Bulletin Q&A Article; Published 3-24-24:
I came across a prayer to St. Raphael that stated: “I humbly pray you to heal …” and “ask of you the great grace of purity …” Should we be asking this directly or asking for the intercession of saints for our healing and graces? Can saints heal and give graces?
The Catechism states: “The witnesses who have preceded us into the kingdom,especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, share in the living tradition of prayer by the example of their lives, the transmission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were ‘put in charge of many things.’ Their intercession is their most exalted service to God’s plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world” (CCC #2683).
It is true that, when we pray to the saints, we ask them to intercede on our behalf. We ask them to pray to God for us. This is even true when we pray to our Blessed Mother, the greatest of all saints. When we pray the Hail Mary, we conclude: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”
So, what about asking St. Raphael directly for healing and purity? We must start by making a distinction; St. Raphael is not a saint in the same context as the other saints. He is one of the seven Archangels, not a human being who died and went to Heaven. We hear about Raphael and his powers of healing in chapters 5-12 of the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament. He appears as a young man named Azariah. It is quite an interesting story
The Catechism, in its discussion on angels quotes St. Augustine who wrote: “’Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel’.” The names of only three angels are revealed to us in the Bible: the archangels Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel, and their names tell us what they do. (Since the Book of Tobit is not part of Protestant Bibles, Protestants do not believe in Raphael as an archangel, or in his statement that he makes in chapter 12 that there are seven archangels.) Angel names give us an indication of their mission from God. Michael means “one who is like God”, Gabriel means “God is my strength”, and Raphael means “God is my health”.
God has given special powers to the archangels that we can call upon, but we still must remember that God is the source of the power. We are reminded of this as we pray the St. Michael prayer after Mass:
“St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”
In this prayer, attributed to Pope Leo XIII, we directly ask for St. Michael’s help, not his intercession. If Pope Leo XIII believed that we can pray to St. Michael that he thrust Satan into hell, we can pray to St. Raphael that he heals us, while remembering that his power to heal comes from God.
One last note as we enter into the last week of Lent when we are called to pray, fast, and give alms. St. Raphael gives us a reminder of our call to perform works of mercy as a form of almsgiving. He says: “Prayer with fasting is good. Almsgiving with righteousness is better than wealth with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store up gold, for almsgiving saves from death, and purges all sin. Those who give alms will enjoy a full life” (Tobit 12: 8-9). When Raphael heals Tobit, he implies that it is a reward for the good deeds he has done, especially risking his life to bury the dead. Let us be merciful to others if we want God, and His angels, to be merciful to us.