Saint Joseph’s Church

February 10, 2003

When I woke up this morning I walked in the kitchen to get a drink and the time on the microwave was 5:13. I thought about going back to bed but I gave into the urge to pray the rosary instead. I sat in the rocking chair in the living room and prayed the Joyful mysteries. Later in the morning I attended daily mass at "Parish Church" and then went to work in "hometown". I took care of a few things there and then I needed to go to Manassas. When I arrived in Manassas I stopped first at All Saint’s to pray another rosary before going across the street to work. I walked in the adoration chapel to pray the rosary. There was a funeral in progress in the main part of the church for a young mother named Julie and her 2 children, Haley and Ian ages 1 and 3 who were killed in a car crash. This made it very difficult to keep my mind on the rosary I was praying. I offered the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary for them and the surviving family members. When I finished and was leaving the time was 10:33.

Later while I was working people were going to lunch so I took my lunch break too. I never looked at the clock and went over to All Saint’s to pray the Glorious mysteries, I looked at my watch as I walked in the chapel and the time was 12:33. There was another funeral in progress for someone named Joseph so I prayed for him too. When I finished I went back to work and finished up in Manassas. I then drove back to "hometown" and finished up my work day there. I called my sister, Barbara because we were scheduled to go to her house tonight for dinner because it is my mothers 73rd birthday. Barbara told me that Erik was very sick in the bed with the flu and to be aware of that before coming over tonight. I called my mother and we decided that we would go out to eat on Saturday night for her birthday and not run the risk of getting sick.

I finished all of my work and at the very instant I was shutting down my computer I was filled with peace and a very strong desire to go the Miraculous Medal novena at St. Joseph’s tonight. My computer was still shutting down and the time on the screen was 5:13. As I was walking out of the building to go to Emmitsburg I looked at my watch and it said XX:XX:13. I got in my truck and started driving and called Ted to see if he wanted to go. Ted said yes and I told him that I would pick him up at the Leesburg Wal Mart in about an hour. When I hung up I just happened to notice the odometer was 3.3. I picked Ted up and we drove to St. Joseph’s and when we arrived the odometer was 13 and the time was 7:33. Fr. O’Brien was the celebrant.

The novena ended and mass started and I continued my prayers for the mother and children who were killed in the car accident. While we were standing for the gospel I remembered that tomorrow was the feast of Lourdes and suddenly a halo of light was around the head of the statue of Mary in the front of the church. I then looked over to the right and a halo of light was around the head of Jesus. The halo around Jesus was brighter and lasted longer than Mary’s.

When mass was over we left and the time was 8:13. As we pulled out from St. Joseph’s the trip meter portion of the odometer switched to 1.3. We drove back and I dropped Ted off at Walmart and I pulled in my driveway at 10:33.