O Glorious St. Raphael,
I call upon thee and plead with thee for thy help …
Are You Single? A Powerful Prayer to St. Raphael for a Godly Spouse
One of the most important decisions for a person called to the vocation of marriage and family life is who they will marry. Under the sacrament of Holy Matrimony, Christian marriage is intended to be a “life-long” commitment. Once two people are married and consummate the marriage, God says the two become one flesh (see Gen 2:24; Matt 19:5; Mk 10:8; Eph 5:31). This is why a divorce is rarely granted under proper Church authority. Thus, marriage must be taken seriously; treated as an inseparable commitment “for better or for worse … in sickness and in health … until death do us part” amen.
Our modern-day culture has done a good (sneaky!) job of watering down the beauty and importance of marriage and family life for the good of society. This is especially true in regards to marriage as a sacrament and the importance of celibacy before entering into a marriage. Regardless, the truth remains that marriage is not a temporary partnership nor a type of societal badge of honor including flashy diamond rings and white picket fences. To the contrary, marriage is a forever partnership built on the back of daily sacrifice — striving together to live lives of holiness, helping one another reach their eternal destination, procreation, raising God-fearing children, etc.
This is why choosing the right spouse is vitally important. Together you will be carrying the heavy Cross up the proverbial pathway of Calvary together and you will need each other to be all in for the long run. Yes, marriage is an incredible and eternal blessing. But if one should choose the wrong spouse it could also mean a lifetime of suffering — and not the God-intended kind either. Resigning ourselves to God’s Will and subsequently accepting the suffering He sends is a wonderful thing, no doubt a way to grow in sanctity. But there is a difference between that — accepting God’s mortifications through following His will — and creating our own mortification(s) through making bad decisions without Him.
In Conclusion
What this amounts to is before walking down the sacramental aisle, prayer should be your best friend. It always is, but certainly when one is praying for a spouse!
Thankfully, God has given to you heavenly intercessors that will come to your aid through prayer. St. Raphael, one of the seven Archangels, will stand before the throne of God and intercede on behalf of your prayer for holy matrimony. He is after all the most powerful Archangel for uniting couples for marriage! To this end, waste no time in praying “Are You Single? A Powerful Prayer to St. Raphael for a Godly Spouse.” Pray with humility daily, and trust God to do the absolute best for you and your future spouse.
Are You Single? A Powerful Prayer to St. Raphael for a Godly Spouse
O Glorious St. Raphael, Patron and Lover of the young,
I call upon thee and plead with thee for thy help.
In all confidence I open my heart to thee,
to beg thy guidance and assistance in the important
task of my future.
Obtain for me through thy intercession the light
of God’s grace, so that I may decide wisely concerning
the person who is to be my partner through life.
O Angel of Happy Meetings, lead us by the hand
to find each other.
May all our movements be guided by thy light
and transfigured by thy joy.
As though didst lead the young Tobias to Sara
and opened up for him a new life of happiness
with her in holy marriage,
lead me to such a one whom in thine angelic
wisdom thou dost judge best suited to be
united with me in marriage.
St. Raphael, loving patron of those seeking a
marriage partner, help me in this
supreme decision of my life.
Find for me as a helpmate in life that person
whose character will reflect the traits of
Jesus and Mary.
May he(she) be upright, loyal, pure, sincere
and noble, so that with united efforts and
chaste and unselfish love, we both may strive
to perfect ourselves in soul and body,
as well as the children it may please God to
entrust to our care.
St. Raphael, Angel of chaste courtship,
bless our friendship and our love,
that sin may have no part in it.
May our mutual love bind us so closely
that our future home may ever be most like
the home of the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Offer thy prayers to God for both of us and
obtain the blessing of God upon our marriage,
as though wert the herald of blessing for the
marriage of Tobias and Sara.
St. Raphael, friend of the young, be though my friend,
for I shall always be thine.
I desire to ever invoke thee in my needs.
To thy special care I entrust the decision I am to make
as to my future wife (husband).
Direct me to the person with whom I can best
cooperate in doing God’s Holy Will,
with whom I can live in peace,
love and harmony in this life and attain eternal
joy in the next. Amen.
This is such an important concern–which I believe is a God-given yearning and desire. To see Christ-centered marriage as a calling into partnership with another believer, whom we uphold, support, and love–as well as receiving such–is what we were created for. And, praying also that God will make us “the right person” for being a blessing to another is also a spiritual calling in the meantime.
A worthy query in praying for the gift of a marriage-worthy relationship is to ask how the Kingdom would be furthered better through our union than it would be on our own. That also becomes a worthy focus of our we invest our energies in the God-given desire for relationship and love, which is so easily squandered in alternative directions.
I pray for readers of this important essay today, and if I can be of any support, feel free to be in touch.
With you in Christ’s service,
Paul Anderson
Thank you