You will notice an extra prayer that we are saying in church starting this week. Before Mass begins, we are saying the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, as found on the back cover of Today’s Missal. Bishop Zubik had asked all parishes to pray this prayer as a form of reparation after a satanic group in Oklahoma City stole a consecrated Host and planned to desecrate it as part of a “black mass.” Archbishop Paul Coakley was able to recover the Blessed Sacrament, but Bishop Zubik still wants us to pray and do penance to overcome the sacrilege against Our Lord and against the Blessed Sacrament.
In Mark’s gospel, we read of a man who brought his son to Jesus for healing of an unclean spirit. After the Apostles had not been able to cure the boy, Christ explained to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.” That is an important point for us to remember. We are called always to work for peace and justice in the world, but we must begin by prayer. Only by trusting in the grace of God can we truly make a difference in the world. The Prayer to St. Michael is an excellent example. Pope Leo XIII, who served as Pope from 1878 until his death in 1903, composed the prayer. At the time, the independence of the Vatican State and the autonomy of the Pope were being threatened by the newly united nation of Italy. Pope Leo asked Catholics to pray this prayer so that the Holy See could continue to be a strong influence on society. While the Vatican eventually had to adapt to the new reality, the Holy See did manage to retain its autonomy.
Earlier this year, before I reported to St. Malachy, I made my annual retreat at the seminary I had attended before my ordination. The seminarians are using the Prayer to St. Michael as a prayer for religious liberty, praying that we may retain the ability to live by our Catholic faith in light of the recent government decisions regarding health care and other issues. These situations remind us that we are living in a world that is increasingly secular and is becoming more and more hostile to our morals and values. Thus I would like to use this prayer as Bishop Zubik had asked and to continue using it beyond the time he requested.
Along with prayer, it is helpful if we practice fasting or other forms of penance. As a related note, I periodically remind people that the Church still asks us to do some form of penance every Friday, the day of the Crucifixion, to join ourselves to the sufferings of Christ. The primary form of Friday penance is still to abstain from meat. In recent years, the Church has allowed us to choose some other form of penance if we prefer. Unfortunately, the message most of us got was simply that Friday abstinence is no longer required outside of Lent. I urge everyone to choose some form of penance every Friday. I still find meatless Fridays to be an effective form of penance, but we are free to choose something else. But whatever form we choose, we can see it as a way of remembering the importance of faith and of dedicating ourselves to fidelity to Christ in a world that needs grace.
Father H
