This blog is not a Catholic blog. Nor even a “religion” blog of any sort, though it is generally welcomed in discussion. However, many of us here in this community are Christian, and of those, many are Catholic, and for that reason, I’d like to invite all members of this community to join in a New Year’s tradition I picked up a little while ago from The Anchoress— that of randomly drawing a patron saint for the coming year. An interesting point on the tradition is that it is not you who chooses a saint, but rather the saint that chooses you.

Thanks to Jennifer’s Random Saint Generator, this process can be done online!

Last year, I was chosen by St. Peter the Apostle. My comment left at The Anchoress’ place was:

Oh, thanks for this! I was chosen by St. Peter the Apostle. My first reaction was: Uh-oh! Feeling like I’d been called before the dean for disciplinary matters or something. Still, I feel slightly honored that such a busy guy (keys to the kingdom and such) is going to take some time to help me out.

I’m interested to learn that he’s the patron of foot problems– ever since I started bellydance ~8 months ago, I’ve had real trouble with callouses and breaking skin on the bottom of my feet. Maybe he’ll get some help for that? (Also, does this mean pedicures are a meditational practice this year? ;p ) He’s also the patron of a host of practical things, which as I just bought and moved into my first house. . .maybe he’ll be helping me Get My House In Order on all levels? Hmmm, very interesting!

Thank you again! I think Mr. The Rock and I will get on quite well this year! ^___^

I learned not too long after why it was that St. Peter had chosen me. In later February, when the got one of the first thaws, an outdoor pipe in the sideyard of the house I’d just bought burst, and the water flowed down, right through a whole in the foundation that I hadn’t even known was there. (It had been walled off by the previous owner so that not even an inspector would find it.) It was quite upsetting, to come home after only a brief trip to the local convinience store for some cough syrup and OJ to find my basement flooded with mud. The resulting work on the house that involved taking down part of a wall (to find that it was a small room that was walled off), clearing out a tod of dirt, repairing plumbing and the foundation (a hole big enough to allow my arm to pass through up into the yard). . . this process dominated most of my year. My contractors were good guys, sensitive to the fact that I had a pretty tight budget (as I’d just suck all my savings into a downpayment, and was having to borrow from my exteremely generous and patient parents).

When I looked back for a moment in fall, and remembered that the Patron of Foundations and Stoneworkers had chosen to be my patron for 2011, it was a timely reminder that, even in the midst of the ordinary disasters, God is still looking out for us and watching over us. God knew that the hole was there, that the previous owners had not properly shut off the outside line, and that I hadn’t realized this. He also knew that the experience of the flooding basement, of having to borrow from my parents, of juggling what I wanted and what I needed in the repairing process, that all these things would make me grow. So this everyday-terrible thing was allowed to happen, so that I could learn and grow from it, but He also made sure to let me know that even then, He was Present and Watching, and He sent His servant and friend as a sign of that presence.

So, Mr. The Rock, thanks for being a good, stalwart friend through my self-doubt and household turmoil this past year. Please continue to pray for me, and for the guys who did such great work on my basement.

PS: This year, I was chosen by St. Margaret of Antioch. Looking at her patronage [Against Kidney Disease; Against Loss of Milk by Nursing Mothers; Against Sterility; Childbirth; Dying People; Expectant Mothers; Falsely Accused People; For Safe Childbirth; Nurses; Pregnant Women; Women] , I feel faintly alarmed, as many of them have to do with babies and I am. . . not exactly, er, engaging the necessary pre-requisite activities to have such issues, being yet unwed and of viruous nature (at least in that regard, lol). But then I remember that she has my mother’s name, and is the personal patron of my best friend. And she has a cool story. So here’s to getting swallowed by the devil disguised as a dragon but being so irritating I get spat back out!