Prior to going to walk, I put on my gym shorts and tee shirt. The shorts have shallow pockets and I always bring my drivers license with me when I go walking in case I pass out or die or get hit by a car, people will know who I am. Who knows me here????
This morning, Monday, I was ready to leave the rectory about 6 AM to go exercise. I couldn't find my driver's license. I looked everywhere, and then I came to the awful realization that more than likely pulling either my Rosary Beads or iPhone out my pocket on my walk or where I drove to, that the license came with it and fell on the ground! Panic! What a rude awakening in Richmond Hill, my new home!
I thought to myself that I would never find it. But I got in my car and backtracked on my walk the night before. I couldn't find it.
Then I called the Georgia Department of Drivers' licenses to find out what to do. They told me I had to have a picture ID and proof of my new residence which of course I do not have. In addition I was told that the Drivers' license offices in Georgia are closed on Monday!
Panic!
I thought it a long shot, but decided to ride out to my final destination near a seafood restaurant called Fishtails.
I looked everywhere. Then I thought maybe someone turned it into the restaurant. But it was closed, but I walked by and two young men were standing outside a door. They asked if they could help me. They didn't know if my license was turned in or not, but they unlocked the restaurant and took me to the cash register and low and behold it was sitting on top of it! MIRACLE! And I did not realize that it was the Feast of St. Anthony.
But prior to leaving for my search of my license, I begged Saint Anthony in an impromptu prayer to find it and to find it please, please, please. I didn't use the formal prayer but it was close:
O blessed St. Anthony, the grace of God has made you a powerful advocate in all our needs and the patron for the restoring of things lost or stolen. I turn to you today with childlike love and deep confidence. You have helped countless children of God to find the things they have lost, material things, and, more importantly, the things of the spirit: faith, hope, and love. I come to you with confidence; help me in my present need. I recommend what I have lost to your care, in the hope that God will restore it to me, if it is His holy Will. Amen.
It was a long shot and I almost didn't go to the area thinking I would never find it. I didn't find it! Saint Anthony did and I believe he placed it on the cash register. I really do!!!!!
SAINT ANTHONY IS MY MOST FAVORITE ITALIAN SAINT EVER SINCE I WENT TO ST. ANTHONY CHURCH AND SCHOOL IN THE WEST END OF ATLANTA. SAINT ANTHONY HAS MIRACULOUSLY FOUND OTHER THINGS FOR ME OVER THE YEARS!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! SAINT ANTHONY!!!!!! AND ON YOUR FEAST DAY NO LESS AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THAT WHEN I ASKED YOU FOR A MIRACLE WHICH YOU GAVE ME!
16 comments:
You're welcome. For future reference, the prayer is, "Good Saint Anthony please come 'round. Something's lost that must be found."
That is truly remarkable but then, yes, St Anthony is a very powerful intercessor and finds everything.
One memorable occasion was when I was looking after someone's car while they were away. The day before they were due to pick it up I cleaned the car out. I went back into my house and realized I couldn't find the car keys. Thankfully I hadn't locked the car so I searched all through and around it but to no avail. I then proceeded to hunt through the house, praying to St Anthony. I went through everything, drawers, there was nothing left unopened or upturned. Some things I went through twice. I spent literally the whole day looking and praying. Not long after losing the keys I spied an umbrella which was furled up and so I didn't open it because it had the elastic tie around it and so I couldn't see any way the keys could have fallen in there. Finally, the umbrella was virtually the last thing in the house that hadn't been searched. I finally opened it and there at the bottom were the keys. Don't ask me how they got inside that furled umbrella, I have no idea. I only know that if I had opened the umbrella the first time I spied it I wouldn't have wasted an entire day. Thank you, St Anthony for your unceasing help and intercession in finding things that seemed lost forever, deo gratias!
Bee here:
Fr. McD!!!! WOW oh wow oh wow!!!!! What a St. Anthony story! I have a couple of dozen really fantastic ones that happened to me, and the things and circumstances of things found are unbelievable. I'm thinking of starting a notebook to record them.
Your story is one of the most fantastic I have heard, and I praise God in heaven above for the holy St. Anthony. I don't know what the purpose of this mission of his is, but I thank God for the signs He hears our prayers, and our petitions to this man of pure and holy reputation.
God bless you Father.
Bee
Father, St. Anthony was born in Lisbon he isn't Italian. Just like that other Italian favorite that they pin money to, St. Rocco who is from France. But we Irish do it also....St. Patrick.
Father I just had an idea. That new church looks really bare. Why not install a nice shrine to Saint Anthony and another to the Little Flower.
Your can ALWAYS rely on St. Anthony to come to the rescue. Pray to him for souls that have gone astray also as he is always working among us. The Christ Child loved to regularly visit him so we know he is very special in God's eyes. He is everyones best friend.
Father, I'm definitely glad you found your license through the intercession of St. Anthony. I'm a little concerned that you didn't know it was his feast day, though! Did you take a vacation from your breviary?
;-)
Interesting. I wear a brown scapular for the same reason you carry your drivers license while on a walk. So in case I pass out or die, whoever finds me might know who I am and respond appropriately.
Be careful down there---coastal Georgia is snake country, big time! This time of year, the rattlers and water moccasins love the (relative) cool of summer nights down there. Don't stray too far from the road!
Great ending to what I am sure was a frustrating situation. Slightly off topic, but I am curious and assume that the rectory at your new parish is NOT in the same location as the parish offices. Is the rectory even on the Church campus? I know some priests in this diocese who like the rectory being away from the church and offices, but another priest who wishes that his rectory WERE on the Church campus.
My computer crashed the other day. I spent the afternoon praying to Saint Isidore of Seville. No dice...I think I may not have the right password. Anyway, Comcast saved me.
Miracle? Nah. "Miracle" is one of those vastly overused (and poorly understood) words.
You dropped your license. Someone found it and turned it in. You went back and got it. No miracle.
Now, it MIGHT have been a "miracle" if you had been swallowed by a sea-serpent, lost your license somewhere in its intestines, been vomited up on an island in the South China Sea, been carried back to Richmond Hill by a flight of winged cherubs, and had your license handed back to you by Gandalf.....
truly remarkable and miraculous lost and found:
The ship that St Francis Xavier was a passenger on was caught in a storm as he was traveling to Malacca in the year 1546. He tossed the crucifix he wore into the sea, asking God to make it an instrument to calm the waters. The sea subsequently calmed down. When Francis Xavier upon arrived on the shores of Malacca he noticed a crab crawling toward him which had his missing crucifix in one of its claws. With great joy he picked up the crucifix and blessed the crab which then crawled into the sea.
This would seem to be an apocryphal story, a saintly legend, except that a Portuguese gunner, Fausta Rodrigues, was an eye-witness to this incident and wrote it down in his diary, which is on display in the National Museum of Lisbon. The crucifix with the scratching of the crab's claws is on display In the Chapel of the Royal Place, Madrid, Spain.
Perhaps the angels and saints help us in many ordinary ways each day. Christian Charity knows no bounds, even if gob and his kind wish to erect a Donald Trump wall between us.
Fr. Michael J. Kavanaugh said... You're welcome. For future reference, the prayer is, "Good Saint Anthony please come 'round. Something's lost that must be found."
The prayer I grew up with is a little more profane:
"Tony, Tony, look around. Something's lost that must be found."
DJR
hehehe
Bee here:
The prayer I learned (and still say) from my 2nd grade nun is:
Dear St. Anthony, please look around.
Something has been lost, and must be found.
BTW: This wonderful saint once again came to my aid yesterday in answer to my worried prayer regarding what could have been and what was looking like it was going to be a heated confrontational situation, but that turned out to be mild and congenial. I should not have been, but I was so shocked in my relief.
Thank you St. Anthony. You glorify God in all His works!
Bee
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