Blessed Travels
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Faith on Monday, March 08, 2010 8:21 PM
Ever had one of those times when a saint really came through for you? This weekend, I did.
My baby and I travelled by plane to see friends in the DC area. It’s a short flight, about an hour from take-off to landing, but I’ve found that when you have a one-year-old on your lap, any length flight feels long!
I’m not an anxious person generally, but as my husband drove us to the airport on Thursday morning I found myself worrying. We had plenty of time before our flight and there was no reason to expect anything would go wrong, but even so my stomach was aching with nerves.
While I tried to reason myself out of my nervousness, it suddenly occurred to me to pray. Not just my standard St. Michael prayer against fear, but also specifically to St. Christopher, to ask him to intercede that our trip would go smoothly.
We have a family habit of asking for St. Christopher’s intercession during our travel prayers at the beginning of each trip, but I have to admit I say the prayers more rotely than with concentration. On Thursday, I concentrated on the great saint, seeking blessings in what would certainly be a stressful few hours for me.
He proved himself right away! Our trip could hardly have gone more smoothly. We breezed through check-in and security, and the baby happily crunched an empty water bottle in his stroller while I made the quarter-mile walk through the terminal to our gate. Timing was perfect: we had enough of a cushion that I felt comfortable, but didn’t have to wait long before boarding. On the plane, the aisle seat next to our window seat was empty, so we had plenty of space, and the baby calmed down quickly and slept almost the entire flight. When I grabbed my bag (already sitting on the baggage claim turnstile) and headed outside to wait for my friend to pick us up, I had a grin on my face. I’d been dreading this morning for no reason! It went beautifully!
Confident in St. Christopher’s intercession, I talked to him frequently throughout the weekend, especially to ask him to bless our return trip, which was this morning. He delivered, as the trip went equally smoothly. It was nearly identical to Thursday, except instead of an empty seat we had a delightful seatmate: excellent conversation made the time fly, and when I needed to nurse the baby she encouraged me and even helped hold up our modesty blanket! She was possibly the best neighbor I’ve ever had on a plane. Also, the baby didn’t sleep on our flight, but he went down for a long nap when we got home, which was even better.
Christopher might be my new favorite saint!
Do you have a story of a time when a saint really came through for you? Please share!
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