Dedication to St. Michael the Archangel

The presence of evil in our world is indubitable. With difficult events in our own individual lives, the recent tragedy in Parkland, FL and the unrest on the global front, we do not need to look far to find the presence of the evil one, physically or spiritually.

The Book of Revelation provides us an antidote to the despair it is so easy to feel: St. Michael, the powerful intercessor against evil. We see St. Michael “fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven” (Revelation 12:7-9).

It was Pope Leo XIII who composed the prayer of St. Michael, after having a vision of the devil having a conversation with God in front of the Tabernacle. The prayer that Pope Leo created was so powerful that it was later approved for use during exorcism rituals. The prayer we know by heart today is a shorter version of the exorcism prayer. Pope Leo saw the need for this prayer during tempestuous times of the 19th century and though those times are long past, we see the continued need for this same prayer in our own day.

In 2016, one of our board members, at his last meeting culminating six years’ service, made the recommendation to the board that we dedicate Legatus to St. Michael the Archangel. It didn’t take long for the board, our ecclesiastical advisor, Archbishop José Gomez, and our International Chaplain, Bishop Sam Jacobs, to come up with a plan to implement this dedication in our organization.

Legatus was officially dedicated as a whole to St. Michael at our largest gathering of members — at the 2018 Orlando Summit this past January. Since then, we have distributed prayer cards and instructions to all chapters for dedicating each chapter to St. Michael. While we have so much joy and enthusiasm in our meetings, praying the prayer to St. Michael at the close of our time together reminds us that we also need the support of each other and our holy angels and saints to carry out our daily mission and great commission: to get to heaven and bring as many souls with us as possible.

With our goals of becoming an organization to be reckoned with as a support to the Church, the devil will be attacking us even more. It is important that we first work on our own interior lives to be an Alter Christus (another Christ) and be unified to Him, and then work with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Prayer to St. Michael:

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, cast into Hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

Amen.

STEPHEN HENLEY is Legatus’ executive director.