saint of the week

October 25 Saint of the Week.

 

Since I am a bit late on my Saint for this week, I promised myself that I would do it tonight.  Truth is, I am not much in the mood.  I just returned from a frustrating encounter at Best Buy.  Without further rambling suffice to say that I received a defective item and no one seems to be concerned with doing the right thing.  (FYI I will never do business there again and I caution you).

 

Ironically though, this entire scenario has been played before me at least a dozen times in my youth.  My mother was a single parent, long before it became the norm.  She was a single mom when divorce was spoken in hushed terms and Dad's got out of paying child support and fingers were easily pointed.  She was a single mom in a Brady Bunch era.

So, here is this woman raising three girls and it seems that nearly every time she purchased something . . . it was defective and needed to be returned or replaced or there would be parts missing or what have you.  She was single woman standing toe to toe with many a store manger.

 

In the early years, my mom had a sidekick.  That was my grandmother.  Yes, my mother looked after my grandmother, but my grandmother looked after us and held my mother in constant prayer.  My grandmother's parting words to us were always, "Button your coat and help your mother".

 

I remember one time when grandmother was staying with us, my mother lost her wallet.  It was all that she had.  She was frantic.  My grandmother being the awesome sidekick, pulled St. Anthony from her utility belt and prayed.  Not the "St. Anthony, St. Anthony please look around, so that was is lost can be found," Prayer that he hears on an almost daily basis from me, but rather prayers bursting with passion and faith.  That night, my grandmother had a dream.  In her dream she saw St Anthony holding the wallet.  He told my grandmother where he had found it.  When she awoke, she told my mother where to look and, well, there it was. 

 

Another time, my nephew was very, very ill.  He spent months in Children's hospital and the doctors were stumped.  My grandmother prayed with all of her heart to St. Jude. We all followed her lead. Today my nephew is 20 years old.  He still wears a St. Jude medal.

 

I know it sounds like the Saint of the week should be my grandmother or my mother or St. Anthony, but actually, it is St. Jude.  St. Jude NOT JUDAS was one of the 12 apostles.  He was a distant cousin of Jesus.  One of his letters appears in the New Testament.  In that letter he urges us to persevere in the midst of all the frustration and turmoil that the world can bring.  To be a Christian in times when it may seem almost impossible, (like being in Best Buy with a defective product or being a single parent).  Because of that, he is known as the Saint of Desperate situations.  I have attached a prayer for you.

Most Holy Apostle, St. Jude Thaddeus, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who delivered your beloved Master into the hands of his enemies has caused you to be forgotten by many. But the Church honors you, and I invoke you as the special advocate of those who are in trouble and almost without hope. Help me to realize that through our faith we triumph over lifes difficulties by the power of Jesus who gave his life for us. Come to my assistance that I may receive the consolation and succor of heaven in all my needs, trials, and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may praise God with you and all the saints forever.