I've been tagged

Thanks to Fr. Daren Zehnle at Servant and Steward for tagging me on my favorite saints. It made me stop and think about which saints have had the greatest influence on my life.



First I have to choose St. John Neumann. Since I live near Philadelphia, I have the privilege of living near his shrine and have visited it several times. One visit was when I was pregnant with my son. During my visit, I had an overwhelming sense of peace come over me and I knew that I would have a healthy child. Later, I took my son there and he was so awestruck that he chose John as his Confirmation name after St. John Neumann.



Second would be St. Dymphna. I have several relatives with emotional and mental health problems and praying to her has been a source of strength and comfort.



Next would be St. Gerard the patron of expectant mothers and pregnancy. My mother gave me a prayer to him to say when I when I was pregnant.



And finally, St. Francis of Assisi. I am fond of animals (except those darn rabbits that eat my plants) and have a dog who is an important "member" of our family. She has had many health issues (two knee surgeries, seasonal allergies that rival most humans with allergies), but none of them life threatening, and I think St. Francis is watching over her and made sure she found a home with us because we take care of her when many would have been quick to get rid of her or put her down because of her health.



Blessed Damien of Molokai is my favorite Blessed person in the church. I admire his courage to minister to people who were not only so ill, but were so disfigured. I want to go back to visit Hawaii specifically because when I was there six years ago, my son was too young to go to Molokai to visit the leper colony so it was the one thing in Hawaii that I really wanted to see and didn't get the chance to see.



And finally, the person I want to see as a saint Pope John Paul II. For me this is a no brainer. I was in my first year of college when he was elected Pope and, being of Polish descent, I was excited to see a non-Italian be elected. The fact that he was from a then communist country, I was so proud that his faith was so strong so as to not give up on his calling to be priest when it was not an easy thing to do in a communist country.

So now I must tag four people, which is not an easy task since my blog is new and I don't think I have many readers. But I will give this a try:

Barb at SFO Mom lives near me , although we have never met and has a son at the same high school as my son.

Michelle at The Family Centered Life who I admire for having such a large family. I am stressed with one!


Father Joe who always gives me a chuckle and a smile.

Fr. Eric Richsteig at Orthometer who sees humor in the craziest of things (South Park, Hillary Clinton and the list goes on...)

Thank you Fr. Daren for tagging me. It forced me to learn how to do many things with my blog including adding picture and links. Wow, no matter what you think you already know, you can always find something you don't and learn from it.