Kickstart the Year Praying the Chaplet of St. Michael

The New Year brings a fresh start for many different areas of life. It is also a great chance to kickstart a more valiant spiritual effort.

Out of the many devotional chaplets in the tradition of the Catholic Church, I recommend a virtue-building one for the New Year:  the Chaplet of St. Michael.  (To see how it is prayed check out this video, and for the PDF brochure click here).

In this chaplet, the faithful ask for the intercession of the nine choirs of angels in regard to a specific virtue.  The principal intercessor is, of course, St. Michael, the “Prince of the Church.”

St. Michael has aided and assisted God’s Chosen People for a very long time (see Daniel 12:1, Jude 1:9), and contended against Satan since the latter’s rebellion (Revelation 12:7-9). The chaplet is connected to apparitions of St. Michael, usually attributed to a Portuguese Carmelite nun in the mid-1700s. Other reports suggest that the devotion existed earlier. Whichever is true, Pope Pius IX formally approved the chaplet in 1851.

Striving for Virtue

I have enjoyed praying this chaplet because of the targets of each salutation. Each grouping of prayers asks for angelic prayers toward different virtues. I need them all!

Tim Gray and Curtis Martin wrote about virtue and its importance in living a moral life.  “Having good values is a fine thing, but the battle of morality is not so much about knowing what is right as it is doing what is right” (“Boys to Men: The Transforming Power of Virtue,” pg. 11). This echoes the definition of virtue in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions” (#1803).

The payoff of a life of virtue is being more capable of being a disciple. Virtues provide a refuge in stormy times and a solid foundation in easy times. Whether we are picking up our cross (Matthew 16:24-26) or gently abiding in the embrace of Our Lord (John 14:1), developed virtues help us to habitually choose to do good.

In our fallen state, however, this is difficult. Hence, we need our communities of faith, the prayers of the communion of saints, and the help of angels.

To pray the chaplet, first recite each salutation – there is one for each of the nine choirs of angels. Next, pray one Our Father and three Hail Mary’s. There are closing prayers at the end, which can be found at the links earlier in this post. Here I offer a brief reflection on each of the salutations.

Intercession #1

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.

First, this request of God to give us His very essence has to start rooted in humility (“make us worthy”). This request echoes the Mass as well. After the priest’s initial greeting, he leads us in asking for the forgiveness of our sins.

Second, we do not ask merely for charity, but to burn with its fire. Do not go halfway with the divine love!  This is the refiner’s fire, where our hearts get purified and can become supercharged mirrors of God’s love.

Intercession #2

By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Cherubim may the Lord grant us the grace to leave the ways of sin and run in the paths of Christian perfection.

Repentance involves both leaving the ways of sin and running to God. Naturally, it is a good thing to expunge sin from our lives. Without pursuit of the Lord, however, progress will not last. Remember the woman caught in adultery where the mercy of Our Lord was on dramatic display. He did not only bestow mercy but also urged her onto the path of perfection: “go and sin no more” (John 8:3-11).

I really like the verb used in this salutation – that we should run in the paths of perfection. Sometimes I casually stroll along that path. At other times in my life, I gave a solid effort. In still other seasons of life, I stopped to rest on the side of the road at the snack bar. To make any headway in the spiritual life, run. Strive.

Intercession #3

By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Thrones may the Lord infuse into our hearts a true and sincere spirit of humility.

Humility is up there with patience as two of the least fun virtues to practice. Inevitably they involve opportunities to become humble and to exercise patience. Lightheartedness aside, humility is a very difficult virtue to cultivate and we need extra help.  Once on the path of humility, however, the virtue serves to strengthen every other virtue in our lives.

Intercession #4

By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Dominions may the Lord give us grace to govern our senses and overcome any unruly passions.

We all have unruly passions. I think St. Thomas Aquinas’ take on the passions is helpful. He noted that “the passions of the soul, in so far as they are contrary to the order of reason, incline us to sin: but in so far as they are controlled by reason, they pertain to virtue” (Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 24, a. 2). Like a wild mustang, these passions can be tamed, channeled, and used for good.

Intercession #5

By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Powers may the Lord protect our souls against the snares and temptations of the devil.

As if we needed further reminder: our enemy, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion (see 1 Peter 5:8). Snares and temptations abound in today’s secular culture. One of the most dangerous? The temptation of indifference to God. This does not have to necessarily be rooted in sinful things—Msgr. Charles Pope has a great article on this. All we have to succumb to is distraction.

Intercession #6

By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Virtues may the Lord preserve us from evil and falling into temptation.

I can think of a few times in my life where I was saved from my own devices. Had certain instances happened differently, the course of my life would have been altered. Those instances should compel us to give thanks and praise to God. And how many times have the angels intervened for us without our knowledge or appreciation? This salutation is an opportunity to offer thanksgiving to God for His guiding hand throughout life.

Intercession #7

By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Principalities may God fill our souls with a true spirit of obedience.

Jesus invites us to take His yoke and learn from Him (Matthew 11:29-30). Imagine two oxen attached to the same yoke and trying to walk in different directions. I think we all do this in our spiritual lives to some degree—trying to tell Jesus where to go and what to do. Sometimes having the awareness is the hardest part. The solution is not to pull harder but to submit to Our Lord.

Intercession #8

By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Archangels may the Lord give us perseverance in faith and in all good works in order that we may attain the glory of Heaven.

The archangels get one of the weightiest requests. While the other salutations ask for various things, we ask the archangels to pray for our salvation. St. Paul described it as “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). We need heroic faith to persevere to the end. Good works are both a natural outgrowth of faith and a leavening agent to support faith. They need each other! St. James teaches us, “faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17).

Intercession #9

By the intercession of St. Michael and the celestial Choir of Angels may the Lord grant us to be protected by them in this mortal life and conducted in the life to come to Heaven.

Amen.

Our guardian angels want nothing more than for us to be united with the Father in heaven. They protect us and bring us to the throne of God to be judged. How blessed we are to have an angel specifically charged with protecting us! Our Lord promised never to leave us alone (Matthew 28:20) and the guardian angels assist in carrying out that promise.

The St. Michael Chaplet is easy to pray and easy to learn. The world is not getting any saner as the days go by. A foundation of virtue will help one’s personal life, spiritual life, marriage/religious vocation, and professional life.

If you’d like to learn more about Angels and how they help us, you might want to pick up a copy of the Peter Darcy book “Natures of Fire: God’s Magnificent Angels.”