Thursday, April 05, 2007

Calling All Catholics


My father suggested having my Catholic readers ask St. Anthony of Padua, the Patron Saint of Lost Items, to see if he could intercede on behalf of the contents of the box the post office destroyed.
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8 comments:

Gino said...

i'll try.
but i think the prayer would be more powerful if it was offered by yourself.
you dont have to be catholic to get the attention of the saints. you just have to believe it is possible.
of course, there is also the full force of us two praying as one.

1:43 PM
Anonymous said...

You are more Catholic than most Catholics, as far as that goes, Andy ...

But I'll try to remember to toss this one into my prayers too. (I have only recently started owning the whole praying-to-the-Saints thing ... still a little awkward at it. Comes of not being raised in a culturally-Catholic household, I suspect.)

"Where two or three are gathered in My Name ... "

God bless :).

9:01 PM
Andy said...

See, this is one of these places where I know I am a natural-born Protestant. I believe in "saints" to the extent that there have been extremely good, extremely wise people who were especially attuned to the divine, prophetic voices of wisdom who continued to speak and write, after the Biblical canon was closed, even unto this day.

And yet, I don't believe they have any kind of special "pull" with God that I don't personally have.

On the other hand, I do have a strong sense that Mary is up there and can hear me, too.

9:12 PM
Anonymous said...

Who would have thought this post would turn funny ;).

Andy, with again the caveat that I am not all Saint-praying myself, so this is all the surface intellectual understanding: the basic concept is that you would feel probably OK asking a friend you perceived to be more in tune with God to pray for you, especially in an area where you were struggling in faith ... The Saints are like officially recognized, very happy to pray for you (they have a lot of time on their hands ;) ), built-in friends (or at least associates) with some known special causes. Joseph, especially sensitive to fathers, families, workers ... not sure how Jude Thaddeus got associated with Lost Causes, but he's pretty good at them ...

I would also point out that The Saints (with a few exceptions, Mary most notably) are usually Just Folks (ie, not such especially "good" people) who got it together and tuned in to God better than the average person. We have all these stained glass window pictures ... but they don't often tell the story (except sometimes in little obscure symbols) of the time before sainthood, the habits that were left behind on the journey ...

Anyhow, also, there is the non-capitalized set of saints ... those folks who're dead but are probably in Heaven (generally after a stint in not-yet-Heaven, which we Catholics gave a namebecause we like having names for things ;), when/where they finished tuning in to God as they didn't in this life) ... Heaven being more a state of Being With God than a place ... personally, I have an easier time with these (a couple of grandparents, that sort of thing ... let me tell you, too, it wasn't for a bunch of years after their death that I "felt" they were in heaven--speaking of taking some time to work through ones issues ;) ).

In theory, when the Church designates A Saint, it isn't so much that that person is SOOOOO much more important ... it is that the Church has evidence (carefully vetted miracles) that that person has in fact arrived in Heaven and is in fact responsive to our asking for intercession and is open to God.

It has to do with our fundamental (designed) interconnectedness ... God created us to be infinitely connected, somehow (I haven't worked out good language for this idea, sorry), and certainly we pray comfortably for each other here in this life, and we believe in the "next" life ...

Anyhow, not so on top of the whole thing, myself, but I've seen it work ;).


Speaking of which, you should, if you haven't, get your ass down to the WH post office and fill in whatever claim paperwork they offer ... perhaps there is a rebellious post office worker (like I would be) who saw the stack of spilled manuscripts and slipped them into their bag to take home before the official recyclers swept them up to dispose of ... water cooler conversation ("you'd never believe what THIS guy thinks we bothered keeping!") may trigger a return ... but you'd have to give that person SOME clue.

"Trust Allah, but tie your camel tightly."

Love,
K :).

1:26 PM
Andy said...

KR: ah, now I have better insight into the whole "saint" thing. I like the idea of "friends," I can live with that. Another reminder that you should not have Catholicism explained to you by a fundamentalist Baptist. Sigh. Thank you. I will sit with that.

My father actually has filled out the whole missing item report. I don't know what Jude Thaddeus might have to say about it, but if there truly is such a thing as a "lost cause," then inquiring about a lost package at the 180th Street Post Office definitely qualifies as such. Hence, my father took it upon himself to investigate at the post office in Tigard.

6:49 PM
Anonymous said...

Sorry, can't pray right now. I'm busy being a good altar boy and blowing the priest. I'll attend to your request when he's finished, which at his age might take a while.

11:32 PM
Matthew said...

Andy,

Just out of curiousity, when you mention that Mary is listening, does taht by extension include the concept that she is somehow particularly empowered to do something?

1:57 AM
Andy said...

Good question, Matthew. I honestly don't know.

7:14 AM

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