Y
yellowbicycle
Guest
My husband has some wacky views about the afterlife, God, and scripture. But God just won’t give up on him. And sometimes, I think He’ll need to drop an anvil from heaven to get my husband to pay attention.
My husband’s knowledge of Catholic faith is minimal (don’t worry peeps, I’m working on it).
However, the stories of Saint Francis of Assisi’s kinship with animals are well-known, even to lay people, and due to my husband’s great love for creatures great and small, he has a particular affinity for Saint Francis.
So, he picked out a Saint Francis medal online.
We received the medal and there was Saint Anthony on the back of the medal. He didn’t notice, and I thought nothing of it myself.
Yesterday, we were talking and he’s fidgeting with his medal and he says to me ‘Sometimes, I just feel like such a lost soul. I’ve been saying it for years, now, haven’t I? That I’m a lost soul.’
‘Funny you mention that while you’re fidgeting with that medal’ I said and flipped it over for him. ‘Know who that is?’
He shook his head no.
‘It’s Saint Anthony’ I said ‘He’s the patron saint of lost souls. Interesting how you think of yourself as a lost soul, and all this time, the patron saint of lost souls has been with you.’
He was unmoved.
Shortly before Christmas, he received a card with a $10 gift certificate from the head of the Catholic university he teaches biology classes at on the weekend. My husband was touched by the gesture. At his full-time weekday job, at a HUGE and very rich university, he got all of zilch, nuthin and zip. But, at this little local college, where he teaches part-time, he got a gift. He decided to write the head of the university to thank her. It was only then that he discovered that the head of this Catholic university is none other than a nun, a FRANCISCAN nun.
Huh.
Funny how all this time he’s had an affinity for Saint Francis and here he is, employed by a Franciscan run university and thanking a Franciscan nun for her $10 gift at the local coney place.
Despite teaching at one university and researching at another, he STILL believes his career in science is a dud. We won’t get into that here, but suffice to say, he often laments that his career in science is a lost cause and that he would have gotten more fulfillment from being a janitor.
And just the other day, he gets a fellowship grant from some foundation. This pepped him up significantly , enough so that he said ‘Maybe this science this isn’t a lost cause after all’ It was only after he received the grant that he did research on the foundation. And lo and behold, the foundation’s funding source is none other than Saint Jude Hospital. I laughed again. ‘Man these saints just keep popping up everywhere’
‘So my grant is from Saint Jude hospital. So what?’
‘You do know what Saint Jude is the patron saint of, don’t you?’
‘What,’ he said ‘lost causes?’ and laughed.
‘Yes’ I said, ‘lost causes’.
I could also mention the MANY times that he has made completely insane requests of God, and they have been granted. he didn’t want to rake the leaves and said ‘Please God, make it snow.’ The next day, sure enough, snow. The weather people didn’t see it coming and the freak snow fall had a radius of like a mile. ‘Please God, make my wife stop the car so we can get White Castle’ Sure enough, ALL of the lights on the dash go off and I pull over in the nearest driveway - a White Castle. By the time he comes back from getting his sliders, all of the lights are off, and the van is running like a champ. I could go on.
I mean, really, God is giving him signs ALL over the place - signs that he needs to COME HOME, and that silly goose just closes his eyes and ears to them.
Argh!
My husband’s knowledge of Catholic faith is minimal (don’t worry peeps, I’m working on it).
However, the stories of Saint Francis of Assisi’s kinship with animals are well-known, even to lay people, and due to my husband’s great love for creatures great and small, he has a particular affinity for Saint Francis.
So, he picked out a Saint Francis medal online.
We received the medal and there was Saint Anthony on the back of the medal. He didn’t notice, and I thought nothing of it myself.
Yesterday, we were talking and he’s fidgeting with his medal and he says to me ‘Sometimes, I just feel like such a lost soul. I’ve been saying it for years, now, haven’t I? That I’m a lost soul.’
‘Funny you mention that while you’re fidgeting with that medal’ I said and flipped it over for him. ‘Know who that is?’
He shook his head no.
‘It’s Saint Anthony’ I said ‘He’s the patron saint of lost souls. Interesting how you think of yourself as a lost soul, and all this time, the patron saint of lost souls has been with you.’
He was unmoved.
Shortly before Christmas, he received a card with a $10 gift certificate from the head of the Catholic university he teaches biology classes at on the weekend. My husband was touched by the gesture. At his full-time weekday job, at a HUGE and very rich university, he got all of zilch, nuthin and zip. But, at this little local college, where he teaches part-time, he got a gift. He decided to write the head of the university to thank her. It was only then that he discovered that the head of this Catholic university is none other than a nun, a FRANCISCAN nun.
Huh.
Funny how all this time he’s had an affinity for Saint Francis and here he is, employed by a Franciscan run university and thanking a Franciscan nun for her $10 gift at the local coney place.
Despite teaching at one university and researching at another, he STILL believes his career in science is a dud. We won’t get into that here, but suffice to say, he often laments that his career in science is a lost cause and that he would have gotten more fulfillment from being a janitor.
And just the other day, he gets a fellowship grant from some foundation. This pepped him up significantly , enough so that he said ‘Maybe this science this isn’t a lost cause after all’ It was only after he received the grant that he did research on the foundation. And lo and behold, the foundation’s funding source is none other than Saint Jude Hospital. I laughed again. ‘Man these saints just keep popping up everywhere’
‘So my grant is from Saint Jude hospital. So what?’
‘You do know what Saint Jude is the patron saint of, don’t you?’
‘What,’ he said ‘lost causes?’ and laughed.
‘Yes’ I said, ‘lost causes’.
I could also mention the MANY times that he has made completely insane requests of God, and they have been granted. he didn’t want to rake the leaves and said ‘Please God, make it snow.’ The next day, sure enough, snow. The weather people didn’t see it coming and the freak snow fall had a radius of like a mile. ‘Please God, make my wife stop the car so we can get White Castle’ Sure enough, ALL of the lights on the dash go off and I pull over in the nearest driveway - a White Castle. By the time he comes back from getting his sliders, all of the lights are off, and the van is running like a champ. I could go on.
I mean, really, God is giving him signs ALL over the place - signs that he needs to COME HOME, and that silly goose just closes his eyes and ears to them.
Argh!
), they surely have served as a witness to you, haven’t they?