Connections Through Tattered Edges
Blessy (on right), with Women Youth Apostles Full Member Joanna Hitzelberger.
To be honest, I don't know how or when or where I found the prayer card. I could be completely wrong to think that I found it in India - but I cannot think of – or remember – where else I could have found it.
Maybe I found it in the Catholic Campus Ministry here (at Virginia Tech), but then I guess I would remember it.
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This past winter break I went home to India for the first time after coming to the United States. One day, back home, I was cleaning up my wallet to get rid of the stuff that has been in there for probably more than a century. I usually have a lot of prayer cards in my wallet and keep collecting them (at some point, I need to start praying with them too!). I started to go through each one of them and one old prayer card had the picture of St. John Bosco and all the Youth Apostles (YA) saints on it (see below). I turned over and started reading the prayer on it and guess what – it was the Youth Apostles Prayer!
Here's the fun part – as far as I can remember, I found this prayer card in Mumbai, India almost a decade ago (looking at the state of it, it has been through multiple wallet changes I am guessing). I have been carrying it around with me for so many years clueless about YA or Women Youth Apostles. I tried my best to recollect where I found the prayer card, and my guess is St. John Bosco's church (Salesians) in Mumbai (the church that I have been going to since my childhood).
What's even more mind blowing is that when I showed this card to Fr. Tom Yehl, YA, he said that Joanna Hitzelberger (my sister in Women Youth Apostles) drew that picture of the saints so, so many years ago!
It blows my mind to think how God works in such mysterious and beautiful ways – He gave me a YA prayer card which my dearest sister Joanna designed. Little did I know that many years later, one fine morning, I would be having breakfast with Joanna to introduce me to Women Youth Apostles. I started going to the meetings, and here I am today – a Full-Member sister! I am very happy and grateful to God for this beautiful community. Being a WoYA is definitely an integral part of my life and has helped me immensely to grow closer to Jesus, grow closer to the sisters, and to draw the youth closer to Jesus – all through the intercession of our beloved Mother Mary!
