Friendships with the saints are so important to establish! Just ask Patrick Pulis, founder of Saint of the Month, a Catholic box subscription company. He shared 3 stories with me of how 3 different saints helped him with finding his wife, in time of need, and with growing in his faith! It was wonderful talking with him and hearing his stories about how the saints changed his life. I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I do.
Saint John Paul II
At my almost breaking point, I remember kneeling near the altar (as I was singing in the choir) after receiving communion and all the sudden I felt the presence of Pope John Paul II with me.
Patrick Pulis
It was in high school that I first became fascinated with the rosary. It was then that I bought a rosary with my own money that was a beautiful turquoise color that glistened when the light hit it.
It wasn’t until College that I began praying the rosary daily. It was because of a community of strong Catholics that I was encouraged to pray this devotion daily.
It was a year later when I went to a retreat up at a Catholic Retreat center up in the mountains of Colorado. It was called Saint Malo’s and it was there that the Pope John Paul II visited while in Denver years before. During this retreat we heard the news that our Pope JPII was very sick. As a group of College students we all decided to pray the rosary for our pope. We walked around outside where JPII once walked and prayed where he prayed. Later, we found out that our Pope had died. I did the calculation of his time of death and it happened around the same time that we were praying for him. It was a great blessing to pray the rosary for him as he made his journey to heaven.
I kept this tradition of praying the rosary daily for years as I went to Peru to discern becoming a priest. It was in Peru that I went through a very difficult crisis and while the devil was close, God was even closer. It was the rosary that kept me from the hands of the devil. There were days that I prayed the rosary doing decade after decade, one in English, one in Spanish, one in Latin, and one in Slovak. It was these prayers that kept me through the storm I faced. I am reminded of how Jesus told us the need for a firm foundation or else the storms will come and you cannot withstand them. It was months ago that I saw this reality when I saw someone fall under the temptations of the Devil as they, through their storms, murdered a close friend of ours. We need a firm foundation especially during these turbulent times in society where we all can lose stability with economic forces challenging us, marriages are on attack, sacred life is being taken, and mental problems are highest they have ever been. When the storms come we need God all the more.
After coming back from Peru, I continued my daily prayers of the rosary. In times when I felt most vulnerable from attacks from the Devil, I held on tight to prayer. At my almost breaking point, I remember kneeling near the altar (as I was singing in the choir) after receiving communion and all the sudden I felt the presence of Pope John Paul II with me. In that sacred moment I felt his priestly vestments had been placed on my shoulders. Before feeling vulnerable and as if naked, I was clothed with the finest robe. Our wonderful Saint who had been with me since the beginning of my faith had come in the time I needed the most.
Pope John Paul II loved the rosary and prayed it often with young people. He even did so when he placed the bullet that shot him on the crown of our Lady at Fatima. We are all connected beyond what we can imagine when we pray together. It strengthens the body of Christ and keeps evil away.
St. Faustina
I had the pleasure of talking with Patrick on the phone about his interaction with St. Faustina and divine mercy while planning his escape boxes! Some of this story is taken from an email he wrote while planning these boxes last year. Some other parts were taken from our phone conversation.
The Lord is truly working on my heart. Don’t you love when that happens? He has shown me my sins/faults/shortcomings but He also has shown me His great Mercy. I’ve reconciled with people I love and with my own heart. My heart has been inflamed with great love like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The Lord has been showing me so many riches in scripture and the Saints especially as I have been studying to put together an Escape box.
Why has the Lord been opening the floodgates? I think I know why. To answer I need to explain what I learned from the history of the Bible. We know the God gave the Israelites the commandments and one of them was to make the 7th day holy and to rest on this Sabbath. Well, what many people don’t know is that He also asked to have the 7th year a rest for the fields, so no planting. Then the 7×7 year or 49th year will be a Jubilee year where there is rest, no planting and debts are forgiven. It is also a time of great Mercy and great generosity of God. Well, after thinking about this the Holy Spirit prodded me to see how many Saints I have done. To my surprise and joy, it was 49! It is our Jubilee Month for our Company!
God has opened the floodgates to my heart. The funny thing is that this was the first month that I had a break from packing all these boxes! We have new partners and a new employee that is handling a lot of it. It was my rest. The Holy Spirit was really working. I then took this further and rested from designing the future boxes for a little while. (which I am always trying to stay ahead and stay prepared) It takes a lot of work to find gifts, wrap them and include notes of prayer and action for each saint. But the Lord led me to take a break! So as much as God works I need to follow through. I need to be generous too. I decided to forgive the debt that one supplier had to me. I forgave it all! It was hard but I felt really good.
St. Faustina is the saint that God chose to reveal the message of Divine Mercy. She could not paint the image herself, so she hired someone to do it. I followed in the footsteps of St. Faustina and hired an artist to draw the image of Divine Mercy for the escape boxes. I also wanted to make sure that just like in her image, Jesus is stepping towards us.
St. Raphael
Before Patrick asked for Rebecca’s hand in marriage, he explained how he picked the feast day of St. Raphael to propose. Rebecca was awestruck. She had never told Patrick that when they started to date, she prayed a novena (a special 9 day prayer) to St. Raphael, the patron saint of love, asking for St. Raphael’s intercessory prayer.
Love, St. Raphael and Shooting Stars by Darcie Tallman
Patrick shared this article about how St. Raphael interceded for him and his wife and their marriage! You can read the full article here.
About the Author
Patrick Pulis is a life long Catholic who grew up in a rural area of Colorado where he was captivated by the stars of the night. As he grew in his faith he decided, after college, to join a religious lay movement becoming possibly a priest. As he went to formation he grew more in his faith than any other time in his life. He was inspired by these men and women to be the best he can to help change the world for the better. After three years of many fruitful experiences he decide to return home and follow God’s new path preparing someday get married. Now, being inspired by the saints and their lives he decided to found a business that helps people become little saints which became the Saint of the Month subscription box. He is now married with his wife, who helps with Saint of the Month, and has a daughter who is 2 years old and a bundle of joy.
About Saint of the Month
Customers receive a box sent to their home once a month, where they are able to explore that month’s saint by receiving information on him/her and gifts, and presented with goals to work on their faith journey. These boxes will help you act, think, and love like the saint did. Subscriptions start at $38.99/month. For more information, click on the link to the website above, or follow @saint_of_the_month on Instagram.
