Let’s
talk favorites. My favorite archangel is the multi-tasker, St. Raphael. If
you’ve read the Book of Tobit, you’ll understand his role as patron of
travellers, good marriages, and healing.
I credit St. Raphael’s intercession for helping me migrate to
another
country and finding me a spouse to a good marriage. On our way back
from our honeymoon, my husband and I impulsively stopped at a Mission
Church where a ten foot statue of St. Raphael all but winked at me.
He's stayed by my side throughout our marriage, healing our family of
all sorts of illnesses. St.
Raphael, I mean. (St. Dennis has stayed by my side too but his healing
prowess extends to broken cars, plugged drainage and other gadgets.)
Today, the 20th, I begin a novena to the archangel for a near-impossible intention that would
make the miraculous parting the Red Sea seem as effortless as popping a frozen pizza for instant dinner.
When the novena ends on the feast of the archangels September 29, I’ll
let you know how God answers my prayers.
If it is a “yay” answer, I’ll do another nine day stretch with the
chaplet of St. Raphael in thanksgiving. If it’s “nay,” I’ll knock on St.
Michael’s doors.
Here is the powerful novena if you have your
own intentions:
Glorious
Archangel Saint Raphael, great prince of the heavenly court, you are
illustrious for your gifts of wisdom and grace. You are a guide of those who
journey by land or sea or air, consoler of the afflicted, and refuge of
sinners.
I beg you,
assist me in all my needs and in all the sufferings of this life, as once you
helped the young Tobias on his travels. Because you are the medicine of God, I
humbly pray you to heal the many infirmities of my soul and the ills that
afflict my body. I especially ask of you the favor (Make your request
here...)and the great grace of purity to prepare me to be the temple of the
Holy Spirit.
Amen.
+AMDG+
+AMDG+