All Together Now
Catholics have Jesus and the Saints. Jews don’t have saints, and most don’t write the name of G-d. Twelve steppers have a Higher Power which some of us choose to call God.
Thursday night on my way to my Thursday Night Men’s Group, I was having dinner with a friend, Ben, when I got another text from my daughter: The diamond fell out of my engagement ring today! I have no idea where it happened! Sigh. It’s one of those moments where a father doesn’t know what to say, so I texted, I love you … I know that doesn’t help much at the moment but I do. Then I went off to my meeting … the topic was Being Happy Anyway. It helped. After the meeting, I was talking with another friend, Phil, who suggested that I pray to St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost things. My Mom used to pray a lot to St. Anthony and to St. Jude, the patron saint of hopeless causes. Being a retired Catholic, I didn’t pray to St. Anthony but knowing Phil, he did. I did ask my Higher Power to please help her find the diamond, but I also spent hours online looking at how homeowner’s insurance handles diamond loss and cost of replacements (as the Arab proverb says, Trust God but tie your camel to a tree). Last night, Muri received one of those annoying chain letters containing a Segulot, loosely defined in mystical Jewish tradition as a spiritual remedy: G-D our Father, walk through my house & take away all my worries and illness and please watch over & heal my family … Amen. She passed the chain letter along and repeated the Segolot when she got our daughter’s text.
This morning we got this text with picture from our daughter:
Guess what I found !!!
It was in the bottom of her purse. Did G-d put it there? Jesus? St. Anthony? My Higher Power? Nah. It fell off when she reached for something. But it could have fallen off anywhere. I have no idea how it all works, but maybe when we pray All Together Now, nice things sometimes happen … which keeps us hopeful through those times when nice things don’t. Hope is worth praying for. What do you think?
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Older Eyes 
September 4, 2011 at 7:40 am
I have mixed thoughts and feelings on the whole issue. I do however, have a segulot on my refrig that I say whenever I misplace something. I find the lost object within minutes every time minus once. I say Tehillim for sick folk, and my friends pray, and sometimes people do get well and other times not. But who’se to say what “well” is for the person in question? or what the best answer is for the prayer being prayed? Maybe spiritual and psychological peace is the healing that is called for. . .who knows, but I do it anyway. You have once again written a provocative post, one that makes us think.
September 6, 2011 at 8:46 pm
I’m very much the same way. I pray every day, ask for help for people I know, but in the end, I pray for knowledge of God’s will for me and the power to carry it out. That usually ends up meaning doing the best I can with what comes along
September 4, 2011 at 7:58 am
Hope, both for ourselves and others, is definitely worth praying for. http://humanityhealing.net/2008/02/hope-is-a-gift-from-the-spirit/
Much Metta,
HH Team
September 6, 2011 at 8:47 pm
Beautiful video and sentiment. Thank you. And thank you for your excellent post on Segulot.
September 4, 2011 at 8:20 am
You never know — He might not have put it there, but maybe He made sure it fell off while her hand was in her purse? I’ve prayed to both of those saints a time or two — I’m a recovering Catholic, too. Nowadays, I don’t belong to any organized religion — I’m Episcopalian.
September 6, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Funny! So was my Dad before my Mom made him convert.
September 4, 2011 at 8:58 am
I lost a diamond earring…didn’t pray to St.Anthony…maybe why I never found it!
September 6, 2011 at 8:49 pm
Maybe. But I wouldn’t bet on it 🙂
September 4, 2011 at 9:36 am
I just think God (or St. Anthony… ) is kind enough to point out the location of a lost item if we stop to ask for help and it’s in a place where it can be found.
As for assistance with other issues, considering free will and the fact that God doesn’t cause pain and suffering, nor do I necessarily think he intervenes to prevent it, I’m never quite sure about when asking for help is okay…
Faith can be very confusing at times…
September 6, 2011 at 8:51 pm
I think asking for help is always OK, but being open to whatever happens is crucial … that is, acceptance. I have no idea how it works.
September 4, 2011 at 10:00 am
Personally, I do believe in the power of prayer but mainly, I pray for strength, peace of mind, for God to stay beside family, friends, others who are ill, having a bad time, etc. I figure that way I cover my bases -sort of. A cousin of mine calls this “praying for God’s Will to be done” but not necessarily my will, especially when praying for someone who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. So many people pray for a specific thing -like total healing of a terminal illness and then, if the person isn’t healed, they blame God, say prayer helps no one, God doesn’t exist then, etc. And we all know -or should -that we don’t always get what WE want whether it be a new pair of shoes or a new body or whatever.
September 6, 2011 at 8:52 pm
Often, I think the real power of prayer is that it gives us hope and aids acceptance, both worthwhile whether we get what we want or not.
September 4, 2011 at 10:18 am
I don’t consciously pray anymore, but I have caught myself doing it in my subconscious. Something will be bothering me and I suddenly notice myself saying, “God….” I think I’m hardwired to pray with all those Methodist preachers in my family.
When I was a child, teenager and young person, I used to pray fervently for events to happen. At that time I hadn’t heard the old warning, “Be careful what you pray for, it just might happen.” I don’t know about the power of prayer or personal power, but some of my prayers came true!
For instance, I prayed for a broken leg (to get lots of attention and presents), like my friend across the street did while sledding. Voilà! I fell off my bike and severely broke my leg–much worse than my friend’s accident. I was on crutches, walking cast, etc. etc. for months afterwards. Oh, I got attention and lots of pain too.
There are other more personal incidents of specific prayers that came true (unfortunately) and many that didn’t, until I learned to do positive affirmations. Still, a little piece of me does believe that sending a request into the unknown yields results.
September 6, 2011 at 9:02 pm
I have very mixed feelings as well but I pray almost every day, often for acceptance and strength rather than specific outcomes. Life seems better even though I can’t be sure how it works.
September 7, 2011 at 12:06 pm
I do believe prayer is a powerful thing. So powerful that even diamonds can be be found that never would have been otherwise.
Thanks for sharing that story.