10/28/2026
Saint Jude — October 28 — Deacon Kevin Orth
“There is nothing we can do for your husband, we are here to support you.”
Those were the words the neurologist spoke to my wife in the winter of 2021 as tests showed I had no brain activity. Explains Rev. Mr. Kevin Orth, a Deacon at Saint Jude Catholic Church in Dewitt. He continues:
On my birthday in October 2021, I began feeling ill. The following Wednesday I tested positive for COVID, and my health deteriorated for the next several days. Different remedies were tried without success. I was hospitalized, and on November 14th I was placed on a ventilator and into a medically induced coma.
For my family, friends, fellow parishioners, doctors, nurses, and other health care workers, this seemed like a hopeless situation. Many prayers were offered on my behalf for healing.
Then, on Christmas Eve, I woke up from the coma and began a lengthy road to recovery, remaining in the hospital for six more months and undergoing physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Two weeks before I left the hospital in June of 2022, I was removed from the ventilator.
Many people prayed and asked for intercession from numerous saints, but it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to serve at the Mass at St. Thomas Aquinas in October 2023, venerating a relic, the arm, of Saint Jude, that I had an “aha” moment.
It was during that celebration that I realized the big part Saint Jude contributed to my diaconal service and life. I was ordained at the Cathedral of Saint Jude the Apostle in St. Petersburg, FL, in 2009. When I moved to DeWitt in 2013, the parish we began attending and I was later assigned to was the Catholic Community of Saint Jude. Reflecting on the fact that Saint Jude is the Patron Saint of impossible causes, desperate situations, and hospitals helped me see my life and my journey through COVID differently. My reflection reiterated the power of prayer, especially when we start to think hope is waning. It also emphasized how close we are to the great saints of the Church. They intercede, support, and inspire us.
If you find yourself or a loved one in a hopeless or desperate situation, I encourage you to petition Saint Jude for help and remember we are a people of possibility and of hope.
Saint Jude the Apostle, pray for us.
