Traveling Today? Invoke St. Christopher

My handy dandy angel book today brought me St. Christopher. Very interesting character. During his time he flip-flopped a bit between Christianity and worshiping the Devil. Made me think of a few heavy metal fellas I knew in my younger years! I believe most of them grew out of it, as did Christopher. After noticing love was more powerful than fear, he went back to God. He made friends with a very influential hermit who taught Christopher about the King of Kings and suggested that to serve God he should fast and pray his days away. St. Christopher was a very large man. Some even went as far as to call him a giant. Being of such a large stature, fasting did not sound appealing. The hermit then suggested he work the river. A nearby river crossing was extremely dangerous. Many people had drowned in trying to cross and because of his giant-sized nature, helping others to get from point A to point B was a way he could serve and make Christ happy. Drawings of him usually depict a child riding on his shoulder. The story is that this child is Christ. He carried the child across the water and as they crossed the child become heavier and heavier. The weight of the Christ child was the weight of the world's sins resting on his shoulders.

After the river crossing experience, he traveled and evangelized. He was also big on helping those who were being martyred for their Christian beliefs. The story goes that the king of Turkey was pretty upset Christopher was converting his knights and leading them to Christ. In his efforts to have Christopher assassinated he lost sight in one of his eyes. Eventually, Christopher was imprisoned and beheaded. The king used Christopher's blood to wash his eye out and miraculously regained his sight. From this miracle came the belief that if you look at an image of St. Christopher you will be safe from harm.

St. Christopher was actually denounced by the Catholic church as a saint, but many people still love and carry him with them in the form of a small medal to this day.

Because of his heroic deeds of helping travelers, he is a great one for asking for protection while traveling. It could be traveling abroad, or just heading down to the grocery. Other things that St. Christopher can come in handy for is:

*Avoiding accidents and mortal danger

*Stop having nightmares

*Remain safe from sudden death and the plague.

Christopher is very easy to call on. Simply take a nice deep inhale and as you exhale either under your breath or out-loud say "Saint Christopher, please protect me." He hears all prayers and answers with his loving touch. You will feel a sense of release as soon as you call his name.

Prayer of St. Christopher

Dear Saint Christopher, protect me today in all my travels along the road’s way. Give your warning sign if danger is near so that I may stop while the path is clear. Be at my window and direct me through when the vision blurs From out of the blue. Carry me safely to my destined place, like you carried Christ in your close embrace.

Amen.

If you are interested in a quick resource guide of angels, saints, and guides check out this book I like to turn to The Complete Encyclopedia of Angels. There is also a link to a St. Christopher medallion!