ISBN 9966-08-454-1; Year of Publication 2009, Reprint 2020; 48 Pages

This Novena to the Archangel Raphael is dedicated to the sick and to people who nurse and accompany them.

COLLOQUY TO SAINT RAPHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

Saint Raphael, the Archangel, Assistant to the Throne of the Most High, faithful intercessor before the Divine Majesty, Guide of travellers, Help of the sick, I place myself before you, accompanied by my Guardian Angel, witness of my devotion towards you. I choose you today for my guide, my protector and my advocate before the Lord. I engage myself to honour you al along my life. Accept to establish between my heart and yours a strong link of dependence and friendship. Inspire me, in all circumstances of living and acting in such a way that Jesus Christ and his Holy Mother find in me joy and consolation for the glory of our beloved Father in the love of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

WHAT IS A NOVENA?

Between the Ascension of Christ, the Risen One, and Pentecost, the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles gathered around Mary praying with one heart (Acts 1:14), nine days passed in union with God through prayer. A very ancient tradition of consecrating nine days to prayer, in memory of the fervour of Mary and the apostles during the nine days which preceded the founding of the church, goes back t these founding events. Also a Novena is not simply a time of prayer renewed every day, it is not only the reciting once a day some precise prayers. A Novena is the immersion, for nine consecutive days, in a state of continued prayer, in a permanent union with God, more intense than is customary, through the intercession of Mary, of a saint, of the Archangel Michael or Raphael. It is a state of prayer of a duration of nine days. Needless to say, it is not the saying of formal prayers from morning to evening. It is sufficient that one unites oneself consciously and deliberately to God, all along the nine blessed days.