Saint Christopher...pray for us

Today I had the chance to present the students in our driver's ed class with a Saint Christopher Medal.  Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travelers and as these students will soon be traveling on their own, we wanted to present them with a reminder of God's protection over them.  I am very grateful to our Driver's Ed teacher, Mr. Healy, for letting me make this presentation.

We don't really even know if Saint Christopher was a real person (his feast was removed from the Catholic Church's liturgical calendar in 1969 because of questions of his existence) but the legend goes that he had a job helping people cross a dangerous river.  One day, a child came and asked for help getting across and as Saint Christopher was carrying him on his shoulders, he kept sinking deeper and deeper into the water.  They eventually got to the other side and the boy apologized for weighing him down, saying he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and then disappeared.

Before I left I offered the following prayer:

Lord of our journeys,
Today we mark and celebrate a significant moment
in the lives of these young people.

As they prepare to assume the responsibility of drivers,
we ask you to gift them with wisdom
to make good choices as they navigate the roads they travel.

Provide them with safe passage as they make each journey.
Bless them with a clear mind
that they may steer away from any danger
they may encounter along the way.

And let them know of the hope they provide us
as they take this next step into maturity.

We ask all these things,
in the name of God who travels with us
throughout all our journeys.

AMEN.