A thank you to AxxeArp from the Fisheaters Forum for this inspiring story:
6 years ago, my brother and his future wife lived with my grandfather, to keep him company and to make sure he was alright. They would work during the day and had supper with him every night and slept at granddad’s place. (My brother and sister-in-law lived in separate bedrooms, so no lectures please about scandal). At supper time, granddad would talk about the Catholic Faith, and the world and other things, but the thing that most impressed my sister-in-law was grandad’s devotion to St Anthony. Granddad claimed he could find any lost object, no problem, by saying a prayer to St Anthony. My sister-in-law had no religious upbringing. She was never even baptized. Faith seemed to be a strange thing to her, and this idea that you could find lost objects through praying to someone seemed even odder. My sister-in-law though loved my grandfather and the dinner talks. My sister-in-law never had a family life like this. Her family was a wreck, she was actually kicked out of her house for no reason what-so-ever, which is how she ended up living with my granddad. Anyways, the warm Christian atmosphere of my brother and granddad made an impression on her.
Two years later my grandfather passed away and my brother and sister-in-law were married. My brother worked very hard to buy a beautiful engagement ring and a wedding ring. A few months after the wedding, my sister-in-law lost her engagement / wedding ring! She was devastated. She lost it at work, and she searched everywhere but could not find it. She was in tears and panicked. After about a week, she remembered granddad’s promises about St Anthony. She said a little prayer to St Anthony and then went to work. When she got to work, she sat down at her desk, said her prayer to Saint Anthony again and just as she finished she saw something shining. Her ring was under her desk! Now she checked their about a million times prior to this. There was no way she missed it before, but there it was! Finding her ring was the spark my sister-in-law needed! She started taking seriously the claims of the Catholic Faith. Shortly after these events she entered RCIA and was baptized into the Catholic Faith. Granddad had found one more lost object with the help of Saint Anthony, this time it was my sister-in-law’s soul.
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.
