These Catholic prayers for safe travel ask God’s protection on every journey, through the help of His angels, St. Raphael and Our Lady. Pray them before you set out, or for someone you love who is traveling, and download the free PDF to keep.
O Almighty and merciful God, who hast commissioned Thy angels to guide and protect us, command them to be our assiduous companions from our setting out until our return; to clothe us with their invisible protection; to keep from us all danger of collision, of fire, of explosion, of fall and bruises, and finally, having preserved us from all evil, and especially from sin, to guide us to our heavenly home. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
From EWTN, A Prayer for Travelers.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and for evermore.
Psalm 121:8 (RSVCE).
Loving Father, I entrust N. to your care on this journey. Send your holy angels to go before them and keep them safe on every road, in the air and on the water. Give them a peaceful heart, a clear mind and rest when they are weary. Through the intercession of St. Raphael, who guided Tobias on his way, bring them safely to where they are going and home again in peace. Keep them close to you always, and lead us all at last to our home in heaven. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
An original prayer prepared for this page.
Into the way of peace and prosperity, may the almighty and merciful Lord lead us, and may the Angel Raphael be with us along the way, that we may come to our home again in peace and health and gladness.
A traditional prayer based on the antiphon of the Itinerarium, the Church’s prayers before a journey.
For most of us in the world today, daily travel for work, church, school, or pleasure is a basic fact of life. And we often travel to visit family and friends or to take a long-awaited vacation.
Our dear Lord should be a part of every aspect of our lives, and that certainly includes travel. We can offer all the enjoyable and unpleasant parts of traveling to Our Lord for our good and that of others. Vacation travel can help us relax and return to the regular daily duties of our state in life with renewed vigor and energy.
When we travel, we pray for safe travel or pray for travel safety, that we will reach our destination safely and in good health. We can pray in our own words for a safe journey, or we can use a prayer for safe travel written by someone else.
There are many Bible stories about travel:
An appropriate Bible passage for travel is Psalm 121. Of course, the whole psalm is wonderful to pray, but verse 8 is especially meaningful: “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in, from this time forth and for evermore.”
St. Raphael the Archangelis the patron of travelers. (Other patron saints for travel include St. Christopher and St. Anthony of Padua.) In the Book of Tobit in the Bible, we read how St. Raphael traveled with the young man Tobit on his long journey and helped him along the way.
St. Raphael is a powerful intercessor for our travel, too! (Besides being a patron of travelers, St. Raphael is also the patron of future spouses, happy meetings, and purity.)
When we travel, we can pray for travel safety through the intercession of Mary, Our Lady of the Highway:
“O Lady of the Highway, be with us on our journey, for all your ways are beautiful and all your paths are peace. O God, who with unspeakable providence does rule and govern the world, grant unto us, your servants, through the intercession of our watchful mother, to be protected from all danger and brought safely to the end of our journey. Amen.”
We can also invoke Our Blessed Mother as Our Lady of the Way. St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, had a special devotion to Our Lady under this title. Mary’s intercession guides us throughout our life on our way to Heaven, and we ask Our Lady of the Way’s help on our physical journeys as well!
Many of us now travel by air. In 1920, Pope Benedict XV proclaimed Our Lady of Loreto the patroness of pilots and air passengers, and Catholics have entrusted their flights to her ever since. Her feast is December 10 (National Catholic Register).
The Prayers for Safe Travel above are well suited to any flight. As you board or wait for takeoff, ask God to command His angels to be your companions “from our setting out until our return,” and ask the intercession of Our Lady of Loreto and St. Raphael. A Hail Mary at takeoff and a short prayer of thanks after landing are a simple way to place the whole trip in God’s hands.
The prayers above ask our loving Heavenly Father for his protection and help, and the intercession of the great St. Raphael!
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