Mom, Will You Pray With Me?

It was barely the crack of 6:00 this morning when I heard my eldest son whisper, “Mom? Are you awake?”

I rolled over, pulling the blankets tighter around me and croaked out, “No.”

He reached out and gently shook me. “Mom? Will you pray with me?”

That’s all it took for me to be instantly awake.

“Sure. What’s going on?” I sat up and yawned. (Okay, maybe not all the way awake.)

“I just wanted to know if you’d pray with me before school. You know, to St Joseph of ……” his voice trailed off.

“Cupertino? Patron of test takers?”

“Yeah,” he grinned, “that’s him.”

I shook my head to clear it, made the Sign of the Cross, and began, “O, St Joseph of Cupertino, who by your prayers obtained from God, the Grace to be asked upon your examination only those propositions which you knew, please pray that Denis be granted that same Grace on….?

“My algebra test?” He offered.

“Sure….on his algebra test today, O, St Joseph of Cupertino, pray for us.”

He quickly added in, “Sts Jude and Rita, patrons of the impossible…”

“Pray for us.” I replied.

He hugged me and sighed “thanks, Mom.”

I ruffled his hair and said, “You know, when I put you in public school, a lot of nay-sayers warned me that you’d lose your faith and stop praying.”

“Mom, that’s just dumb. As long as I have math tests, you don’t have to worry about whether or not I’m praying. Trust me, I’m praying.”