Prelude
to a Prayer
THE PRAYER
on the next page is a prayer to St. Jude Thaddeus. Once,
sometime ago, I was fortunate enough to have this given
to me. A small novena card I will cherish always. The prayer
miraculously changed my life. I promised St. Jude, I would
praise him and speak of this. I want to share this. It is
a prayer to be said in a great necessity. It is not to be
taken lightly, it will not make you rich, young, or beautiful...it
will however be a rock when you trod on unsolid ground.
St. Jude will be there for you should you need him.
IT
HAPPENED to be June, my favorite time of year. A series
of events leading to an ending marriage, that finally dissolved
the week before my father would be taken to the hospital,
left me with little strength. Working two jobs then to keep
the house, working 60 to 70 hours a week I ran to the hospital
every chance I could. He was not getting better, it looked
hopeless, and that is how I felt. My concentration was waning,
and no matter how hard I fought, there was that Monday evening
I guess I had had enough. It must have been obvious to Mary,
the wonderful woman with the beautiful Irish brogue, a nurse
and coworker. It was she that gave me the Novena card. With
her arm around my shoulder and tears in both our eyes she
told me to pray with this card for seven days, and if it
could be, on the eighth day my prayer would be answered.
INSTINCTIVELY
I knew, that I couldn't pray for the tangibles, so I
didn't ask for my marriage to work nor for my father to
live, I asked only that if the course of events in my life
were to continue on this road, to please give me the strength
to endure it. In general I have always been a very strong
person, however these two issues combined had set me on
a path that was new and unresolvable to me. I thought, that
I'd not have the strength, as I felt truly as if I was going
to totally fall apart.
I
PRAYED the prayer faithfully although not clearly. I
couldn't get through it once without being dissolved into
a sobbing wreck. But I prayed, fervently, each night, and
I believed. And I believed and I wanted to believe. A question,
a hope but I did believe. Somehow I felt a connection.
I AWOKE on the eighth day, knowing that it was truly
a miracle. The knot that had been in my stomach for weeks,
the "butterflies" I could not get accustomed to living with
were gone. I was new, and I was me, I was strong again,
and I had acceptance. I understood. I was amazed and grateful.
What a wonderful thing, just to have my life back again.
Just to know that I would be strong enough to deal with
all I had to face.
I
DON'T know if I can explain here the horror of the way
I felt before the prayer. I was, I know so devastated by sorrow
that I thought at times I just wouldn't make it through. I
can still remember the feeling of relief the day I woke. There
was serenity, there was clarity and I knew from that day on,
it would somehow be all right. That no matter what happened,
I would make it through it.
IT
IS not my way to share my deepest feelings with strangers.
You are all strangers when you come here, I hope friends
when you leave. However, I felt, if the miracles presented
here can help one person, it will be the best I can do.
If we look to change our lives in impossible ways, by impossible
means we will end up sad and bitter, but if we can accept
the hand that's dealt us and live with strength and faith
then we will be happy.
THUS
I share this prayer with you. I hope that you will not
need it but life can seem unkind to all of us at one time
or another. This is a prayer to be said in great necessity,
not to be taken lightly. It will not bring you earthly riches..but
if needed it will bring you miracles.
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