I do not believe in the power of "Saints." I think that there are definitely men and women of the Church through history who did Great Things, with capital letters. Great, brave, selfless, amazing things for God and in the name of Jesus. Selfless, sacrificing, beautiful things.
But I do not believe they are intercessors between us and God.
I believe deeply that we, because of Christ and Christ alone, can ask God directly to assist us with our needs. We can ask him to help us with anything, and ask that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We also can thank him, praise him, and a lot of times we forget to do that when we really really should.
Many of my friends believe in Saints, pray to Saints. I know my friend Rob used to tell me when things were bad to pray to St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes, and St. Jude would totally step up for us. A drunken night on a beach in high school saw us with his car keys somewhere in the sand in the darkness. We looked all over the dark beach, frantic because a) we were stuck there without a way to get home, and b) his dad would KILL us.
Rob stopped what he was doing and demanded that we pray to St. Jude. So I did. He did. Everyone we were with did. And then someone stepped on the keys a few minutes later. There was much rejoicing.
We were a bunch of 17 and 18 year old knuckleheads, and I personally thought it was just plain luck. Dumb stupid drunken luck. But Rob always said to pray to the right saint for your needs, and it'll all be okay.
My question tonight is, what saint do you pray to in this situation?
- Your friend has gone to Siberia with her daughter so they can help her sister/the daughter your friend cannot adopt due to about 10,000 insane problems over the last 5 years.
- The daughter's passport (Russian) is expired and they were advised to go ahead to Russia and renew the passport there. They were advised by Russians here in NYC at the consulate. Sounded good, perfect, right to them so they went ahead and did it.
- Russians state that to them the daughter "does not exist." They do not recognize her as a Russian, they do not recognize her as an American. She "does not exist."
- They will not renew her Russian passport so she can get out of the country.
- The sister of her daughter, whom your friend has been trying to adopt for five years, lives on the street, has had several friends commit suicide, is horribly sad and depressed, and absolutely, desperately needs to be rescued and brought "home" here to America
- The sister, not yet adopted, says, when your friend and her sister leave she will hang herself that day
- Your friend has decided to forgo income, has alienated a few people with her incredible sense of having to do something for the not-yet adopted daughter, and her visa to Russia will expire before the daughter's passport situation is fixed. What will happen to her? Will they jail her? Will they throw her out of the country? What will then happen with the daughter, and the not yet adopted daughter if she is in jail or thrown out of the country?
All of them, I guess.
Or -- we just ask God directly to fix this.
Over the past few months, my dear and lovely friend Keri has done some amazing and self sacrificing things, like the Saints of Old. So I think she's earned her wings as it were. If she could, and I have ranted so many times in the last five years about how Angelina Jolie should not get all the attention in the universe for her adoption stories but women like Keri should get a little attention and support as well.
She has turned things over to Him. She has prayed the rosary and had the perfect sense of peace that passes all understanding. She has trusted Him. She has turned everything over to Him. So yeah. Hey God? Saints? Jesus? Jebus? Jesus Buddah Allah I love you all? (as Homer Simpson says). Joking.
Can you, dear reader, help us by praying in the way you know how? By Saints of to God or to the Universe or whatever YOU call it.
I once had a pastor tell me that on All Saints Day we should always remember that we are all God's Saints. Not after we're dead, but now, here, on earth. So dear saints, please pray for us.
I'm not a woman of god, so to speak, but in my own faith musings I have found that it is best to collect and call to as much positive energy as possible. I'm a disciple of nature, and so I deal directly with the energies that permeate through all of existence.
ReplyDeleteIts the hardships, trials, and choices that shape us and temper us into strong beings. The more we overcome, the greater our momentum and power is to overcome once more down the road.
I hope that positivity, perseverance, and good energy reaches your friend and the two girls. There is always a way.
Either I'm excessively weepy today (always a possibility when you struggle with depression) or there have been a lot of amazing people saying and doing wonderfully faith-affirming things today. If God can hear a single voice whispering in the darkness, imagine how it sounds when so many voices are raised together?
ReplyDeletePrayers going out to God Jesus and all the Saints (I like the Saints too). Now someone needs to talk to whomever at the Russian counselate said it was OK for her to travel! They need to fix it.
ReplyDeleteIt's my understanding that Keri's adopted daughter does indeed exist, as an American citizen, under the provisions of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000. She needs to contact her US senators, the US embassy in Moscow- and the Moscow offices of CNN and ABC news. The Russians hate losing face. It also poses an almost existential conundrum- can the Russians detain and not allow the free passage of one who "doesn't exist"?
ReplyDeleteMy brain has difficulty surrounding the daily nightmare that your poor friend has to endure.
keri made headway on the passport situation. her visa situation is going to be handled closer to the 17th. now we're back to trying to get anya's situation resolved.
ReplyDeletewe have contacted every major news organization and none of them will respond. russian news, like TV1, are all over the story. she went to nas' old orphanage and tv crews went with her to show the story of her coming back with the girls and bringing presents. they spent 2 days there. she's going back next week and now her goal is to take donated money and go buy books.