St. Anthony, St. Anthony...

Please look around! Something is lost that needs to be found.

How's that for a quick and easy intercession? It's also one of my personal favorites. Why? Well, for one St. Anthony has helped me and others find all kinds of things. From car keys to flash drives, weddings bands, and books I need to return to the library.

I had a St. Anthony moment last night. My graduation present from my parents, a silver and sapphires work of art that I absolutely love. I took it off to wash my hands, slipped into the hoodie pocket I was wearing and forgot to put it back on. Later, I changed said hoodie.

Needless to say, later that night I had a major panic; my ring was not on my finger nor was it in the original sweatshirt. After scouring the kitchen, living room, and my car, I called WalMart to make sure it hadn't fallen out of the pocket while pumpkin shopping. The entire time I was on hold, waiting for them to tell me whether or not it was in the lost and found, I was muttering the St. Anthony prayer.

"St. Anthony, St. Anthony please look around, something is lost that needs to be found!"

My roommate watched, amused by my praying but I knew better. This always worked for me.

"Sorry miss, we only have a gold ring in the lost and found."

Well, shoot. My ring has to be here somewhere. I decided to check my room and the kitchen one more time. Under the cabinets and fridge, around my bed and under my dresser. Under my bed, moving boxes around with my phone acting as flashlight...

And there it was, in the middle of floor beneath my bed was my ring. And I am being completely honest when I say I highly doubt that the ring had just bounced there when I took off my hoodie, because it would have had to clear a box, a bag, and a few random socks. But that St. Anthony, he's a tricky one.

Saints are tricky like that too. We don't pray to them, we pray through them. They all have their special niches that they just relate to incredibly well. Patrons of jobs, illnesses, situations, and occurrences, they all have unique life stories that make them more relative to us as humans than that omnipotent, impossible to understand being who Loves us more than humanly possible.

Intercessions are for saints, prayers are for God. It's that simple. After all, a saint is merely a sinner who kept trying for God. They are role models, people to admire and learn from, they are not idols or smaller gods that Catholics "worship". They're kind of like the big brother or sister you learn from, and ask for help because they seem to "get it" better than your parents.

Next time you've lost something, instead of freaking out or giving up, retrace your steps all while whispering, truly believing he ask God to help you, "St. Anthony, St. Anthony..."

Totus Tuus,

LeAnn

P.S. I have friend whose grandmother recently had a small stroke, if you could send some prayers for her grandmother we would both greatly appreciate it.