Bishop Jenky of Peoria has asked all priests in his diocese to "insert the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel into the intercessions at Sunday Mass to pray for Catholics’ freedom" in response to the Obama Administration's (or HHS) recent imposition that contraception coverage be mandated at most religious institutions, including Catholic hospitals. The fine bishop then goes on to urge his flock by saying: "Have faith! Have courage! Fight boldly for what you believe! I strongly urge you not to be intimidated by extremist politicians or the malice of the cultural secularists arrayed against us.” You can read more about this story here.
I like the way this bishop thinks, since including the St. Michael prayer each week will allow the people of his diocese to: 1) Be reminded regularly of what is going on in regards to this issue, 2) Be involved by "fighting boldly" through the power of prayer. My parish has always prayed this prayer at the end of Mass, but perhaps I will incorporate it into my daily prayer intentions on this pressing issue.
A couple of notes on the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel:
1) St. Michael is found in Scripture in the books of Daniel, Jude, and Revelation.
2) Scriptural illusions to the prayer can be found in 1 Peter 5:8-9 and Revelation 20:10, among others.
The Prayer:
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle;
be our protection 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 into hell Satan and all evil spirits
who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
9 comments:
Hi,
Maybe this is an American issue, like the video of love Jesus but not the religions, but I want to make a comment.
I really believe in the power of prayer, and in the intersession of traditional figures of the history of the faith.
But using an angelical figure, with all his meaning to target a specific necessity, at least, It should include the prayer for a better participation of all the catholic people in the solving of the causes at the beginning of the chain.
I if a use an angelical figure to attack someone or something, rhetorically, I am demonizing my opponent.
If some bishop is speaking like a prophet, its ok to use blunt language. And in respect of that, I am not condemning the words and the actions of that Bishop. I am only saying that is better for the people to complement it whit a humble attitude off what has been left by our part.
Leonardo,
Thanks for your comment. The bishop is not requesting this particular prayer of intercession in order to demonize the President, but rather simply to ask for assistance in ensuring that religious liberty is maintained in the US.
I heartily agree with Bishop Jenky's intentions, however I find the addition of the St. Michael Prayer after Mass to be incredibly inappropriate from a liturgical point of view. Is not the Mass itself the greatest form of intercessory prayer? Why clutter it up with additional elements? Vatican II did away with these things for a reason - to let the true meaning of the Mass shine forth. I think it would have been far more appropriate to insert a standard petition in the Prayers of the Faithful rather than add superfluous prayers after Mass.
Timothy,
Just joined with you in saying this historic prayer for your country.
Dear Leonardo,
To clarify, the "Hate Religion, Love Jesus" Youtube is a universal matter not solely an American issue: I am not an American by the way. It is a universal issue because it concerns all Christians every where and misrepresents the Universal Church. Further it was posted to the WWW which alone makes it more than an American issue.
P.S. I hope your Rosary initiative is going well.
Owen,
Thanks for your thoughts. I did not see that video. I only saw the comments of Fr. Barron, which compared that video with the Lutheran point of view, which I don´t know because I grew up in a mostly catholic country. I will see that video and have my opinion. Not fortunately, I am someone whit a tendency of criticize very strong the authorities, and the same happens to me when I think about religion.
I started like a blog with the idea of praying the rosary, but I am in the early stages, which means that I don´t have any idea of how to do it :)
By the way, I started to attend the prayer of the liturgy of the hours in the mornings. Today was my third time. It is a group of persons who participate in the choir, and before mass, they pray that.
Best regards.
@Leonardo,
Yes, it's always worth seeing/reading the actual, original item itself before offering a comment on then - especially as you not your tendency to be critical :) and, I appreciate your candor.
In this case even without seeing the original vlog one can get a clear understanding from the Fr. Barron's response (his response not the responses to his response) to the original Vlog, that it is not limited to an "American issue."
That's wonderful about attending the LOTH group ahead of Mass. God bless you in that discipline. I do the same when I can bike to the 8am daily Mass at our parish across the city.
Owen,
I saw the video, and yes, it presents many actual thoughts and conducts that exist in this world, especially the world of young people, who have a tendency of having a very critical view of institutions, persons, and that.
Parts of that video were appealing to me, but I like religion, although sometimes, not all the religion experiences are easy to live with. In my case, the good ones overpowered the bad ones, thanks to God.
thanks for your blessings,
Best regards.
Hi,
Sorry for all this me, and me, and me..
What I really dislike about to asking the help of an angel, is that we, each one of us, can be angels of god.
We can be the most powerful angels of the world, because the power is the power of God.
All of us can be virgins, and Johns, and Peters, and all of them, of course, with the power of God, if we hear His voice and want to follow him.
@Leonardo,
We can all be saints of God. Catholic teaching says nothing about humans becoming angels of God. Angels are created beings as are humans but have an altogether different nature from human beings.
Yes, we can aspire to live like St. John or St. Peter and if we are called to the vocation we can live as consecrated virgins. However, what you have expressed, at least the way you have expressed it is not historic Christian teaching. We can never be angels though we can, in our own way and according to God's will have a powerful impact in our world.
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