Friday, January 16, 2009

Good Saint Anthony




Good Saint Anthony
please look around.
something's lost
and can't be found.


The first time I discovered the power of this great saint in finding lost articles was when I lost a key in the grass. I searched for it for three days, getting down on my hands and knees, spreading my fingers though the grass, combing for the key almost blade by blade to no avail. Then, a friend told me about Saint Anthony. She said their dog had been lost, and her mother had prayed a novena to Saint Anthony for his safe return. Three weeks after his disappearance and a few days after the novena ended he turned up, all skin and bones, barely alive, but still recognizable. He was nursed back to health, another example of this great saint's power to return lost items to their owners.


I prayed to Saint Anthony, not a novena, but some other little prayers, then I went to the area where I had lost my key. The sun caught a glint of silver and reflected it in my direction even before I had time to search the ground. It was my key! And it was in the exact same area I had searched meticulously for three days. There was no other possible explanation than the intercession of Saint Anthony. I was a believer.


That was years ago. I still pray to Saint Anthony when I lose items, and he comes through in the most difficult circumstances. Last night, my work partner left our jump kit behind at a call. (A jump kist is the bag of medical supplies we carry with us whenever we exit the ambulance on a call). Without our jump kit we are out of service, and there is a lot of expensive equipment in it. As soon as my work partner alerted me that we had to head back and look for it, I prayed to Saint Anthony that it would be found. (Usually, we never get them back; they became lost inventory when forgotten on scene). We pulled up to the facility where we had picked up our patient, and it was nowhere in sight. Then a voice came over the intercom, asking us if we were looking for our red bag! We had just to come inside and get it. Someone had seen it on the street and brought it inside. This almost never happens.


I could go on about similiar stories where I have had things returned to me in the most unlikely situations, but I would rather hear your stories. You can leave them in the combox below.

4 comments:

Therese said...

My Saint Anthony story is last year at easter some friends came to stay. We went to the beach. Because the children were swimming we pulled Toms insulin pump out. Later that afternoon when Tom checked his sugar level it was really high and I realized we had forgotten to put his pump back in. I freaked out because the pump was not in his bag of supplies. I told all the children to pray to St. Anthony and we went back to the beach. The pump was not there. I was becoming quite concerned by now and thinking we would never find it. I started saying to my friend well St. Anthony must be on holidays or else he doesn't want to help us.

The pump showed up soon after we got home. Tom had put it in his back pack on his back but had forgotten to plug it into the site. My girlfriend said to me well I think you owe St. Anthony an apology.

The funny thing was, I thought where is his back pack because it could be in there but I didn't think to look on his back for his back pack.

Shirley said...

I am praying a novena to St. Anthony for all the members of our family who have fallen away from the Catholic Church to find their faith again.

X said...

St. Anthony was my grandmother's favorite saint and she named by uncle after him. St. Anthony was my first friend in the family of saints. When I was young my mother taught me a little prayer (in Dutch) to him. I still say it today! Currently I am hoping to find a parcel my brother sent me over a month ago from the UK. St. Anthony has his work cut out on this one dealing with Canada Post!

paramedicgirl said...

angela, if anyone can find a parcel that Candada Post lost, it's Saint Anthony!

The night after I wrote this post, we again lost our jump kit, but this time it was my fault. As soon as we got our patient to the hospital, I drove back to look for it, and lo and behold, it was sitting curbside like a bright red beacon waiting to be discovered. I had prayed to Saint Anthony the whole way back to get it, and fortunately for me, it was still there. It's so easy to leave behind because we set it down on the road while we load our patient into the ambulance. Distractions happen, and it gets forgotten. I'm actually going to have a Mass said in honour and thanksgiving for the intercession of the saints.