Twenty Fourth Sunday

We all have our stories of lost articles. There is always some drama and tension in the period of loss and retrieval.  Some things are given up on – and there is no hope that they will ever be found again.

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who lost her engagement ring in her car – 2 and a half years later, after two cleanings and stripping down and searches of the car, it was eventually found after a mechanic who was an expert on that make of car – rooted around under the back seat and the boot with a coat hanger and retrieved the ring.  The car was about to be traded in and the ladies husband asked one last time – my ring is in that car! After several transactions with St Anthony – she knew it could be found that it was there somewhere.

To lose one’s passport, or wallet or luggage when travelling, to leave something of value after you on a seat  - kicking oneself that you could be clumsy and careless – frustrated at questions like where did you leave it? Where did you lose it? If I knew that I wouldn’t be having this conversation!

I am absent minded and forget things – I leave things alter me in an unfamiliar setting – I have left behind my passport at home and discovered only at Dublin airport it was in Cork , I dropped my wallet another airport and it was retrieved but only after I was issued a temporary one to get home from the States.

Now my friends I travel with tease me – as long as you bring yourself and your passport we will worry about everything else after that

Through a misunderstanding I left my luggage at a hotel once and had a very expensive taxi journey to bring it to the airport –

I have a red face more often than I would like to recall

Thank God there have been happy reunions with my property – be it car keys, plane tickets, a wallet or something of sentimental value - I could write a book. Embarrassing!

It came as a big surprise to the organisers of St Anthony’s relics a couple of years ago the level of devotion to him in Cork – St Francis was the place to go for students in UCC and the nursing hospitals for exam success

I know of a couple who each prayed to find the right partner in life and found each other during the novena to St Anthony

I know of someone who found a permanent job and I know of another person who finally sold her house after several failed attempts –on June 13^th.

Speaking of rings-

From time to time believe it or not a girl will ask me to officiate at her wedding – there are still three eligible ladies out there somewhere - if you are single and available - who I am lighting candles for whose wedding I am booked for but who are still in search of a husband.

Once I said to a girl - who had a great devotion to St Anthony - in a moment of inspiration maybe you know him already and he is in front or you – actually he was behind her – in their martial arts class!

Losing and finding is one thing when it concerns things of value – it is another matter when we have lost a person who is dear to us –and I do not mean through bereavement. There is no parent here who I wager has not been thinking of their child or children since they got up this morning - worried anxious and fearful for their health career or studies, grandchildren and so on. And yet there is likely to be at least one person here who is at odds with someone who was once dear to them – not on speaking terms, or who because of a drink drug or other lifestyle problem – they are estranged – they may be living near or far. I remember a heartbreaking account of a grandmother whose widowed son in law wouldn’t allow her to seethe grandchildren any more.

We pray for the prodigals in our families – those we are waiting for – it may take years – of lit candles, of prayer and sacrifice of them to begin to mend their ways- the best advice I was given for an estranged member of a family was keep the lines of communication open from the moment their eyes open to when your eyes finally close in death they are your children.

 If you care for them how much more does God the Father care for them!