Prayer to Saint Raphael

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.