Saint Jude-- A powerful Intercessor!!

On October 28, we celebrate the feast of Saints Simon and Jude, although this year the feast falls on a Sunday. Saint Jude is the patron of Hope, of things almost despaired of, difficult situations.

Saint Jude Thaddeus was one of the twelve Apostles, the brother of James the Less, and a cousin of Jesus. He preached in Mesopotamia, Libya and Persia with St. Simon where they made many converts. Both were martyred.

Saint Jude is often pictured holding an image of Jesus, the Holy Mandylion of Jesus, the Image of Edessa. King Abagar of Edessa had leprosy and asked Jesus to cure him. He sent an artist to bring him a drawing of the great healer. Jesus was so impressed with the king’s faith that he pressed his face on the cloth and left his image on it. St. Jude then took the cloth to the king and he was cured.

More information on St. Jude can be found HERE.

There have been periods in the history of the church when devotion to St. Jude has waned. Some think this may be because of the similarity of his name to that of the Lord’s betrayer. Even John in his Gospel identifies Jude as “not the Iscariot.” But it seems that God specifically wanted his cousin Jude to be called upon as an intercessor. In visions, both St. Bernard and St. Bridget of Sweden were asked by God to accept St. Jude as the Patron Saint of the Impossible. To Saint Bridget he said, “In accordance with his surname, Thaddeus, the amiable or loving, he will show himself willing to help.” The Lord himself has recommended St. Jude as an intercessor!!!

Has he ever shown himself willing to help.

 Those who ask for his intercession often see miracles.

From my own personal experience I believe he is also a saint with a sense of humor. My husband and I once owned a sailboat that we kept at a marina about an hour from our home. At one point we decided we really needed to sell it. After listing it for some time with no success at all, we decided to ask Saint Jude for help. About a week later a stranger came to our door and asked if we were interested in selling our boat. I looked at him puzzled because the sailboat was not listed locally. How could this man know we had a sailboat for sale? I said, “Our boat?” He said, “Yes, the canoe on the side of your house.” I said, “Oh! Well, I’ll ask my husband. He might want to sell it.”

After closing the door I laughed and looked heavenward. “Saint Jude, I meant the sailboat!” Then I realized Saint Jude knew we meant the sailboat. I felt he was telling me to hold on, that he was working on it. Shortly after selling the canoe, we also sold the sailboat. Thank you, Saint Jude.

How often Saint Jude has helped me. Imagine my delight upon learning that two of my children wanted to name children after Saint Jude. One already has and there may be another!

Baby Jude!

My aunt was extremely devoted to Saint Jude and regularly asked for his intercession. On one occasion her son had been unable to study properly for an important test in high school. My aunt prayed that something would happen to postpone the test. When her son returned home she asked him how the test went. He said that the teacher had fallen ill and the test was postponed. My aunt started laughing and confessed to having appealed to Saint Jude. My cousin was somewhat aghast. “Mom! You have to be careful when you ask Saint Jude for something. I didn’t want the teacher to get sick!”

We had a neighbor who also loved Saint Jude. She told my mom that there was a very real possibility that her husband was going to be transferred to a Muslim country where there were no churches, no Eucharistic Presence. She was a very devout Catholic and horrified at the thought of living without the Presence of the Eucharistic Lord. She appealed to Saint Jude. Not only did her husband not get the position that would have required such a move, he actually lost his job completely.

If you appeal to Saint Jude, know that he may do whatever it takes to answer your prayer!

A novena to Saint Jude could be started on October 19 and conclude on October 27, the day before his feast day. EWTN provides a novena prayer HERE.

Or you could use this simple prayer:

https://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/novena/jude.htm

Do you have a Saint Jude story?

Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer

I saw the movie Gosnell on Friday.

I remember the Gosnell case very well. It was not being covered on regular news, but pro-life news sources were covering it extensively. So when I saw on Twitter a call for a Twitter storm holding the media accountable for ignoring the story, I made a mental note of the time suggested. Pro-lifers were to storm Twitter at a given hour asking why the media was ignoring the trial. Why the media blackout, why were they turning a blind eye to such an important story.

The Twitter storm worked. For that hour, the hashtag "Gosnell" started trending and even climbed pretty high on the list. That night, to his credit, Anderson Cooper spent 15 minutes on the Gosnell story.. He gave it decent coverage. You can view it below.

The following day what had previously been empty reserved media seats in the courtroom were all filled. The story continued to be covered until the verdict. It was an example of how ordinary citizens can use social media to hold journalists accountable for biased decisions regarding coverage. It was widely thought that the story was ignored because it reflected badly on the abortion industry.

The film is very powerful. It doesn't lecture. It doesn't preach. It's the story of the legal case against Kermit Gosnell for murder-- he killed numerous babies after they were born in his clinic. He was also convicted of  numerous health violations.

I was grateful that the filmmakers did not make us see too much blood. There were not a lot of gory photos of aborted fetuses. The words describing what Gosnell did were enough. It was chilling, disturbing. They spared the viewer too many horrific details. The descriptions were more than adequate.

At the end, the audience was very quiet, some people not even wanting to move. Yes, this was about an abortionist who broke the law. In fact he broke many laws. But in many ways what was truly exposed was the reality of what happens in an abortion.

You cannot leave this movie without wincing at the reality of abortion.

You can read a thorough review on nationalreview.com HERE.

A Reunion, Thanks to Facebook

On my recent trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula I had the pleasure of getting together with an old college friend of mine who lives up North and whose home was right along the route we were taking.

It was so much fun. Katy came with her husband whom I had met many years ago and they met Mike and me at a coffeeshop.

I don't know how many years it had been since we had seen each other. She didn't know either. Probably at least 30 years, I imagine.

Katy was the person in my dorm who always had the ready smile, the easy laugh. If you saw Katy in the cafeteria you'd think, Cool. I can sit with Katy. (That was when every dorm at MSU had its own cafeteria and we would eat with our friends. It was great for forming a sense of community. We ate together!)

We caught up on the news of old friends and laughed about old times. Sad to say, a few of our old friends had passed away. Sobering news.

Without Facebook I would not have known where Katy was. We also would not have known anything about our old college friends. Katy had found many of them simply by searching Facebook. For all its flaws, for all the criticism we give it, Facebook does help people to stay in touch. I have many friends with whom I might have lost contact completely were it not for Facebook.

So Katy is my new long lost friend. :-) It was great to see her smiling face again!

The Ann Arbor Hands On Museum

 I had the pleasure recently of going with my daughter and two of my grandsons to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. I have been there before, of course, when my own children were young, and it was fun then. But NOW, now it has advanced to a whole new level!

There is climbing equipment for little ones, appropriately sized and challenging.

There is a little fire truck to sit in, complete with costumes and hats...

 For kids of all ages there are giant foam blocks for building...

There is an actual ambulance with its lights flashing for kids to climb inside. In the back non-bloody videos are playing of people being rescued from accidents and put in ambulances...

Kids can sit in the front and drive!

And there are lots of activities with balls. Climbing apparatuses where children can go up steps that follow along tracks where plastic balls are pushed by air pressure. The balls can be grabbed and placed where they will ascend through a vacuum and lots of other fun activities to do with balls. Above my grandson is delighting in the air keeping the balloon afloat.

Water play activities, experiments with sound, investigating GPS technology...And when I went into the ladies room there was a sign that explained the origins of toilet paper. Adults will even learn things here!

Please go to their website HERE. We didn't see anywhere near the whole thing. Check it out! A family membership could make a great Christmas gift for children! And a family membership includes grandparents! Woohoo. Great place to take the grandchildren!