Prayer to St. Michael - Short Version + Latin

Prayer to St. Michael
Short Version + Latin

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice 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 evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Sáncte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in proélio, cóntra nequítiam et insídias diáboli ésto præsídium. Ímperet ílli Déus, súpplices deprecámur: tuque, prínceps milítiæ cæléstis, Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos, qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in múndo, divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Ámen

Prayer to St. Michael - Long Version

Prayer to St. Michael Long Version

“O Glorious Prince of the heavenly host, St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in the battle and in the terrible warfare that we are waging against the principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the evil spirits. Come to the aid of man, whom Almighty God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of Satan.
“Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven. That cruel, ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.

“These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where the See of Holy Peter and the Chair of Truth has been set up as the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be.

“Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly find mercy in the sight of the Lord; and vanquishing the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V. Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers. 

R. The Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered the root of David. 

V. Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.  

R. As we have hoped in Thee.  

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.  

R. And let my cry come unto Thee.

Let us pray.

O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as supplicants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious St. Michael the Archangel, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all the other unclean spirits who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen.” 

Inside out

Have you ever noticed that you spend too much time indoors, staring at the walls of your house or your office or your cubicle; or watching too much TV or spending too much time in front of the computer; that you start to feel depressed and lethargic? On the contrary, when you go outside, spend some time looking up at the sky, you start to feel better? We spend so much of our time going from the house to the car to the office to the store and back home that we might not even notice this malaise, this ennui, that has invaded us, taken over our lives, and become our normal state of being.
There is a reason for this. God is that ever-present force in the universe that inspires awe, opens us up to love our fellow man in spite of ourselves, and gives us hope when we are faced with darkness; Whereas Satan in that pervasive splinter under the skin of the world that infects it with hate, and greed, and distrust.
This is why we experience a sense of elevation and inspiration when we go out-of-doors and look up that the clear blue sky, or an amazing sunrise or sunset, or gaze into the vastness of space. It is also why we feel closed-in and compressed and depressed when we spend too much time with our eyes cast down at the ground, or boxed up in our little cages of shortened perspective or even when the winter gets long and we have not seen but the grey sky for too long.
We must keep our heads and our eyes and our hearts lifted up to the sky. We must reach out with our hearts and our minds and expand the space that we perceive. We must get outside of ourselves and realize that we are more than just the little boxes that we live in.
Satan wants to keep us limited to our own little perspectives of the world. God wants us to reach out to the whole of the world, toward the sky, toward the infinite, toward the us that we should be, and to Him.

On the Ministry of Exorcism, Revisited

  My interest in the ministry of exorcism as been renewed lately. It would be easy to say that the advent of the new show Constantine is the catalyst, but that would be much too simplistic. Those of you who know me know that my interest in this field far predates my knowledge of the Hellblazer stories.
  All of my life, there have been things lurking in the corner of my eye, only to disappear when I try to look directly at them. I have always seen shapes, mostly at night, but sometimes in the daytime, of people standing on the side of the road, or "up ahead" after some fashion, only to have them be random, completely NOT people shaped objects. I have night terrors occasionally, sometimes waking up screaming and sweating, but often never waking at all; a phenomenon described as an anomaly by my psychologist as I do not fit the profile.  I get random "stabbing" pains in my body. Sometimes in two places simultaneously, sometimes three, and once, five in a pattern on my torso. Never just in one spot. These are usually, but not always accompanied by the feeling of some presence that should not be there. I have asked multiple doctors about this pain, and the general consensus has been that they don't know, but that I might consider getting a stress test. Sometimes, as I am falling asleep, I get a hypnic jerk. This is not so uncommon, but mine is always accompanied by a bright flash of light. No doctor has offered up an explanation. An then there is the occasional random voice. Often just a word or two, but very clear, and very clearly without a discernable source. Sometimes my same, sometimes someone else in the house's name, sometimes just a word. Now I am not attesting that any of these things are necessarily praeternatural in origin, but taken altogether, they do give me pause.
  But more compelling to my interest is the fact that I have been involved in two exorcisms myself, one in 1987 and another on 2012 (see blog entry Dec 2012), and I keep feeling called back to this. Not out of some morbid fascination for the occult, or even an interest in the paranormal , but as a genuine healing  ministry. I believe in demons... no, I KNOW that demons exist, just as I know that angels exist. And I believe that I have been called to participate in a ministry that is largely misunderstood and underappreciated.
  Therein lies my dilemma... As a Catholic layman, if I am to remain faithful to the Holy Roman Catholic Church, I know my involvement in this sort of thing should be extremely limited, but these things seem to find me. Not often... thank God, but they do nonetheless. And the more I think and pray on it, the more aware I become of the reality of it.  So the questions that I find myself arguing with myself about (in  not particular order) are thus:
  1. Why, in this round of renewed interest, am I suddenly finding myself seeing and feeling things more often than I have in the past. It's not often; certainly not around every corner. And most things that "catch my attention" turn out to be nothing at all, but some others leave me wondering. Does interest and study stimulate the imagination to produce more phenomenon? Or does interest, study, and understanding open oneself to being able to experience said phenomenon?
  2. As a lay Catholic, what can I do to cultivate my interest in this field? I have concerns about bringing this up with any of the priests in my parish. There was one Jesuit priest at the Ignatius House that I had talked to about some of my angelic experiences, if he is still there (and alive; he was pretty old the last time I saw him). Will I ultimately find myself stepping out of the boundaries of the Roman Catholic Church to pursue this if it turns out that am am truly being called to this?
  3. The Catholic Church says that only ordained ministry (priests) may perform major exorcisms (Catechism 1673), yet the Bible states that any baptized faithful may do this (although the Bible does not explicitly define the difference between minor and major exorcisms). Now, I understand and appreciate why the CC has the position that she does; it is largely for the safety and well being of all involved, and there are things that need to happen in the course of an exorcism that only a priest may do (hearing confession and granting absolution, certain blessings, giving communion, etc...), but there is part of me that also knows that the faithful CAN (doesn't mean that they SHOULD) perform solemn exorcisms. (Even as I am writing this, I am answering some of my own questions, but I will leave this in place for the time being.)
Thats all I really have to say on the subject at the moment. Any positive input would be appreciated.
God Bless,
AMD+G

Dream of the Holy Spirit

I had a dream last night that I was praying in the Chapel of Peace at my church. I was on my knees in front of the alter, and I had the realization that I have been able to kneel recently without much pain. (I have not been able to kneel on both knees since my knee surgery in 2007.) In my dream, I remembered that I had in fact been kneeling in front of the same alter one night asking God to take away my knee and foot pain, and at the same time arguing with myself about my doubt of that actually happening. In the dream, as I was remembering this, the monstrance came ablaze with a pewter coloured light. At the same time, a gold cross (not a crucifix) on the alter (one that is not normally there) alit with fire. It was not in an ominous way that we normally think of a burning cross, but a fire of the Holy Spirit, akin to the flame of the burning bush of the Moses (or so the conversation in my head (in the dream) went).
I woke up with a very clear memory of the dream, and it has stuck with me all day. I do not normally remember my dreams at all, only that I did dream.