Prayer to Saint Raphael
Published October 11, 2012
This prayer was recently discussed at a recent luncheon hosted by the Catholic Foundation of North Georgia. Professor Emeritus of English at Georgia State University William Sessions spoke about Flannery O’Conner and his writing her authorized biography.
Prayer to Saint Raphael
O Raphael, lead us toward those we are waiting for,
those who are waiting for us: Raphael, Angel of happy
meeting, lead us by the hand toward those we are
looking for. May all our movements be guided by your
Light and transfigured with your joy.
Angle, 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 the sorrows of life, we feel
the need of calling you and of pleading for the
protection of your wings, so that we may not be as
strangers in the provinces 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
Resplendent glory of God.
Flannery O’Conner found this prayer by Ernest Hello in Dorothy Day’s “Catholic Worker” and quoted it in a letter dated 14 July 1964, less than a month before her death. The letter is included in “The Habit of Being,” edited by Sally Fitzgerald, 1979.
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