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The ESL Times / Spring, 2004

My Briefcase and St. Anthony
By: Fr. Zbigniew Bojar, SCJ
(Poland)

Every Catholic believes that St. Anthony is the guardian of lost things. I believe that it is the truth too.

I came back to Warszawa after ten years of serving a Church in Belarusia. Our community had some money saved in the bank. I took care of this money. I went to the bank by car. I stayed for a long time in the bank, because this business was difficult. I went to the office. From the office I went to the cash-desk. From the cash register the official sent me to the office again. Finally, I received the money. I was nervous about it, and I forgot my briefcase in the bank.

I went back to the car. I drove to the monastery. I stepped out, and I saw the briefcase wasn’t in the car. I prayed to St. Anthony: “Please protect my briefcase.”

Then, I left the money inside the monastery and went back to the bank. I was very surprised because the street with the bank was closed by the police.

I parked the car and walked across to the bank. The policemen stopped me. “You cannot walk here!” he said. I said, “Why? What happened?” His answer was angry: “It’s not your business! It is forbidden!”

In front of the bank were two fire trucks, six ambulances, and a TV-station car, and more than two hundred policemen stood. The police marked the safety line.

I thought to myself, “My briefcase was the reason for this entire situation. They think there is a bomb in my suitcase.”

I went a second time to the policeman and told him; “It is my business. I forgot my suitcase in the bank one hour ago.” The policeman grabbed my hand and said: “Follow me.” He went to the director of the action. The director was a strong man with a mask. I only saw his eyes. I told him about my lost briefcase. He questioned me about the things in my briefcase. He pointed to some things on the screen of the computer. I could see inside my suitcase, and I answered his questions about what I saw there. I didn’t remember what one thing was. It was square, about four to seven centimeters long. I remembered after some time; it was an electric lantern. When the policeman believed me, we went to the bank. The boss opened my briefcase and handed it to me.

As you can see, St. Anthony protected my things very well with more power than two hundred policemen!

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