When Mike and I first started dating, we went to his parents’ church quite a bit. It’s where we got married and where we get our kids Baptized even though we live too far from it to make it our home parish. It’s a super traditional Slovak Catholic Church, and I love that about it.
One thing they do is after each Mass, the entire congregation prays the prayer to St. Michael together. The first time I went there and heard it, I got chills. It was so powerful sounding, yet it was so unfamiliar.
I told Mike I had never heard it before, and he spent the entire drive home helping me memorize it line by line. If I didn’t know I was supposed to marry him by that point…
Anyway, I was thinking about it the other day and wondering why it struck me as being so powerful, and I think I figured it out. I would like to thank my English degree for this one. If you keep rolling your eyes like that, they are going to stick that way.
St. MiCHael the ArCHangel, DefenD us in BaTTle. Be our safeGuard aGainsT the wiCKedness and enSNares of the Devil. May God reBUKE him, we humbly Pray…
Listen to that language. Listen to the choice of sounds the author made. Those are some commanding, strong sounding words. No wonder it evokes such power.
Then, I started thinking about other prayers. What about the Hail Mary? How comforting is this:
Hail Mary, Full of GraCe, the Lord is WiTH THee. BleSSed art THou amongst WoMen, and BleSSed is the Fruit of THY WoMB, Jesus…
Soft, comforting, relaxing. Exactly how I feel about our Mother.
So, where am I going with this? I don’t know. I really have no idea. But it’s interesting, right? Right? Maybe part of me thinks that the feelings I get from these prayers encompass the essence of male and female roles in the family. Stop rolling your eyes at me. That topic is for another day, another dollar this SAHM don’t make.
My Catholic grade school did something called “pa singing” once a week- the music teacher would practice hymns with the entire school once a week via the pa system. The Lord of the Dance was my most favorite song and when the whole school would sing it together the halls would fill up and I always felt so dorky but I just loved it. Then, once a week they would sing it as the last song in church and it was honestly something I looked forward to all week long. I am not super duper religious in my daily adult life, but my childhood memories of being in church are so comforting to me.
Oh I loved that song too!
Dance then, wherever you may be
I am the Lord of the Dance, said He!
And I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be
And I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said He!
I also loved City of God :) Still do!
The Saint Michael prayer is one of my very favorites. I say it several times a week, I say it when I am scared, or anxious. And, I say it for other people who I know are facing extreme temptation, ‘St. Michael the….protect HIM in battle’ etc…
We said it in our youth group all the time. I don’t think the grace from it can be underestimated! Thanks for the post.
I love that idea of praying it for someone else! How have I not done that? I will now :)
Such an awesome post, I’ve never looked at these prayers like this, but it really makes you rethink praying when you take a moment and think about the words. So beautiful :)
I love when anything makes me stop and think about praying. Having a kid totally does that. I have to slow down and speak the words clearly so she understands what I am saying :)
What a great reminder for all of us!
Why, thank you!
I don’t think it’s silly — I think there’s something to it.
It makes me wonder if there are any scholarly writings on the topic!
It would be interesting to look at the prayer in Latin and see if there are similar sounds (as I’m assuming that the English is a translation from Latin).
Yes! That is not something I thought of, but it would be incredibly interesting!
I think that is really awesome – and there is definitely no eye rolling going on over here! I’ve never even thought of the difference in the words, but one is definitely more commanding, which is exactly why I love the St. Michael prayer!
I’m glad I’m not the only one who just thought about it. I say them all the time, and now I know why I get the feelings that I do :) Also, how is Worthy doing these days??
I totally get it – sometimes I say them so often that I don’t pause to realize exactly *why* they make me feel the way they do!
Worthy is doing well – it is crazy to watch it literally travel the globe! I’m working on some speaking engagements and getting in some Catholic bookstores around the country! Exciting stuff, thanks for asking :)
Awesome! Keep me updated. If you speak in MI, I will come see you!
Will do for sure!
I don’t think it’s silly at all! And you featured Rosaries by Allison!!! :)
I don’t know Allison IRL, but I am so incredibly proud of her. She is really doing an awesome job, and she just started!
This is really cool! I also love the St. Michael and my fav the Memorae…I always get this image of Mary wrapping me up in a blanket and kicking Satan’s butt to the curb;)
It is easy to just rattle off prayers at times, but this is a good reminder to be more intentional and really think about what we are saying…
I have to say that I have a grudge against the St. Michael prayer, and I have really been wanting to tell someone. This is my chance! Our pastor recently asked us to pray that at the end of our Rosary before the weekday Mass. I had never learned it, so I tried looking it up. I quickly found two different versions, then got the handout from our pastor after he made the request, which was a third. When I tried to follow along with the people who had knew it already, they were saying another different version! I don’t just mean small differences, like saying “thee” vs. “you”. I mean whole sentences structured differently. The gist of them is all the same, but if you are trying to pray out loud with other people word and sounds matter. Why are there so many different versions?