CHAPLET PRAYER CARDS: FATHER’S FAITH NOTES (AUGUST 8, 2021)

In my note last week announcing St. Michael’s Lent, I mentioned that we will be adding the recitation of the Chaplet of St. Michael to our parish devotions. The Chaplet of St. Michael is a lesser-known devotion, one that I only really came to know and pray myself within the last few years, but worth knowing especially in a parish dedicated to St. Michael. A chaplet is a form of prayer similar to the rosary in that it involves the recitation of certain prayers counted on a set of beads. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is probably the best known, but there are many others devoted to different saints. The Chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel is devoted not only to St. Michael but to all of the angels including especially St. Raphael, St. Gabriel, and our Guardian Angels. 

Much like the rosary has five decades, each of which includes the Our Father and ten Hail Marys, the Chaplet of St. Michael has nine groupings, each composed of an Our Father and three Hail Marys. The nine groupings are in honor of the nine choirs of angels – a description of the different roles and ranks of angels based in Sacred Scripture. With each choir, there is a petition asking them to intercede for us for some specific grace or help we need. For example, the first petition reads, “By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Seraphim may the Lord make us worthy to burn with the fire of perfect charity. Amen.” These nine petitions are a beautiful way of asking for the intercession of the angels in all the major areas of our spiritual lives. 

Beginning this week, we will have cards available for you in the gathering space with the prayers of the Chaplet on them. As we prepare for our parish feast day, please join me in praying the Chaplet of St. Michael at least once a week so that we may grow together in holiness, in devotion to St. Michael, and be prepared to celebrate together. 

Have a blessed week,

Fr. Michael