a tale of two cities, one saint and a couple of flops

These are the Reefs I told you about a couple of days ago.

First, read what I learned about St. Anthony online:

This prayer to St. Anthony asks for help in finding missing items:

"Saint Anthony, perfect imitator of Jesus, who received from God the special power of restoring lost things, grant that I may find (mention your petition) which has been lost. As least restore to me peace and tranquility of mind, the loss of which has afflicted me even more than my material loss.

To this favor I ask another of you: that I may always remain in possession of the true good that is God. Let me rather lose all things than lose God, my supreme good. Let me never suffer the loss of my greatest treasure, eternal life with God. Amen."

Here’s another good prayer:

"Wondrous Saint Anthony, glorious for the fame of your miracles, you had the happiness of receiving in your arms our blessed Lord as a little child. Obtain for me from His mercy this favor that I desire from the bottom of my heart: (mention your request)

Since you were so gracious to poor sinners, do not regard the lack of merit on the part of him who calls upon you, but consider the glory of God, which will by exalted once more through you, by the salvation of my soul and the granting of the petition that I now earnestly present to you.

As a pledge of my gratitude, I beg you to accept my promise to live henceforth more faithfully according to the teaching of the Gospel and to be devoted to the service of the poor whom you ever loved and still love so much. Bless this my resolution and obtain for me the grace to be faithful to it till death. Amen."

Now, here is the tale:

I spent this last weekend with my family across the state in St. Petersburg. I am super lucky to be the support crew for two fantastic triathletes: my son and my husband. Both were competing in events at The St. Anthony's Triathlon. It was an amazing weekend of time with friends, neighbors and teammates (which included not one but TWO flat bicycle tires in one day for my two guys) and lots and lots of prayers and Grace. In fact, the "Become Your Dream" chalk drawing pictured here on my blog was found on Saturday morning on the way to the swim venue for our son. It is now my new iPhone screen saver.

Shortly after I posted my "Shadow Walk" blog story about the black flip flops that I felt we needed to return, I found Scott preparing to pack the Reefs for our weekend away. When I started laughing at the sight of this, I learned from him that he had not yet read my blog post from that day. He said he thought he just might wear the Reefs to the swim start for the walk from the hotel on Sunday and just leave them for someone else to enjoy.

Hmmm.....

The next morning I was brushing my teeth when I thought I remembered learning many years ago from an old patient that St. Anthony was known as the Patron Saint of Lost Items. This sweet lady even went so far as to give me a prayer card because I seemed to be losing so many things at that point in my life.

I looked for that card, but unfortunately, I had lost it. So, I ran to the computer, Googled a bit and learned that I was actually correct about St. Anthony.

That's when I told Scott I thought it just might be OK to leave the shoes in St. Petersburg after all...

We prayed a lot this weekend as a family, but not anything specific like the prayers listed here. Extreme tests of mind, body and soul tend to force us to our knees. I have just included these prayers here today because I really like them, and I especially love their message of brokeness and surrender.

Anyway, Scott wound up having the most incredible race of his life, but that is his own story to tell when he is ready to share it.

The End.