I hope this letter finds you well as we move toward the home stretch of the winter season. A friend of mine said something very intriguing the other day:
It reminded me of a story – something that happened to a friend a little more than a year ago. I got an urgent text from Betsy that her husband was rushed to the hospital. One minute Richard was playing video games with their three young children, the next minute he collapsed on the living room floor. Betsy said he was walking strangely and slurring his words, and not making sense. But she thought nothing of it, figuring he was just being silly with the kids. When EMS arrived, they told her Richard had a stroke. He was breathing, but unconscious.
Betsy was in the ER waiting area, alone and crying. She asked me to administer last rites to Richard. I suggested that we go to the hospital chapel to pray. Betsy found a St. Anthony prayer card on one of the benches that someone must have left behind, maybe intentionally.
We were praying to the Great Miracle-Worker Saint when a nurse interrupted and led us to the ER with a sense of urgency. The doctor didn’t sugarcoat Richard’s prognosis: he was unconscious, unable to breathe on his own, and if he regained consciousness, the stroke caused significant damage. It was unlikely he would speak and walk. They were moving him to the ICU.
Betsy held vigil at her husband’s bedside. I visited one day and found her asleep in a recliner, clutching the St. Anthony prayer card she had found in the chapel. I asked Betsy to join me in prayer for the First Tuesday Novena to St. Anthony and gave her a prayer booklet.
I prayed the Second and Third Tuesdays of the Thirteen Tuesdays Novena with Betsy and the group. Some hospital staff even joined us. One day, I received a text from Betsy:
“Father David, we need you at the hospital. RIGHT AWAY. PLEASE.”
I arrived at the ICU, but Richard’s bed was empty. No sign of Betsy either. I wondered, was I too late? Did he pass? Then a nurse led me to a third-floor room and nothing short of a miracle had occurred.
Richard was sitting up, eating Jell-O and sipping cranberry juice in a room filled with laughter and thanksgiving. Betsy ran over and hugged me, and through tears of joy, said,
Those intriguing words at the beginning of this letter – they were spoken by Betsy. Not a day goes by without her praying hard to St. Anthony and thanking him for his miracles and blessings – even at the risk of exhausting him.
Those intriguing words at the beginning of this letter – they were spoken by Betsy. Not a day goes by without her praying hard to St. Anthony and thanking him for his miracles and blessings – even at the risk of exhausting him.
Your generous gift in honor of St. Anthony will help the Franciscan Friars continue to serve God’s poor whom this Great Saint of Padua loved so deeply. The friars are serving children, women and men who have very little in their lives. Your gift in honor of St. Anthony will help us buy food, baby formula and diapers, and it will help us provide medical assistance for the poor and desperate who come to our Franciscan doorstep each day.
The tradition of the Thirteen Tuesdays is a very powerful prayer devotion to St. Anthony that began as a way to acknowledge the many miracles that took place on the Tuesday following his death on June 13, 1231. After Pope Gregory declared him a saint less than a year after his death, Christians prepared for the Feast of St. Anthony in prayer and novenas on each of the Thirteen Tuesdays preceding June 13th.
Let us together express our gratitude for St. Anthony’s divine help and for his kindness and compassion by praying this Thirteen Tuesdays Novena. The Novena this year will be celebrated at St. Anthony Friary, in Butler, NJ. Join the Friars in continuing this centuries-old tradition of prayer and devotion to St. Anthony as we start our Thirteen Tuesdays Novena on Tuesday, March 19th, and every Tuesday thereafter leading to his Great Feast Day on June 13th. The thousands of members of our St. Anthony’s Guild Family and our more than 700 Franciscan Friars across the country will be praying with you and for you in this great devotion of the Thirteen Tuesdays Novena to our Beloved St. Anthony.
Executive Director,
St. Anthony's Guild
