Bulletins

September 1, 2013

Download the Bulletin as a PDF

The St. Michael Prayer is among those prayers for the Church which the Popes asked the faithful to include right after Mass, in addition to the Salve Regina.

The St. Michael Prayer is probably the first time you ever mention the Evil One by name. He was sent packing his bags at your baptism. On rare occasion his name is heard in the course of Holy Mass when it is mentioned in Sacred Scripture as happened on the Assumption.

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, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

When you come to daily Mass you will notice that we always pray it after the final blessing and dismissal. A few years ago Bishop Paprocki of Springfield in Illinois wrote to his faithful:

One of Satan's greatest assets is his camouflage, the belief that he doesn't exist. Disbelief in Satan and the forces of evil leave us unable to resist them. That is why it is good to remember the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel. We need to remember that each time we pray we work to defeat our real enemies, not each other, but rather the devil and his evil spirits...

In recent years, a number of parishes have begun reciting the prayer once more, and many individual Catholics have kept up the practice. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have urged the faithful to pray it daily, and especially after Mass.

The name "Michael" is a question "Who is like God?". The answer is nobody. It stands as a rebuke of the one who claimed to be like the Almighty, the one who dared to disobey the Creator, the one who refused to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, the one who seeks our ruin. Being in the State of Grace, with the angels and saints as our companions, we have nothing to fear so as long as we mean when we ask Our Father "to deliver us from evil".

God bless you.

Fr. Christopher J. Pollard
[email protected]