"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me." Psalm 1:15
"We do not adore, worship, or pray to the saints in heaven." PCUSA Book of Confession, Second Helvetic Confession 5.025
"Please St. Anthony, TELL GOD I NEED MY KEYS!" George Carlin
I lost my keys the other day...and I was truly stuck!
I was at the church office, and I was about to leave. I had worked hard and it was time to go home. But I could not find my keys. I looked everywhere for them, including going outside to see if I had dropped them there (which was impossible...or else, how did I get into the office?). I was growing desperate. I finally phoned my son and asked him if he could come and get me. I had a second set of keys at home (20 miles away), but it was the best I could do.
At this point, my old Catholic training started to creep in, and I wondered if I should pray to St. Anthony.
Any Catholic raised before the 1960's knew all about St. Anthony. He was the saint you prayed to if you lost something. And when you did, you were also supposed to say the little prayer that is listed in the picture above. And sometimes it worked!
Or it seemed to...
Today, to my Presbyterian way of thinking, perhaps faith is a better way of doing things. I agree with the great reformers - we don't need anyone to intercede on our behalf. We can pray directly to Jesus himself and he will hear our prayers. As for finding those lost things, perhaps in that little prayer, we calmed ourselves a little and were able to see more clearly.
And yes, I did find my keys before my son left his house to come and rescue me. They were stuck in a drawer's lock that can sometimes be a little tricky; I was jiggling the key when the phone rang, and I forgot about them.
I just needed to calm down a little and see them.
I also asked Jesus for help.
And I giggled occasionally when I remembered my favorite comedian, George Carlin, saying, "Please St. Anthony TELL GOD I NEED MY KEYS!"
Amen!
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