good angels. I think that should spur us on to say the powerful St Michael prayer – whether in it’s original full form or in the short form said at the end of every Mass – every day, perhaps at the end of our rosary.
On the link below, a US Marine wounded during the Korean war, writes home to his mother of how his life was saved through the intervention of St Michael the Archangel.
https://www.tfpstudentaction.org/resources/prayers-for-students/incredible-miracle-u-s-marine-saved-by-saint-michael-1
He had learned the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel at his mother’s knees and also taught his fellow Marines that same prayer. It is one I also pray plus the one to my Guardian Angel.
Theresa Rose,
That’s a very interesting story – just skimmed it as I was going offline when your post appeared, but food for thought a-plenty.
I, too have a story which I heard first hand from a friend, now deceased, about her encounter with an angel (Raphael) but it’ll have to keep for now as I ought to be elsewhere…
But, be warned, I WILL be back!
I have noticed that some modern Catholics don’t believe in Angels. When I was studying “theology”, the lecturers were keen to point out that the Angels in scripture were probably similar to prophets. Messengers, but human messengers. Total baloney.
I was looking at a maths resource with some teachers and there was a typo saying “angels” instead of “angles”. One teacher said, “to think some people believe angels are true!” This was a Catholic school.
Anyway, I often ask my Guardian Angel to remind me of things. I don’t know where I got it from but it always works.
They probably didn’t know that the existence of Angels is de fide divina et catholica.
I’m convinced that my Guardian Angel puts solutions in my head, just as Petrus’ GA reminds him of things. Solutions that I would never have thought of myself.
I dedicated my old newsletter, The Flying Buttress, to St. Michael, somewhat naively at first, but soon became convinced that he had a major hand in writing it. In fact, probably both hands…
I ask Our Lady to tell my Guardian Angel to help me get a good night’s sleep, get up in the morning and pray my morning offering and prayers. If I don’t, I can’t sleep.
My Guardian Angel has saved me from at least 2 serious car accidents – one at least would have been fatal. I never start a journey without asking him to ensure that during my journey I do no harm to any creature.
I always pray to the Holy Family, St. Christopher, St. Benedict, St. John the Baptist, St. Nicholas, St. Josaphat, St. Stephen, Sts. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, my Guardian Angel and all the Guardian Angels before I drive anywhere. If I forget, my Guardian Angel reminds me. And if I ignore him, then the good Lord reminds me by saving me from an accident.
True story: My mom and I were on our way to see my chiropractor. I forgot to pray before driving. I got rear-ended. Thanks be to God Mom and I were OK and the car was still drivable. I had to go to the chiropractor twice a week for about 3-4 months and once a week for 3-4 more months.
Moral of the story: Pray to your Guardian Angel before driving!
Beloved St.Michael I consecrate to you my body and soul,
and the bodies and souls of all those that I love,
and I ask you to be our special patron and protector today and every day
for the salvation of our souls.
Amen.
Gerontius
That’s a lovely prayer. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
WOW. Your Guardian Angel was on red alert watching out for you! I’m sure you made him happy when you came back to the Church (cf. Luke 15: 10).
My story about St Raphael is as follows.
When I lived in the north of England, I was telling Margaret, a friend (now deceased) that I was going to be driving to Warwick University for an in-service course and I was dreading it, since – no Sat-Nav in those days – I hated driving in unknown territory as I got/get lost easily and can spend ages getting back on the right road. I could see me missing the entire course, if that happened on this particular journey. She told me she always prayed to St Raphael and, since she was a very nervous driver, she did so all the time and never got lost, always arrived safely. After hearing some of her stories, I decided to do the same thing and sure enough, as I was driving to Warwick University I could see all the places where I would normally dither and I just kept on the right road. I’d even said in my prayer that I didn’t expect to be taken right to the part of the university where the course was being held, just get me to the uni and I’d manage fine, thank you very much. When I got there, a bunch of women were exiting the gates, so I asked them if they happened to know where the teachers’ meeting was and voila! They pointed me to the exact spot. One of the easiest journeys I’d ever made, it turned out, and I have no doubt it was thanks to St Raphael.
But Margaret’s most amazing story which prompted me to trust St Raphael was set in Dublin, when her brother and she were on holiday for a few days, staying at a guest house. For some reason (that escapes my memory – probably one of them not feeling too well) they decided to return home to England a day or so earlier than planned, relying on managing to get a “stand-by” ticket on the last plane that day. When they got to the airport, they were told that the only plane left was usually full of business men and it was unknown for there to be any cancellations but they were welcome to wait just in case. A long time passed and no sign of any cancellation. As the hour (6pm) approached for the flight to take-off – very close, with only minutes left – Margaret and her brother were still insisting that St Raphael would get them home, when the check in girl called them over and said that, most unusually, there was a couple of “no shows” so they could go onto the plane. Out of the blue, literally, a young man on one of those driver-trolleys appeared and took them and their luggage right through all the checkpoints, right out onto the tarmac and onto the plane. He was pleasant but not chatty and deposited them right at the plane. Once they’d boarded and were seated, they looked at each another and Margaret said to her brother: do you know who I think that was? Brother replied: “St Raphael” and not just because he was young, blonde and blue-eyed!
Isn’t that an amazing story? Margaret was a lovely person, a very down to earth lady, not the kind to imagine things and certainly not one to make up a story like that, her brother likewise. Of course, there are people who would argue that this was just a coincidence but, as Margaret pointed out at the time, she’d not asked for help to get to the plane, and the girl at the checkout was astonished at the last minute availability.
Margaret was the first person I met who was involved in the LMS and she worked tirelessly to get priests to offer the old Mass. Interestingly, one elderly priest whom she had persuaded to offer the old Mass for them, and which I later attended, turned, at the end of the first Mass he’d offered for them, after many years of saying the new Mass, and said that, during that TLM: “I felt the angels at my elbow.”
So, all you drivers should pray to St Raphael as well as your GA – your GA won’t mind. Job-sharing is all the rage these days and he’ll be only too glad. Reduces his workload!
Editor,
I think most people would see that as a tall story about the plane! LOL!
I’m not saying I don’t believe it myself, but it is, with respect, quite hard to believe.
I’ve not had a great devotion to my Angel Guardian and don’t think of saying the prayer much, but I will start now. I do love the St Michael’s prayer.
Lily,
I can assure you that Margaret wasn’t in the habit of telling “tall stories” – that implies dishonesty as if she made up the incident. No way.
The incident happened – you may certainly query her interpretation of the young man helping them to the plane, but it happened. Whether or not it was actually St Raphael, is certainly not an article of Faith so it is up for debate. But “tall story”? Not for a second.
Atheist George Bernard Shaw, in the preface to his play “St Joan” wrote:
“If Joan was mad, all Christendom was made too; for people who believe devoutly in the existence of celestial personages are every whit as mad in that sense as the people who think they see them.”
Reflect!
This is the Chaplet of St Michael (also known as the Angelic Chaplet): https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/chaplet-of-st-michael.htm
WF,
Thank you for that. Will study the link later. I’ve been away from my computer all day so need to catch up with the goings on in the world. Ten O’Clock news, here I come!
The removal of the Prayer to St. Michael after Low Mass, btw, is just one more piece of evidence for me that Vatican II was the work of the devil. Another thing that stands out is the altering of the blessing of Holy Water (which traditionally is actually an exorcism, I believe) so that the water is no longer actually blessed. This shocking little fact was exposed by an unlikely source – Father Z – on his blog a few years ago.
RCA Victor,
Yes, it was notable the way that prayer just disappeared overnight, without any explanation. Diabolical.
Re the holy water. A very good and orthodox priest, whose name, BTW is Michael, was always more than willing to offer the old Mass in my diocese, and one day I was talking to him at the back of the church when one of the congregation came past and said she was just going to get some holy water. As she went to the vessel to get it, Father Michael said “No, don’t get it from there”, and, pointing to a smaller vessel, he said “Get it from that one. I’ve blessed that properly with the old prayers”!
Although I don’t always remember to say a prayer to my guardian angel when I set out on a car journey, the many hazards on the road usually remind me, and I then ask St. Raphael to keep me safe and say the prayer to my Guardian Angel that we learned on our first day as 5-year-olds in infant school:
O Angel of God, my Guardian dear,
To whom God’s love commits me here;
Ever this day (or night) be at my side,
To light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.
I say this last thing at night as well, and, since I realised how deeply evil has penetrated the modern Church, I say the Leonine prayer to St. Michael every night.
Christina,
Here’s the article about the post-Conciliar “holy” water: http://wdtprs.com/blog/2012/06/quaeritur-is-water-blessed-with-the-newer-rites-really-holy-water/
Thank you for that, RCA Victor. I had no idea what the new form was. It has really shocked me, and made me realise just how far-reaching and thorough the conciliar evil was. No wonder Catholics no longer believe in hell or the devil. Perhaps we should examine all these changes more thoroughly, as, in concentrating so much on the Mass, I have certainly overlooked such serious changes as this one.
Christina,
That’s the prayer to my Guardian Angel that I was taught too when I was just a nipper so at least a few prayers and devotions survived the (ahem!) years that had elapsed between your childhood and mine. I must make a small confession though and mention that I’m now in the lazy/too clever by half habit of just saying the prayer on Sunday nights whilst adding after ‘day’ – “and throughout the coming week”. The comments here have given me a welcome reminder to exercise considerably more due and DAILY diligence when it comes to praying to my Guardian Angel.
Happy Feast of St Michael, Archangel to one and all!
Happy Feast Day everyone!
Growing up in the conciliar church, we didn’t know anything about angels beyond their appearance in the nativity story.
It was quite a surprise to learn (much later) that I have my very own guardian angel, whom I had been overlooking all these years – fortunately, it seems the angel was happy to work away in the background and rise above the ignominy of being ignored by their charge!
I am very interested to read on this thread about people asking their angel for protection, prior to a car journey for example. What a good idea, I will l certainly do that. (I had recently added my own angel to the list of people I ask for prayers, during my own prayers).
I was involved in a car crash just two weeks ago, on my way to work. I walked away without a scratch – despite two other cars being written off, a third suffering minor damage and my own car suffering quite significant damage along its entire length on one side.
I was stationary, at the end of a queue of traffic, and a vehicle nearly went right into the back of me at high speed (>50mph judging by the road speed limit). I saw it hurtling towards me in the rear view mirror just before impact and instinctively ducked down, expecting a massive collision…….which never came. Instead the car somehow went up between me and the crash barrier (raking the side my car from back to front) and then ploughed into the rear of the car queuing in front of me, which was written off – along with the car which caused the whole incident.
My car looked pretty ugly afterwards but, hey, ugly is much better than injury or death! Thanks angel!
May our beloved St. Michael protect you all.
Today being his feast day, St. Michael who is The Guardian Angel of the Blessed Sacrament, I thought to share again with you his words in the Fatima Eucharistic Prayer “in reparation for the sacrileges, outrage and indifference with which he himself is offended”
St.Michael must surely by now, be filled with Holy Indignation.Take a look at this…. and weep!
http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php
Without so much as a nod to the sad fact that the Uninstructed and the Neglected probably think angels (guardian or otherwise) were driven to extinction about 50 years ago, here’s a list of the sevenfold duties of one’s Guardian Angel:
1. To ward off dangers to soul and body.
2. To help us to overcome temptation.
3. To enlighten and inspire us with holy thoughts.
4. To offer our prayers to God and to pray for us.
5. To correct us if we sin.
6. To strengthen and comfort us in the agony of death.
7. To conduct our souls to heaven, or to purgatory to console us there.
And this from Boudon, “Our Lady is the Queen of Angels. They are then her servants, but such zealous servants that they await just the manifestation of her will to execute it, at its least sign, with a speed that is indescribable”. (Reminds me of the diabolical interference during the fourth apparition at Lourdes when the merest glance from Our Lady in the direction of the noise produced instant and absolute quiet).
Spudeater, what was the “diabolical interference” during the apparition at Lourdes? Never heard of it!
Helen,
Can I refer you to the CT archive from July 2015 and the thread ‘Brown Scapular:Sign of Salvation’? The comment from me dated 15th July has the details about what happened at Our Lady’s fourth apparition at Lourdes. Sorry but I can’t cut and paste it as I’m only using a phone at the moment with limited spec. Achoo! Sniff! You might want to put on some old clothes though and a hankie over your nose before checking as it’s real dusty back there. Achoo!
I was not aware that there was a Litany to Saint Michael the Archangel until now. Happy Feast Day everyone.
Belated happy feast day everyone!
I have a great love for my Guardian Angel and strong belief in the power of the angels, closest to the throne of God.
I had an amazing experience last night. Our internet had been down for days and I had an urgent communication to send to someone. I prayed to the Archangels, especially Gabriel, patron of communications. I pressed on the appropriate site and up it popped! I sent it and down went the internet again. I checked with my neighbours and none of them had internet access at the time.
Here’s an interesting tidbit from the SSPX: http://www.dici.org/en/news/feast-of-saint-michel-119-brothers-of-the-society-of-st-pius-x/
“On October 2, 1795, Pius VI granted a partial indulgence for making the Devotions to our Guardian Angels and Patron Saints, as well as a plenary indulgence on the actual feast day to those who make the devotion twice a day for an entire year.” (From Goodgle)
Tomorrow is the Feast of the Guardian Angels, so I thought the above would be of interest.
Here’s something to place at the tip of St Michael’s famous sword: from the lips of Pope Francis, faced with members of the Orthodox schism, protesting his visit to Georgia…
“In an apparent effort to allay their fears, Francis told a meeting of priests and nuns that they should not feel like they had a mission to convert Orthodox worshippers, saying this would be “a great sin”. “Never try to practise proselytism against the Orthodox church. They are our brothers and sisters,” he said.
Read the entire report here
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