2024 Catechesis Supplement
Southern Indiana parish reminds members that angelic help is always present
A statue of St. Michael the Archangel defeating the devil is seen in St. Michael Church in Bradford in the New Albany Deanery. (Submitted photo)
By Sean Gallagher
Nine parishes across central and southern Indiana have angels as their holy patrons.
Faith communities in Bradford, Brookville, Cannelton, Charlestown, Greenfield and Indianapolis seek the help of St. Michael the Archangel.
St. Gabriel the Archangel is the patron of parishes in Connersville and Indianapolis.
And Holy Angels Parish in Indianapolis calls on the aid of all God’s angels.
But Catholics of all faith communities across the archdiocese can seek in their daily life of faith the assistance of these unseen creations of God.
The ways in which the faithful at St. Michael Parish in Bradford call upon their angelic patron is a positive example of how that can be done.
After each daily Mass and before each Sunday Mass, the traditional “Prayer of St. Michael the Archangel” is prayed by all worshippers at the New Albany Deanery faith community.
Children who receive first Communion at the parish receive a scapular of St. Michael the Archangel. And teenagers there receive a St. Michael keychain when they pass their driver’s test and receive their driver’s license.
Father Aaron Pfaff, pastor of St. Michael and of St. Bernard Parish in Frenchtown and St. Joseph Parish in Crawford County, spoke about the goals of these practices at the parish in Bradford.
“We want to keep the spiritual life in the forefront of their minds as much as we can,” said Father Pfaff. “The spiritual world can be easily overlooked. So, we try to make people aware that we’re surrounded by a cloud of witnesses—angels and saints—in the ordinary events of their lives.”
He shared how calling on angels for help has made a difference in his own life of faith.
“If my moods shift, if I become dark and dwell on negativity, I oftentimes will cover myself with spiritual protection of the angels and saints,” said Father Pfaff. “I’ll pray to St. Michael. I’ll pray to my guardian angel.”
In doing that, though, he always remembers the members of the parishes he serves.
“When I pray to my guardian angel, I’ll say two prayers—one over my people and one for myself,” Father Pfaff said. “I figure if I’m going through something, they may be going through something as well. So, I always cover them first with the guardian angel prayer.”
Deacon John Jacobi, the longtime director of religious education and youth ministry coordinator at
St. Michael, reflected that angels “show us God’s love, how much God cares for us as the Father. He wants our protection. He wants our good.”
“As a father myself, that resonates with me,” said Deacon Jacobi, 54, a father of three daughters and grandfather of five. “When my girls were young, every time they left the house, I just prayed to the angels for their protection. I still pray for them and invoke St. Michael and their guardian angels to watch over them.”
Seeking angels to watch over us and help us becomes more of a priority when we grow in our awareness of the presence of the devil and his fallen angels in our world.
The spiritual combat between God’s angels and Satan’s demons, attested to in Scripture, continues today in the daily lives of all the faithful.
“There’s a whole kind of battle going on that we really don’t see,” said Deacon Jacobi. “It’s between angels who want our good and demons who don’t want our good. We’re affected by that, and we don’t really realize that it’s happening in a larger sense.”
Father Aaron noted that the sensational way that movies and TV shows portray the actions of demons can lead Catholics to think that the devil and his fallen angels are not at work in their lives.
“Hollywood always portrays things so dramatically,” Father Pfaff said. “But oftentimes, the devil just likes to pelt us with popcorn and distract us, to keep our attention from anything that’s spiritual, anything of God.”
Father Pfaff encouraged Catholics across the archdiocese to make it a daily practice to call upon the help of the angels to protect them in the spiritual combat that is happening all around them and in their personal lives.
“Cultivate a living relationship with the angels that are assigned to us,” he said. “Give them the authority they need, the prayer power they need, to act for us in our stead to keep the assaults [of demons] at bay.
“Let the angels do their work and help us out to defend us and protect us.” †
St. Michael the Archangel Prayer
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Guardian Angel Prayer
Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.
