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SAINTS: THEY COME TO HELP, OFTEN MYSTERIOUSLY
The great untold stories are how frequently saints and angels intervene for us and how little our society acknowledges it. Disbelief (or lukewarm belief) is the tyranny of our time.
Yet intervene they do: We will only know the frequency when we are on the “other side.”
Occasionally, we get glimpses, and we can’t report enough of them.
There are folks who have been saved from suicide by the saints, including the recently named St. Josemarie Escriva. Until recently, few knew of St. Philomena — but her intervention, it seems, is unusually strong. Angels?
“The time was shortly after the big Northridge Earthquake in January 1994,” writes Linda Bergman in Chatsworth, California. “I could regale you with the many miracles that had occurred — the quake was so violent, it’s unbelievable that so many were not killed — but what happened to me was after the earthquake.
“I was driving to work, going East on the Ronald Reagan Freeway. I was a 33-year-old woman, a registered nurse, on my way to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, coming from my battered home in Chatsworth — speeding, as usual, with my head full of thoughts related to the severe damage of my home, and reliving the nightmare of the earthquake.
“This was the first time I had been back on the freeway since the earthquake, as it had just recently been reopened to traffic. Around the exit to Balboa Boulevard there had been extensive damage to the freeway. An entire section had collapsed, and the freeway was undergoing some massive repairs. I wasn’t paying attention, and suddenly I heard a woman’s voice say, ‘Linda, look up,’ and as I did, I was driving directly into a concrete wall that had been erected in the fast lane of the freeway diverting traffic from the construction site!
“If it weren’t for that voice, I would have plowed directly into that wall. The wall was hastily constructed to get people back on the road and it immediately rose and blocked the two left lanes and basically gave you no time. I definitely believe that Someone special was looking after me!”
There are voices. There are mysterious strangers. There is that subtle nudge.
“In the 1980s I was in Shreveport, Louisiana, driving on a side street, approaching a red light,” wrote another viewer, Darlene Smart of Huntsville Alabama. “I stopped the car, waiting for the green light, when all of a sudden whatever station the radio was on began to get on my nerves, really bad! The light turned green, and I started to go but just had to change the radio station.
In a period of seconds, I put my finger on the button to change, but several times in a row my finger just slid off the button, and after the third try, a car going so fast I could hardly see the color, ran the red light. Had I moved when the light turned green, I would have been in the middle of the road driving a 1982 Datsun, with a big car hitting the driver’s side.”
Was that an angel? A saint? If so, if a saint, let us know that among them, few are as underestimated as Joseph.
“Probably about ten years ago, my uncle was driving along the Ohio turnpike when he suddenly had to pull over because of a flat tire,” recounts Edward Hood of Virginia. “He was not in the best of health — he had suffered a severe heart attack several years before — and so he was worried about having to change the tire himself. He prayed to St. Joseph for help.
“Very soon after that, a huge white ‘semi’ truck pulled over in front of his car. My uncle described the entire truck, cab and trailer as being entirely white with no writing or advertising of any kind. The driver came over to my uncle and asked him if he needed help, and my uncle said that he needed help changing his tire.
“At that point, the man went to work on the tire. My uncle described the man as being somewhat short in stature, maybe 5’5” — with brown hair and a beard, with very kind eyes, looking somewhat strangely familiar to him. In what my uncle described as ‘lightning quick,’ the man was already done changing his tire and my uncle was so grateful that he offered to buy the man a cup of coffee, to which the man replied, ‘No, thank you. All I ask is that if you see someone who needs your help, that you stop and do the same.’
“At this point, the man got into his truck and took off.
“My uncle started driving again and thought to himself that at the very least he should get the license plate of this gentleman so he could write a thank-you letter to the trucking company letting them know how great this person was. He started to speed up, trying to catch the truck, faster and faster.
At one point he looked down at the speedometer to note he was driving 90 miles per hour. But no sign of the truck anywhere. He drove for about twenty miles and the truck had literally disappeared! There were no exits on that stretch of road, and no rest stops, so where could the truck have gone?”
It was then, wrote Edward, that it dawned on his uncle that the man looked so “strangely familiar” because he bore a striking resemblance to images of St. Joseph.
Was this an angel sent by Joseph, or the saint himself?
They come as mysterious strangers! They especially come when we are in “communion” through the sacraments. The more we tune in, the more we see.
When Peter G. Aparcicio and his wife of Victoria, Texas, were expecting a second child, a big problem was discovered.
“During a routine sonogram, the doctor noticed what he thought were cysts on the baby’s lungs,” he tells us. “Later, as the baby developed, the diagnosis was changed. The baby had a diaphragmatic hernia. His stomach and intestines were entering his chest cavity through the hole in his diaphragm, endangering his heart and restricting development of his left lung.
“My prayers for St. Joseph’s intercession increased greatly. The big day was coming. Our son was due March 18 (the day before St. Joseph’s feast day) and we had to deliver in Houston, so the baby could be hospitalized at Texas Children’s Hospital.
“The doctors warned us that he might be in the hospital up to six months, and even then we might have to take him home with an oxygen tank.
“We were told he might be blue when born due to poor oxygen circulation and they would have to rush him away to stabilize him.
“We arranged for the priest at the hospital to be there when our son was born to immediately baptize him. On March 21, our son was born. Immediately after the baptism was complete, he let out a short cry (not bad for someone who would supposedly have poor oxygen circulation!) and was whisked away to be stabilized. I briefly stayed with my wife and then went to see our son. I was scared. Would he be blue? Would he be in distress?
“As I turned the corner and saw him, tears filled my eyes. Laying there was the pinkest little baby I’d ever seen! I went over and talked to him and gave him a kiss before the sedative took effect (he had to stay calm). He was placed in intensive care, and five days later had an operation to close the hole in his diaphragm. He handled it like a champ.
A couple of weeks later, we received a call at the Ronald McDonald House from the nurse on duty at the hospital, informing us that our son had removed his ventilator tube by himself! He never used the ventilator again.
“Four weeks to the day after he was born, our son was released to go home — no oxygen, no problems! St. Joseph’s intercession was more than we could have imagined. Today our second son is almost five and has no problems. Of course, to honor this magnificent saint, we named our son Joseph.
“I wish Catholic leaders would preach more about the greatness of this Saint, and how effective his intercession is,” Peter concludes. “We tell everyone we know about St. Joseph and donated a statue of him with the Child Jesus to our church as our way of thanking him and spreading devotion to him. Try St. Joseph. You won’t be disappointed.”
“My mother Mary had a great devotion to St. Joseph and prayed to him daily for a happy and speedy death,” wrote another. “She was 94 and in good health, still living independently in her little apartment near her family. On March 19 2002 at one a.m. she suffered a massive heart attack. She made it to the hospital and received the Last Rites and with all of her children and most of her grandchildren around her died peacefully at three p.m. that same day. The feast of St Joseph. Her prayers were answered!!”
[resources: Favorite Prayer to St. Joseph and The Holy Cloak novena]
[tell us your stories]
My husband has great devotion to St. Joseph. He is a technician who fixes the anthrax detection equipment at the post offices in our region of West Texas. He was nervous when he got this job because he is 63 and was afraid of not doing well and not being able to find another job, because of his age being so close to retirement. He prayed to St. Joseph and he says, no less than five or six times, St. Joseph has come to him in dreams to explain how to fix the machine he is having trouble with.
My dear hubby is like St. Joseph in many ways: quiet, a hard worker, a good Dad to our five kids, and very humble.
We stopped at a rest stop on the interstate when our car was in distress. Immediately I was repeating the Hail Mary and a stranger came over and whatever the car needed he fixed it and we were on our way in no time. I assumed it was a trucker but later I was sure he was heaven sent!
ODE TO SAINT JOSEPH
Joseph, humble, silent vase
of splendor and abundant grace
protector, defender of our Lord
as a strong and flaming sword
Joseph, most just, most pure
what no man could ever ensure
guardian of the holy house
stronghold of your Holy Spouse
Joseph, treasurer of the Heavenly King
for Whom the angels in adoration sing
so underestimated in the world’s eyes
with whom you never did compromise
Joseph, without titles behind your name
you never sought perishable fame
you were an honest simple worker
envied and attacked by the evil lurker
Joseph, example of husband and father
you never thought of yourself, but rather
in obedience to God, with love and humility
you shouldered the caring responsibility
Joseph, assist us in our daily tasks
never forsake us nor the one who asks
to be non-judgmental and steadfast
to obtain those virtues of yours at last.
Rita Biesemans March 19, 2011
Over the past several years since I have "retired" I have had some severe monetary problems, I have turned to St. Josseph
many times for his intercession regarding these problems and am doing so at this time, St. Joseph has always helped me
when the going got rough. After reading about St. Joseph during his earthly life and the problems he endured and
triumphed over, he is always the one to turn to especially when in dire need.
St.Joseph Pray for us.
Name of Saint Joseph in the Eucharistic Prayers
On May 1, 2013, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments promulgated the decree Paternas vices by the authority of the Supreme Pontiff, Pope Francis. The decree instructs that the name of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, should be inserted into Eucharistic Prayers II, III, and IV. Already on November 13, 1962, Pope John XXIII had inserted the name of St. Joseph into the first Eucharistic Prayer (the Roman Canon), and now that work has been carried forward to the other three Eucharistic Prayers, initially by Pope Benedict XVI and now confirmed by Pope Francis.
Pious and liturgical devotion to St. Joseph is first recorded with certainty in the seventh century, though reference to him is made in Sacred Scripture and multiple patristic texts earlier than that. A full liturgical Office was established for him on March 19 in the 13th Century, and in 1870 he was proclaimed Patron of the Universal Church. Many church writers and several Popes have written of St. Joseph, including the apostolic exhortation by Pope John Paul II entitled Redemptoris custos (August 15, 1989).
The decree Paternas vices draws some of its language from this exhortation, expressing in concise words the role of St. Joseph in the economy of salvation, stating, for example, that St. Joseph, "stands as an exemplary model of the kindness and humility that the Christian faith raises to a great destiny, and demonstrates the ordinary and simple virtues necessary for men to be good and genuine followers of Christ. Through these virtues, this Just man, caring most lovingly for the Mother of God and happily dedicating himself to the upbringing of Jesus Christ, was placed as guardian over God the Father’s most precious treasures."
The Congregation has provided the Latin texts, which are now considered the typical edition, as well as official translations in the major western languages, including English and Spanish.
thank you
Thank you for the wonderful and thoughtful stories that gives inspiration.
In 1984, I was 22 years old with my boyfriend now husband when we were in a motorcycle accident. A car cut us off on the freeway we went under the car I flew off and skidded about 20 feet and the motorcycle landed on my husbands ankle. My head and shoulders never touched the ground the first person to come to me was a priest and asked if everything was okay. I got up and walked away with no injuries other than some bruises my husband had a burn mark on his ankle but also walked away.