He is one of the great saints of the Catholic Church, and one of the beloved--even far beyond Catholics themselves. Untold numbers of people turn to him, still, when there is loss. And strangely--at least strangely in the usual ways of the world--those things often quickly turn up. And often they turn up in the most unexpected--even seemingly miraculous ways. Let the stories begin.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Another Special Ring
A very dear aunt of mine died tragically a few years ago. My mother, her sister, was the executrix of her estate. One of the things saved for me from my aunt was a diamond ring, which my mother gave to me when I returned from overseas a year later. I really cherished it and wore it every day. Some time later, I was doing some yard work which involved the uncleared lot we owned next to our house. While I was working it began to rain, but I continued to work as long as I could, which included taking large armfuls of weeds and throwing them into piles to be placed in bags at the curb. Arriving in the house soaking wet, I realized my son would soon be late for altar service so we quickly prepared for Mass and headed to church. Kneeling in the pew, I clasped my hands, and noticed the ring was missing! I had never removed it. I knew it had to be somewhere in those mounds of yard debris -- or the part of the lot we had worked, an area of at least fifty by fifteen feet! I decided to put it out of mind and concentrate on Mass. I hated the thought of telling my mother that I had lost her sister’s ring. My husband and I picked through every bit of the piles of yard debris. Nothing! I wandered in the lot and again: nothing. My husband told me I should forget trying to find that ring because the downpour had driven it into the sandy soil and it would be irretrievable, but I continued to pray and to beg St. Anthony (who had never let me down since I was a young girl). One afternoon as I sat on my bed I prayed again. The thought came to me to go out into that lot with a flashlight after dark. I'd had that thought several times before when praying and always discarded it as being so impractical. The lot was dark. The flashlight made only a small circle of light, the area to search was so large. For some reason this time I decided to act on that thought. As soon as it turned dark, out I went with the flashlight. I found a piece of tinfoil; then a small piece of cellophane gleamed. Then, a small glimmer of gold. There was the ring, directly in front of my feet and it was not the diamond sparkling in the light but the narrow golden band of the upside-down ring!
