Saturday, October 24, 2009

Anchor



Feeling is deep and still; and the word that floats on the surface

Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the anchor is hidden.


--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Evangeline

The Feast of Saint Raphael

O Raphael, lead us toward those we are waiting for, those who are waiting for us!
Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings, lead us by the hand toward those we are looking for!
May all our movements, all their movements, be guided by your Light and transformed by Your Joy.

Angel Guide of Tobias, lay the request we now address to you at the Feet of Him on whose unveiled Face you are privileged to gaze. Lonely and tired, crushed by the separations and sorrows of earth, we feel the need of calling to you and of pleading for the protection of your wings, so that we may not be as strangers in the Province of Joy, all ignorant of the concerns of our country.

Remember the weak, you who are strong--you whose home lies beyond the region of thunder, in a land that is always peaceful, always serene, and bright with the resplendent glory of God.

(Saint Raphael is the Angel of happy meetings, of health, of love, of joy, of light, eyesight, travel, casting out demons, and debts repaid .)

Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.