Lead us by the hand towards those who God has set aside for us…

St. Raphael by Corrado Giaquinto

O Raphael, lead us towards those we are waiting for and those who are waiting for us. Raphael, angel of happy meetings, lead us by the hand towards those who God has set aside for us. May all our movements, all their movements, be guided by your light and transfigured by your joy. Angel Guide of Tobias, lay the request we now address to you at the feet of Him on whose unveiled Face you are privileged to gaze. Lonely and tired, crushed by the separations and sorrows of earth, we feel the need of calling to you and of pleading for the protection of your wings, so that we may not be as strangers in the Province of Joy. Do not suffer us to walk the earth alone, but pray for us to be united with the one soul God has prepared for each of us.