Friday, September 29, 2023

Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, archangels

(Revelation 12:7-12ab; John 1:47-51)

Not everyone prays to St. Michael.  Some people may think it is like believing in ghosts.  But those who do feel under siege and in need of supernatural help.

The “Prayer to St. Michael” was composed by Pope Leo XIII toward the end of the nineteenth century.  It was to be said after all “low masses,” that is masses without singing. Leo, like his predecessor and three successors, felt hemmed in by the Italian government. The papacy had lost jurisdiction over a vast part of central Italy and thought their ability to govern the universal Church weakened.  The original culprits against whom Michael’s interference was requested were the Italian nationalists.  When the issue was resolved with the creation of the Vatican state, Pope Pius XI mandated the prayer be continued with a new intention, the conversion of Russia.  The obligation of saying the prayer after low masses was removed during Vatican II.  Still it might be alone or with others, after mass or in private.  People with an addiction to pornography might use it to seek St. Michael’s assistance in their struggle.

Angels are God’s emissaries.  They are a means that God uses to accomplish His design.  If it helps us to pray to these intermediaries, we should do so.  St. Michael seems to have a record of success.  But if we pray more intensely to God directly, He is the origin of any assistance we might receive.

 

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