Sunday, June 14, 2015

St Anthony's Day

I'm going to tell you the story I heard when I went to the church yesterday. I haven't gone to church for ages, and yesterday I happened to pass the church and saw a lot of people coming into the church. So I went in.

After the Eucharist, the father told us that yesterday was St Anthony's day, and told us this story:
"St Anthony is the one we pray to for the recovery of lost items (I just knew this btw). I'm sure you heard a lot of great story about how St Anthony's helped a lot of people in recovering their lost items. However, this is the most spectacular one. "

"This happened to me 20 years ago when I was a young priest in Wollstonescraft. I had this bunch of keys, church key, car key, basically everything together. Before the mass, I put these keys on the bench. When I came back to retrieve them, they were gone!!! And do you know what I did once I found out they were not there?? Pray to St Anthony?? NO!!! Just like any other person, I PANICKED!!! Yes I panicked!!! Where are the keys??? Where are the keys??? I went everywhere trying to find them."

"Then, a lady who helped in the church when she found out that I've lost all the keys, she asked me, 'Have you prayed to St Anthony, Father?'. 'Have I prayed to St Anthony? Of course not!! Why would I pray to St Anthony??? I haven't got time to pray!! I have to find my keys!!!!!' Then the lady said, 'Father, I'm going to go inside and pray to St Anthony for the recovery of your keys'. I said to her, 'Fine, fine, if you'd like to do that, thank you', and then I kept on searching. "

"After she left, I had this sudden urge to go inside the little room. You know, the one the Queen refers to when she needs to go to the toilet (LOL!). So I went in, and do you know what I found at the bottom of the bowl???!! The keys!!!!!!!!! I then gingerly retrieved those keys, washed, and from then on, I will never ever doubt St Anthony again!!"