Eternal, All-Powerful, All-Loving, All-Present God, Please Defend Us in Battle.
Please be our Safeguard Against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
Please rebuke him, we humbly pray, and Eternal, All-Powerful, All-Loving, All-Present God, please thrust into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits that prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
All Praise and Glory to Eternal, All-Powerful, All-Loving, All-Present God, and in Thanksgiving for Blessings Received.
Notes:
Pope Leo XIII is credited with creating the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel in the 1880’s, in connection with a Mystical experience relating to the battle of good vs. evil. It is, of course, important to ask Saint Michael the Archangel for assistance and Scripture notes his Angelic leadership of the Hosts of Heaven in defeating evil as Servants of God.
Yet one obvious question is that of an additional version of the prayer addressed directly to God Himself.
The above text is one attempt to adapt the text of Saint Leo XIII’s Prayer such as to address God directly. Since prayer, particularly addressed to God, is a form of pleading, there is additional adjustment to prayerfully ask God’s Assistance, as well as adjusted text to note the Infinite Greatness and Love of God. Additional concluding text is added to give thanks and praise to God for His Divine Assistance.
As can be seen, this version of the prayer also combines an Invocation of God and Cry for His Divine Assistance with an open Confession of God our Creator’s Omnipotence and Omnipresence, both Physically and Across Time and Eternity.
(c) Steven C. Welsh
