By Farrah Connell
I am from Sacred Heart parish in East Glendale, and I have had the pleasure of working in Sacred Heart Rectory for the past 20 years, since I was 13 years old.
My pastor Father John Fullum suggested that I contact the editor of The Tablet, so here I am.
About a year ago, I began studying for a National Board Certification exam in occupational therapy. It is a very challenging exam and many parishioners knew that I was preparing for it.
One of the parishioners handed me a piece of paper that contained a prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino. She suggested that I say this prayer when preparing for the exam. I was not familiar with this saint, but I soon learned that this was a saint that was prayed to for success in examinations.
I said this prayer every night for three months leading up to my exam. In that time, I also learned very much about St. Joseph of Cupertino’s life. He faced many challenges and tribulations and could never seem to do anything right.
Finally, his mother got him accepted as a servant at a Franciscan monastery. Around this time, he began to change. He grew more humble and gentle and successful in his work. As he started studying for the priesthood, he still had a very hard time with his studies. During his exam, he obtained from God the grace to be asked only the questions he knew well. He ended up becoming a deacon and later a priest.
As a priest, God began to work many miracles through him. I continued to say my prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino a couple of minutes prior to taking the exam on Palm Sunday. On Holy Thursday, I was ecstatic to find out that I had passed the test. I truly believe that God and St. Joseph of Cupertino were guiding me throughout the entire exam.
In return for the request that was granted to me, the prayer asks for the promise to make St. Joseph of Cupertino known and cause him to be invoked. It also asks for him to be thanked in the newspaper, which is why I was led to write this story.
Thank you dear Lord and St. Joseph of Cupertino for enabling me to pass the exam on my first attempt. Lastly, I would like to thank my pastor, Father Fullum for all of his inspiration, wisdom and support throughout the years.
Editor’s Note: St. Joseph Cupertino was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar who is honored as a Christian mystic and saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation and intense ecstatic visions that left him gaping. He is the patron saint of aviators, flying, and studying.