Praying to St. Anthony

Sometimes, the strangest (or should I call it "strange"?) things happen in life.

We were desperate.  My 90 year old mother in law had been rushed to the emergency room (they call it the ED, or Emergency Department) at 1:30 am on Friday in breathing distress.  No one is thinking straight at 1:30 am, I can assure you.  All we knew is that my mother in law's glasses, and another item that was valuable to her well being, had gone to the ED with her.  Then, a nurse had put them into a hazardous waste bag (why? because there was no other bag available).

And then they had vanished.

Family members spent the next couple of days trying to look for the items, even notifying hospital security and the nurses at the front desk of the unit she is in.  They looked and looked.  Nothing.

Today, Sunday, was Sacred Sites Sunday in New York State, where various houses of worship open their doors for several hours and hold open houses.  In our area were a synagogue, a mosque, and a number of Christian churches of various denominations.

I am not Catholic, but my mother in law is. 

I woke up this morning with a vague memory, of what Catholics sometimes do when something is lost and can't be found.  I did an online search and I found it.  Pray to St. Anthony.

I was going to several church open houses anyway.  When we visited my mother in law (who doesn't see well, and these glasses were so important to her well being) we mentioned St. Anthony and right away she said yes, please pray to him. (I also contacted asked the hospital, which is a Catholic hospital, if they could get someone to pray with my mother in law for the return of these objects.

St. Mary of the Assumption Church Binghamton, New York

As it happens, at this church, we talked to a church historian for this and another area church - St. Anthony's (which wasn't open for the open house).  And, in comparing notes, we discovered her husband used to work with my brother in law - in fact they were born one day apart.  So, well, I had prayed already to St. Anthony, but what harm would a reminder prayer do?

We left the church about 4pm.



Well, about 5pm, we got a phone call from the hospital.

They had found her missing items.

You could have knocked this Jewish gal from the Bronx over with a feather, as the old saying goes.