I love Saint Anthony! My favorite miracle that he prayed for me was finding my checkbook! I was expecting our first child, and had already lost the family checkbook once! Luckily I found it easily, but a few weeks later it went missing for a few days. I was in a panic. I came home early from work and checked again the shelf that we kept it on. It was not there. I began to pray fervently to St. Anthony and went into the garage to thoroughly check my car. 30 minutes later I was in tears, I had not found the checkbook. I went back into the kitchen and looked at the shelf. Sitting there, in plain sight, was the checkbook, right where it usually is. Saint Anthony has come through for me so many times before and since this incident, but that is one of his more dramatic rescues for me.
Thank you to Sue commenting on The Path Less Taken blog for this heartening St. Anthony story~
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.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
A Dream Of St. Anthony
My father was a lax Baptist but a wonderful Dad and husband. As such he knew nothing about Saints. One day, he lost something and demanded to know whether there was a saint for "lost stuff." I told him about Saint Anthony. From then on whenever he lost anything Daddy would ask St. Anthony for help, but in a not very respectful way. I hated the fact he would approach a Saint of God that way, and I would scold him for it. But the saint would always help my father find lost things. "Tony understands me," Daddy would say.
Years later when my father was dying, I was living and working somewhere else, and I was worried about what was going to happen with my dad. The whole family thought that he would die on the same date as my mother did years before on June 17th. The early morning of June 13th, I had a dream in which I saw a fairly stout looking man dressed as a Franciscan come over to a hospital bed where my father was lying in a coma. I saw this friar lean over and pat my father's face and say, "Pablito, Pablito", then it sounded like, "vente, vente!"
Then in the dream I saw something rise out from my father's body and form a shape just like my father used to look when he was young and vigorous. He looked at the friar and frowned. Before he could say anything the friar took my father by the hand and spoke to him something like Ici, then he patted his chest and said what sounded like, "Souez Antonio, Vente." My father looked confused but when the friar put out his hand to him, Daddy took it, smiled shyly, put his head down like a child and they walked away into this really bright light that led up into the ceiling. Then they were gone. A few minutes later I called my sister and found out that Daddy had gone. So, to this day, Saint Anthony is our family patron saint.
Have a faith-inspiring story of St. Anthony's influence in you life that you would like to share? Email it to us and we will post it on our blog~
Years later when my father was dying, I was living and working somewhere else, and I was worried about what was going to happen with my dad. The whole family thought that he would die on the same date as my mother did years before on June 17th. The early morning of June 13th, I had a dream in which I saw a fairly stout looking man dressed as a Franciscan come over to a hospital bed where my father was lying in a coma. I saw this friar lean over and pat my father's face and say, "Pablito, Pablito", then it sounded like, "vente, vente!"
Then in the dream I saw something rise out from my father's body and form a shape just like my father used to look when he was young and vigorous. He looked at the friar and frowned. Before he could say anything the friar took my father by the hand and spoke to him something like Ici, then he patted his chest and said what sounded like, "Souez Antonio, Vente." My father looked confused but when the friar put out his hand to him, Daddy took it, smiled shyly, put his head down like a child and they walked away into this really bright light that led up into the ceiling. Then they were gone. A few minutes later I called my sister and found out that Daddy had gone. So, to this day, Saint Anthony is our family patron saint.
Have a faith-inspiring story of St. Anthony's influence in you life that you would like to share? Email it to us and we will post it on our blog~
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Praying To Find Freedom
I feel as though I'm writing in as a member of the St. Anthony fan club, a good thing. Over the past 15 years or so I have referred to the following story as my "favorite" St. Anthony story.
It was in the early part of the summer of 1993, I was at home in New Orleans and my Cuban born Mother-In-Law (Mami) and Father-In-Law (Papi) were in town visiting. I was alone in the den sitting next to Mami when I began the conversation. I remember I began by telling Mami how I believed in prayer and I related a story or two of things that had happened in my life and how it seemed to me that my prayers were answered. After telling Mami of my belief, she looked at me and said : "It was in early 1962 and Papi and I were trying to leave Cuba. My oldest 3 children (all teenagers) were able to get out of the country and were at a Catholic home in Miami since the previous October. I knew at the time that I was pregnant with your wife Ani. Castro's government at that time had a policy that they wouldn't let you leave the country if they knew you were pregnant.
One day, it was in late March or early April, when I went to Havana to visit my brother. Upon entering his home I noticed a statue of St. Anthony in the den. When I saw the St. Anthony statue, I immediately started praying ....'St. Anthony, you have to get together with St. Jude and find us a way out of Cuba. We need to leave the country soon before they know I'm pregnant. Please intercede for us and help us get out.' She told me that she prayed fervently for weeks and weeks and nothing happened, but she kept praying. And then: "the next thing we knew paperwork started going back and forth sometime in late May and early June and the next thing we knew we were leaving Cuba." With a twinkle in her eye, Mami looked at me and said, "Do you know what day we left Cuba?" We left Cuba on June 13th., 1962." She looked at me and said, “Do you know what day June 13th. is? June 13th. is St. Anthony's feast day."
The next morning, Mami was drinking her dark black coffee and she said to me, "You remember how I told you the story of our leaving Cuba yesterday? Yesterday was June 13th., 1993, 30 years to the day we left Cuba." What a story, eh, ...now you know why I call it "my favorite St. Anthony story."
Thank you to M.K. commenting on The Path Less Taken blog for this amazing St. Anthony story~
It was in the early part of the summer of 1993, I was at home in New Orleans and my Cuban born Mother-In-Law (Mami) and Father-In-Law (Papi) were in town visiting. I was alone in the den sitting next to Mami when I began the conversation. I remember I began by telling Mami how I believed in prayer and I related a story or two of things that had happened in my life and how it seemed to me that my prayers were answered. After telling Mami of my belief, she looked at me and said : "It was in early 1962 and Papi and I were trying to leave Cuba. My oldest 3 children (all teenagers) were able to get out of the country and were at a Catholic home in Miami since the previous October. I knew at the time that I was pregnant with your wife Ani. Castro's government at that time had a policy that they wouldn't let you leave the country if they knew you were pregnant.
One day, it was in late March or early April, when I went to Havana to visit my brother. Upon entering his home I noticed a statue of St. Anthony in the den. When I saw the St. Anthony statue, I immediately started praying ....'St. Anthony, you have to get together with St. Jude and find us a way out of Cuba. We need to leave the country soon before they know I'm pregnant. Please intercede for us and help us get out.' She told me that she prayed fervently for weeks and weeks and nothing happened, but she kept praying. And then: "the next thing we knew paperwork started going back and forth sometime in late May and early June and the next thing we knew we were leaving Cuba." With a twinkle in her eye, Mami looked at me and said, "Do you know what day we left Cuba?" We left Cuba on June 13th., 1962." She looked at me and said, “Do you know what day June 13th. is? June 13th. is St. Anthony's feast day."
The next morning, Mami was drinking her dark black coffee and she said to me, "You remember how I told you the story of our leaving Cuba yesterday? Yesterday was June 13th., 1993, 30 years to the day we left Cuba." What a story, eh, ...now you know why I call it "my favorite St. Anthony story."
Thank you to M.K. commenting on The Path Less Taken blog for this amazing St. Anthony story~
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