Prayer of St. Raphael

I'm a low-church Protestant so I don't typically pray to angels. Especially not to St. Raphael, whose only mention is in the Apocrypha, a part of the Bible I didn't grow up with.

That said, I came across a prayer to St. Raphael which I found to be poetic and beautiful. Perhaps the most beautiful guardian angel prayer I've come across.

Raphael is the angelic guide of Tobias in the Apocryphal book Tobit, found in Catholic and Orthodox bibles. Thus the petition for "happy meetings." In church tradition Raphael is also the angel associated with stirring the pool of Bethesda in John 5. Along with Michael and Gabriel, Raphael is also an archangel.

The prayer:
O Raphael, lead us towards those we are waiting for, those who are waiting for us. Raphael, Angel of Happy Meetings, lead us by the hand towards those we are looking for. May all our movements, all their movements, be guided by your Light and transfigured 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. Amen.

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