• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

Making a tiny discovery at the Shrine of St. Anthony

June 20, 2018
By Rita Buettner
Filed Under: Blog, Open Window

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

We don’t visit the Shrine of St. Anthony in Ellicott City as often as I would like. It’s such a serene place, full of natural beauty, with warm and welcoming people.So I was thrilled to have an excuse to visit yesterday. We met two of my friends to plan an event there for later this fall. We brought our children—nine altogether—and they played with a sitter while we met and looked at the space and discussed how our group would enjoy our time there.

Then it was time to go. As we were walking to our cars, our children were running ahead—the way children do. And we saw them stop to look at what seemed to be a brown leaf floating across the sidewalk.

But it wasn’t a leaf. It was a tiny frog or toad. I’ve never seen one so small, and neither had the children, who were absolutely delighted.

We stopped and focused entirely on this little animal. The children tried to catch it or corral it so they could look at it more closely. But of course they couldn’t. And the little creature hopped back into the grass and disappeared.

Here we were, surrounded by the beauty of the shrine, a place that draws visitors from everywhere, and our entire focus was on this teeny little life in front of us. It was smaller than a walnut, so tiny that we might not have noticed it if the children hadn’t seen it with their sharp eyes, love of exploration, and endless curiosity.

The large, beautiful structures and statues around us were momentarily forgotten. The blue summer sky and the green of the trees and lawns were merely a backdrop to this little life. All our eyes were on this little frog or toad as it leapt around the sidewalk and finally disappeared into the grass.

In fact, a woman carrying a toddler approached me to ask for directions to the chapel, and I told her, but then I said, “We’re all just so excited about this little toad the children found on the sidewalk.”

But by the time I turned back toward the children, our little friend had hopped back into the grass, back into nature, back to a place where he was safe from eager children’s hands and toes.

Hours later, though, we were still talking about that little frog or toad. How wonderful that God sent us not just the extraordinary beauty of a summer day, but also a tiny creature to delight the children who had been trying to wait patiently for their mothers to finish their boring grown-up conversation.

God’s gifts come in all shapes and sizes.

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Rita Buettner

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Yellow and white cloth hangs over the doors of Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in honor of the papal election

Who is our new pope, Pope Leo XIV?

Question Corner: Without a pope, how do we fulfill the indulgence requirement of praying for the pope’s intentions?

Masses of mourning or papal auditions?

Two yellow roses bloom on a rose bush full of green leaves

A Grandmother’s Roses

Our heart of darkness

| Recent Local News |

Catholic school students ‘elect’ pope in their own ‘conclave’

Baltimore-area Catholics pray for new pope, express excitement for his leadership

Archbishop Lori surprised, heartened by selection of American pope

Missionary discipleship sees growth after Seek the City initiative

Knights of Columbus honored for pro-life support

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Pope Leo prays for vocations, for peace and for mothers on Mother’s Day
  • Pope Leo: A pope is nothing more than a humble servant
  • Catholic school students ‘elect’ pope in their own ‘conclave’
  • French town near city with papal history to mark 100 years since Martyrs of Orange beatification
  • Pilgrim Passport to 3 Wisconsin Marian shrines help faithful mark their Jubilee journey
  • Who is our new pope, Pope Leo XIV?
  • Pope Leo to inaugurate his papacy May 18; a look at his May calendar
  • Report: Some House GOP members object to removing Planned Parenthood funds from Trump bill
  • Movie Review: ‘Another Simple Favor’

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED