IF IT ISN'T THE DARNEDEST THING..........

While on vacation with Father Oliver, 4-6 weeks ago, he tried to convince me to upgrade to an I-phone, as my 5 year old Nokia cell phone was worse for wear.  Being the Campbell Soup kid, fiscal conservative I am, me and my cell trudged forward.  Then fifteen days ago, my dinosaur Nokia went kaput.  I had to replace it and upgraded to the closest one I could find on the internet.  For nine days I was learning the bells and whistles of my new LG cell phone, which I describe as half way to the kind of smart phone Fr. Oliver was encouraging me to get.  Then on Monday evening I blessed parishioner pets in the parking lot for St. Francis Assisi Day, before going to the Parish Hall to teach my Faith Seeking Understanding Adult Faith Formation class on the Mass.  At 7:37 pm  a call came in on my cell, so I took it out of my pocket to check the incoming phone number and sat it on the table I was teaching from.  I saw it once more after that, and at 8 pm, as some of the attendees at the class came to the table to converse with me, I forgot about it.  2 hours later, as I went to plug it into the charger, at my bedside, and  I had no phone.  It was nowhere to be found in the rectory, the church, or the hall.  For the next 36 hours no one in the room on Monday night had any idea of its whereabouts and I feverishly checked with the parishioners present Tuesday morning for Mass and the Feed the Hungry ministry.  I placed phone calls to the three persons who came to the table at the end of the class to speak with them, and placed three calls to my voice mail,asking anyone who found it to please return it.  I made a reference to it in my homily this morning as it is St. Bruno Day, and among his attributes was constancy and perseverance in the midst of adversity and change. Over the past day and a half I also invoked St. Anthony Padua, and St. Jude Thaddeus, to help find my lost phone.  Then after Mass, as I was walking over to the rectory with our Parish Pastoral Council President, he spotted it laying on the grass outside the church sacristry door.  Hallejuah it's back !  But the mystery continues.....In addition to my own three voice mail calls since losing it Monday night, there are at least six other calls made on it - 2 calls to my personal land line phone which I have programmed on my cell, two calls to one other number in North Sacramento, and two Anonymous number calls, I called back the four calls not made to me, and got no answer, or voice mail. Also, the grass on which it was found is in the sprinkler range, yet the phone was found totally dry and with no moisture on it.  I am very happy to have it back, thank God.  But, If It Isn't The Darnedest Thing !!!!!..........Fr.  Troy