WHEN ST ANTHONY FOUND A WAD OF CASH

From my earliest years, I have nurtured a devotion to St. Anthony, the reason being that I associated the 13th century Franciscan friar with answered prayers. When I was a little girl, I knew a woman who lost a wad of cash, the days takings from her job in sales, and she was distraught. Her eyes looked burnt from crying. I remember praying silently to St. Anthony. Then without her even looking for it, she found that the money had fallen down between some furniture, but it was in a tatty envelope and could very well have been thrown in the trash. 

St. Anthony has had the longest influence of any saint on my soul. I had no faith in Christ or His Church during childhood, but I put store in Anthony because he always helped find lost or missing items. I knew Anthony had believed in Jesus and prayed to Him, but I rationalized that Anthony had made a mistake, and that the real Messiah had accepted Anthony's prayers as though they were for Him. The memory of my ignorance is an ache in itself. 

My love of St. Anthony has only grown greater and I call on him automatically for everything and everyone. A Jewish comedy-writer friend of mine who is an atheist admitted to me that he only prays to St. Anthony when he's lost something and he asked me if car keys are St. Anthony's symbol in the same way as St. Therese's symbol is the rose.