The Picture of Our Lady of Fatima

September 23, 1998 - December 8, 1998

There are several things I would have included in this letter at the time I wrote it but I did not yet know. I will insert a few facts here at this point.

It was on July 3, 1998 at the Grotto in Emmitsburg that I was fully aware of my shortcomings and my failure to carry out my responsibility as a Catholic parent and have my child baptized a Catholic rather than allow the non-Catholic influences in my family to dominate. It was on this day that I made a firm commitment to God that C.R.C. would be baptized. I was expecting grief from my wife and her family and was astounded to find absolutely no resistance whatsoever actually there was nothing but cooperation from them. Things went so smoothly that on September 22, 1998 I set out for Emmitsburg just to go to the Grotto to give special thanks to God for making the preparations for C.R.C.’s baptism so easy. I never made it there that day because the fan belt on my truck broke and I was stranded on the side of the road.

The next day, September 23, 1998 I set out for Emmitsburg again for the same reason. All preparations for C.R.C.s’s baptism were in place and it would take place in about another 10 days on October 3rd. While I was at the Grotto that day I continually felt nothing but satisfaction and excitement for C.R.C.'s upcoming baptism. As a small token of my heart felt thanks I placed a few roses on the altar at the Lourdes Grotto for Our Lady. Later that day I placed a single rose on the statue of The Little Flower. I remember thinking what a nice picture that would make and I wished I had my camera. I then remembered that I did have my camera in the console of my truck and I went to get it. When I returned to the statue of Saint Therese I took the picture of the rose implanted at her feet. It turned out to be a beautiful picture. As I was leaving I walked up to the statue of Our Lady of Fatima and I took a picture of it.

At that point something spectacular took place. At the very instant I snapped the shutter on the camera the same exact peaceful, tranquil feeling that I experienced 6 years earlier on the night C.R.C. was beat up completly overcame me again. The feeling was exactly the same as the feeling I had when I looked at the picture of C.R.C. and the crucifix I bought at the flea market and said “Thanks for nothing”. This feeling is not comparable to anything I have ever experienced. When I returned home that evening I placed the camera in a wicker basket on top of the refrigerator. I did not touch the camera again until the day C.R.C. was baptized on October 3. My mother was holding the camera that still had a few shots left before the end of the roll. She took a picture of Fr. ___ anointing C.R.C.s chest with oil. That was the last picture the camera ever took and it has never worked since.

On December 8, 1998 I went to mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It was pouring down ice cold rain that day. When I returned home from mass I sat down and wrote my family the letter I have just shared with you. When I had completed that I was catching up on things around the house due to the rain. I remembered the roll of film in the camera and decided to go to Wal Mart and get it developed. I was astounded when I saw the picture of Our Lady of Fatima. The picture was not the same as I remembered when I took it. In the picture there is a burst of light over Mary’s right shoulder and once your eyes get into sync with the picture the burst of light CLEARLY becomes a side profile of the Face of Christ looking down and smiling at His Mother. This is not my imagination because everyone I show it to INCLUDING several priest have said they see it without a doubt. Even people who could not find the face on there own see it once it has been pointed out to them. After you have seen it for the first time your eyes go straight to it every time thereafter. I had heard of things like this happening but never thought it would happen to me, but it did.