Today is the feast of St. Jude, also sometimes known as Thaddaeus, or Judas-no-not-that-Judas. He’s the patron saint of Lost Causes. The story goes, people were afraid of accidentally praying to Judas Iscariot, so they neglected to venerate Jude. He was so happy when someone remembered him, Jude would intercede in the even the most dire circumstances.
Now, our protestant friends sometime regard praying to the saints as something akin to idolatry, but that’s not how it works. We ask saints to intercede for us, to pray to God along with us. It’s like getting a letter of recommendation from a skilled worker in your field: they’re not going to do the job for you, but they can help.
This is why a post-mortem death is required to canonize someone a saint. You see, when the Church canonizes a saint, she’s recognizing that this person is in Heaven. A miracle after death proves they are with God, and able to intercede on our behalf.
Fun fact: there is no official opposite of “saint.” The Church has never declared any specific person is in hell.1 Not Pilate, not Herod, not the Sanhedrin, not Judas (Iscariot) himself. In fact, the Church frequently prays for the salvation of all souls. Technically, we can believe in the doctrine of Hell while hoping nobody is actually there.
Amelia’s Situation
A few people have told me that they’re saying a prayer to St. Jude today, or have even said a whole novena leading up to today.
On the one hand, you don’t want to call your daughter a lost cause. But on the other hand, whenever someone asks me if there’s anything they can do to help Amelia, I say, “Pray.”
The doctors have done everything they can, and we still had to visit the ER twice this week, for two unrelated issues. Again, we can only do this because of Kirrily’s insurance and the generous donations to GoFundMe, for which we’re very grateful, but none of it is a cure.
A Little Help From Our Heavenly Friends
No one can make God do anything; that’s not how it works. But, as I noted about seven months ago,2
One of Jesus' most famous sayings is, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." The thing that's sort of lost in translation is that this is a continuous act of prayer. It's more like "keep asking, continue seeking, persist in knocking."
It probably doesn’t hurt to add our prayers the prayers of those closest to God—Mary His mother, her friend St. Bernadette, St. Padre Pio.
We can even ask for the help of someone who hasn’t been offically recognized as a saint, where a miraculous cure for Amelia would lead to his canonization. A two-birds-for-one-stone kinda deal.
Keep Praying
Someone once told me that God only performs a miracle when you have reached your lowest point, your most desperate hour. But that’s a bit like saying “You always find something in the last place you look.” Well, obviously! You stop looking for something when you find it.
I’m not sure what our most “desperate hour” would be, if it’ll ever come.3 But if it does, if a miracle does happen for Amelia, I want you to promise me something—you won’t stop asking, stop seeking, stop knocking. You won’t stop praying. Thank God for whatever time we have with Amelia, then pray for all souls to find what they need here on Earth, and ultimate happiness with God in Heaven.
And she could, I assume, having retained the power passed down from Jesus to the Apostle to forgive and retain sins.
Holy cow, has it been that long?
Honestly, I’m surprised every time that it hasn’t.