saint of the week

Saint of the Week                     June 13, 2007

 

Many people think that I am absent minded.  Maybe I am. Maybe I am just sporadically overwhelmed like most working mothers, you be the judge.

 

Long ago I abandoned the idea of carrying a purse.  I had misplaced, ok lost, many purses so I decided to be more Franciscan, and travel lightly.  Now I carry a small wallet with only the essentials (rarely if ever does that include money).   Although I can tell you where every toy, book and sock of my children's is located, I regularly lose my own things.  It seems as though I pray the St. Anthony Prayer on a daily basis.  You know the one, "St. Anthony, St. Anthony please look around, so that what is lost can be found."  < /SPAN>Sometimes I skip all that and just say, "St. Anthony, It's me again.  I am sorry to bother you again, but. . ."

 

Once when I was hiking with my dogs on a new trail, I became hopelessly lost.  I thought to myself as I trudged along soaked with sweat and caked with dirt, what a metaphor this is.  Maybe God is telling me that I am lost in the world and not seeing the forest for the trees.  Maybe the Almighty is telling me that I need to get back on track.  Or maybe I'm just dehydrated. In any case, I needed to get home because it was almost time for my kids to get home from school. Again I prayed for the return of the lost, not only to St. Anthony, but also to his boss.

In a few moments I saw this small deer trail.  I followed it because my little dehydrated voice said to, and it led me and my canine companions (who were no help in this escapade what so ever) right back to my van.

                                          

St. Anthony lived in the early 13^th century.  His story is familiar.  He was born of a wealthy family.  He had dreams of nobility.  He met some traveling Franciscan Friars on their way to evangelize in Morocco.  He was so impressed that he had a conversion experience and began to study the teachings of St. Francis.  He too became a Friar.

For a long time he kept a low profile, but then he was asked to fill in for a missing preacher on Sunday.  He obliged and stunned everyone.  His reputation spread quickly.

The church would be so packed that there was actually a line.

Once while he was in prayer, the Infant Jesus appeared to him and told him how much he was loved.  That is why St. Anthony is often depicted holding the baby Jesus. He is the patron of lost things because legend has it that once some young man stole his prayer book.  St. Anthony prayed that the book would be returned, and it promptly was.

 

I hope St. Anthony understands me better than most people do.  More importantly, I hope that he has a sense of humor and a compass.

                                          

 

saint of the week

Are We There Yet?

 

A couple of years ago my family and I drove to Missouri to visit my sister.  In the wee hours my husband and I gently carried our sleeping children to the van, loaded in the two dogs and silently began our journey.  We were hoping to get  through a good  chunk of the journey before our darlings awoke.  Just as we passed through the Fort Pitt tunnels, our daughter stirred.  Her eyes were as big as saucers.  She asked, "Are we there yet?"  Yes, we had been on the road for a mere twenty minutes.  Turns out that particular journey took nearly 18 hours.  I believe the number of "Are we there yet-s" numbered somewhere in the mid twenties.

 

So you can see that it took a strange kind of nuttiness to tackle such a trip again.

True our children are now two years older, but we have our new addition, a 7 month old Golden Retriever puppy. So again we loaded the sleeping children and 2 dogs into the van in the wee hours and silently made our way through the city.  Just as we passed through the tunnels, my daughter and I chorused to my husband the first shift driver, ARE WE THERE YET?  He smiled and said, "Yes, I think we just need to go around this bend."  Fourteen hours later, we arrived at my sister's house.

This week, I had a variety of notorious saints to choose from:  St. Joan of Arc, St. Augustine, St. Phillip Neri, and St. Bede.  Despite the huge contributions that these holy ones have made to our faith and the legendary examples they have become, they are all trumped by one.  May 31 is the feast of the Queenship of Mary.  Mary sits at the right hand of Jesus.  She is Queen of Angels, Mother of us all. In fact a more contemporary title for her is 'Lady of All Nations.'  She is the supreme example of obedience, humility and faith.  Many of our protestant brethren do not understand the Catholic relationship to Mary.  Maybe you have encountered this.  They may ask why we worship Mary.  Why we pray to Mary.  The answer I give you is this, we don't worship her, we worship God.  We honor Mary.  We venerate her as the Mother of God, but, we do not worship her.  We pray to her because the last thing that Jesus did, was give his Mother to John.  That symbolized His giving his mother to us.  Even at Cana, she saw what was needed and why, then went to Jesus.  He did what his mother asked.  Volumes have been written on this subject.  I urge you to check it out.  Sometimes though, maybe you just need a short answer to some of these complexities.  In that case, my answer is this:  Mary is like Mapquest (only more accurate) or OnStar.  She is the map that navigates us through daily life to Jesus. We really don't know what is around the next bend.  Sometimes we are the drivers, other times we are the passengers asking, "Are we there yet?"