St. Raphael the Matchmaker

Are you an expert on angels?  Because I’m not.  Besides the casual mentioning of guardian angels, and hearing the story of St. Gabriel visiting Mary, I know almost nothing about them.  And until I began planning my wedding, they didn’t seem to have a direct impact on my life.

A little over a year ago, it was time for Matt and I to prayerfully discern which readings we wanted for our nuptial mass.  After diligently going through the 8 different choices for the first reading like the good little Catholics we are, we finally decided on Tobit 8:5-7.  The reading is the prayer that Tobias and Sara say on their wedding night, and it really struck a chord with both of us. 

I was so excited about this reading that I called to tell my mom about it. She listened to me blather on like I tend to do, then we said goodbye, and that was it…  Until a day or so later when she called in excitement to share with me something she’d forgotten about.

A few months before I left to study abroad in New Zealand (which is where Matt and I met), my mom and her good friend read about a novena to St. Raphael the Archangel.  He is patron saint of a few things, one of them being patron saint of match makers.  She and her friend decided to say a novena that their daughters would meet their proper spouses (you haven’t seen a meddling mother until you’ve met a Catholic meddling mother- meddler of meddlers, let me tell you, because they go straight to the source). 

The meddlers said their novena and then promptly forgot about it.  Fast forward to my mom and I’s phone conversation.  After she hung up, she remembered her prayers and made an interesting connection:  St. Raphael is considered patron saint of match makers because he brought Tobias to his future wife Sara so that they could be married.  They got married and bowed their heads in prayer on their wedding night… See where I’m going with this?

Boom! So when Matt and I picked our first reading, it was the fulfillment of my mother’s answered prayers for the Lord to bring me my future spouse, all with the help of St. Raphael.

So St. Raphael, you da man fo bringin me my man. 

Bringing lovebirds together (at least I think that's what is going on in this picture)

Clearly angels are more rad than I give them credit for.  I guess it’s time for me to start reading up and learning more about them.