C.R.C has been looking forward to attending the dinner sponsored by the Knights of Columbus for the altar boys on Friday June 27. He wanted me to go with him. I told him that we would go. This would mean that I would be unable to go to Emmitsburg on this night like I usually do. A few days earlier on June 24, I was thinking about this and very suddenly decided that I would ask by boss for Thursday June 26 off and I would attend the 3 PM rosary at St. Joseph’s. I sent him an email asking for the day off and while I was typing it up I suddenly felt that sudden surge of peace run through me. I looked at my watch and the time was 2:33. I got home from work that night and told S.C.C. about my plans and she said that she and C.R.C would like to go too.
Thursday came and I started the day by attending daily mass at "Parish Church", since I was off from work I stayed for the Thursday morning rosary after mass. I was asked to take the 5th decade of the Mysteries of Light. When I finished my decade I was again struck with a strong sense of peace. I glanced at my watch and the time was 9:13. I drove home and when I got there S.C.C. and C.R.C were almost ready to leave for Emmitsburg. Shortly after we pulled out of the driveway we called Ted to see if he wanted to ride up with us. Ted said yes.
We picked Ted up at Walmart in Leesburg and he said he was hungry and needed to get something to eat. We rode through the Burger King drive-through and everybody ended up getting something. When we finally got out of there we started driving to Emmitsburg and the time on the dash was 12:13. S.C.C. said she wanted to go to the Emmitsburg Antique Mall first. I needed to drive to Gettysburg and pick up my Confederate Spiller & Burr revolver that been sitting in a Civil War relic shop on consignment for about the past year. It has not sold because they were asking to much for it. I have decided that I will personally handle the sale of any Civil War relics out of my collection.
Ted would have no interest in going to the Antique Mall or the Civil War relic shop so we dropped him off at the Grotto of Lourdes. I told him that I would be back to pick him up in plenty of time to be at St. Joseph’s for the 3 PM rosary. I then drove S.C.C. and C.R.C over to the Antique Mall which is only about a block from St. Joseph’s. S.C.C. said she and C.R.C would just walk over to St. Joseph’s for the rosary. I then drove to Gettysburg and went to the Horse Soldier relic shop and picked up my Spiller & Burr revolver. They blamed the poor economy for it not selling but the truth is they were asking to much over what I said I would take for it.
I then drove back to Emmitsburg and went directly to St. Joseph’s. When I arrived the time on the dash was 2:13 and the odometer was 33. I walked inside and nobody else was there. I just stayed for a little while and prayed that God will continue to give me whatever strength I will need to endure these events that take place daily. These papers only describe a fraction of what this is really like. I left and drove back over to the Grotto and picked up Ted and we rode back over to St. Joseph’s for the 3 PM rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy. S.C.C. and C.R.C were already there when we arrived.
They started with the Chaplet of Divine Mercy followed by the entire rosary. Each person takes a decade right down the line. During the rosary I again felt the peace that is so strong which was triggered by seeing the very obvious faith of all who were there. I started wondering what God had done in their lives to make their faith in the apparitions of Our Lady of Emmitsburg as real to them as it is to me. As I pondered this question in my mind during the rosary, I looked at my watch and the time was 3:33. We continued the rosary and it finished at 4:13.
After it was over we stood outside and talked for a little while and then rode over to St. Peter’s book store because there was a rosary bracelet that S.C.C. wanted to buy. S.C.C. bought the bracelet and we then rode over the Grotto of Lourdes and arrived there at 5:13. We walked around for a while then S.C.C. went off by herself. A little while later C.R.C came up to me and asked “Where’s mom ?” I said , I guess she’s around here somewhere. C.R.C and I started walking and found S.C.C. kneeling in prayer at the foot of the statue of Our Lady of Medjugorje. C.R.C and I stood there quietly and S.C.C. did not know that we were behind her. S.C.C. associates her fathers death with Our Lady of Medjugorje because we were in Medjugorje when he died on the anniversary of C.R.C being beat up. As I stood there looking at her I could not help but feel the overwhelming sense of peace over seeing such a strong conversion and love of the Catholic Church that S.C.C. has even when her conversion is still strongly rejected by her family. As this ran through my mind I glanced down and the time was 5:33.
R_____ C___
July 6, 2003
12:33 Pm