Monday was the feast day of St. Anthony of Padua, a Portugese Franciscan friar who died at the age of 35 in the year 1231 in Padua, Italy.  He was a holy priest, loved by everyone and known for his preaching, knowledge of scripture, and care of the sick and homeless.  He was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in less than a year after his death.  He is considered the patron saint for the recovery of lost and stolen Items.  

Yesterday I decided to invoke his assistance.

There’s been some strange and mysterious stuff going on around my house lately.  Too many things have come up missing.  I don’t understand it and I can’t explain it but something’s going on.  I need St. Anthony’s help.

Monday night we had a tremendous storm roll through our area with intense lightning, heavy rain, and unbelievably strong straight-line winds.  It only lasted a half hour or so but it knocked out our power and downed one large maple tree and broke two others in half.  I do not own a generator so we ate dinner by candlelight and then went to bed when it got dark.  

We awoke yesterday morning with still no power.  I wanted to reach out to friends to see how they fared but my cell phone was almost dead and, with no power, I had no way to recharge it.  So, I went to my vehicle to plug my phone into the car charger but it was nowhere to be found.  I have an identical charger in my wife’s car so I went to plug it in there.  Again, no car phone charger.  Both gone.  An hour later I picked one up for $30.00 at a department store which fortunately had power.

Monday, I was sanding down a table top in preparation for refinishing.  There was a small crack in the oak top which needed filling with a little wood putty.  I went to my storage cabinet where I thought I had a tube of putty purchased last year for another project but it was nowhere in sight.  I’d used a quarter teaspoon of putty out of that tube and now it’s gone.  Six dollars later I had a new tube.

Last week I lost two pair of reading glasses.  I have searched every room in the house and garage to no avail.  I have (had) about six pair laying around but these two were my favorites.  

The week before I lost a fairly new pair of sun glasses.  They were in my truck and I moved them to my wife’s car and now they’re in neither place.  Gone.

That same week I lost a spoon and fork that belonged to a friend who left them at my house.  One day I had them and was going to take them to his house but something else came up and I didn’t get to deliver them.  The next day when I went to take them to him, they were gone.

A few days before that I changed the oil in my truck.  I have a long-nozzle funnel which I need to add new engine oil.  I use it for this one purpose only and keep it with the other items I need for changing oil but it, also, had disappeared.  

I don’t know what’s going on but it’s getting frustrating.  I don’t have any children at home to hide my stuff, and nobody’s asked to borrow anything.  Maybe I’m losing it?  As you read this, does it sound like I’m getting feeble minded?  Is forgetting where one puts things the first phase of dementia?  I’m at my wit’s end.  It’s time to invoke St. Anthony.

“O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and Charity for His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers. Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me the return of the above mentioned items. O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who loved to be folded in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever be yours. Amen.”

(St. Anthony of Padua – Patron Saint for the Recovery of Lost and Stolen Items was first published on the blog Reflections of a Lay Catholic)

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