Thanks to St. Gerard

by Patty
(Claremont, CA, US)

This regards St. Gerard. He was always a favorite of my Mom, who had 10 children. So one day, when I had a toddler, my Mom had bought 2 St. Gerard medals and had them blessed. She gave one to me, and one to my sister-in-law, as they were trying to conceive. (They now have two great kids)I put the medal in my pocket and forgot about it.

At the end of a long day, I started the drive to our home, about an hour away from my parents' home. I had my two and a half-year-old son in my car, my husband was right behind in his car.

We were passing through a not-so-great area, and as I stopped at a stop sign, a man opened the car door and began yelling at me. He was hooded, wore a ski mask, and held a gun to my back. There was another man behind him also hooded, with a ski mask. I just kept saying, "Just let me get my baby! Just let me get my baby!" In a flash, I was able to release the carseat straps (and those are never easy to release!), grab him and get out. I saw that my husband had pulled over and yelled at them, "What are you doing?" I knew that my husband was licensed to carry a gun for his work, and I prayed that he would not get into it with these guys. He didn't, they quickly drove away as our son, called, "Hey, that's our car!"

I reached into my pocket looking for a tissue, and pulled out St. Gerard. I just stared at it. I learned later that carjackings are rarely fatal, but often victims are beaten, and sometimes the thief drives away with the child. Here we were, the three of us, untouched, unhurt. I was not pregnant, as when women most often call on St. Gerard, but I believe that he and God, and maybe my boy's guardian angel, acted through me to protect us from any harm.