3rd Order of the Missionaries of Charity

Thursday October 23, 2003

Over the period of the past few months I have been considering joining the 3rd Order of the Missionaries of Charity. If I decide to join and if I am accepted I will take the vows of the Lay Missionaries of Charity on Monday December 8, 2003 at the 8 AM mass at St. Mary’s in Fairfield. This will be under the direction of Fr. Ray Walsh M.C. and Fr. Mike Messaro M.SS.CC.

Phil C reminded me this past Sunday at the Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta mass that there would be a meeting regarding this on Thursday evening at St. Mary’s. The meetings I have attended in the past worked out well because they fell on Friday nights when I was there anyway.

Thursday morning arrived and when I woke up I just laid in bed for a while. When I did roll over and get up I could not help but notice that the time on the clock was 7:33. I attended mass at "Parish Church" and was Eucharistic minister.

There were 4 other Eucharistic ministers at mass and I waited for any of them to get up first and go up. None of them moved. I glanced at my watch and it said XX:XX:13 so I went up for a 2nd straight day.

I went to work in "hometown" and was fairly busy most of the day. I got up to take a break and ran into a co-worker who is a fallen away Catholic. I have been trying to get him to return to the church.

Today was the 2nd time I had run into him since Friday October 3 when he came to my desk with a document that was intended to convince me that Jesus Christ had biological brothers and sisters. He is also convinced that the Catholic Church is the work of Satan himself and all Catholics go straight to Hell. He was a Catholic for almost 50 years.

I was happy to see that he was still speaking to me after I rebuked each of his arguments with the enclosed letter to him on October 6th. The time was 12:13.

When I returned to my desk, Carrol another co-worker asked me if I was ready to go to lunch. We went downstairs and ate in the cafeteria and we were joined by another person. When we finished eating I left the building for a few minutes to go pray the rosary at "Parish Church".

When I arrived I saw Fr.___ working in his flower beds and he had boxes of flower bulbs and bags of dirt loaded on the back of a truck. I offered to help him unload them. I placed 2 boxes of bulbs closer to where he was going to plant them. I then walked in the church to pray the rosary. I glanced at my watch as I walked in and the time was 1:13. I prayed the Luminous mysteries and looked at my watch just at I finished and the time was 1:33:33. I drove back to work and when I arrived the odometer was 1.3.

Later in the day while I was walking to the media library at work I literally stopped in my tracks because suddenly a very happy and peaceful feeling came over me, the same kind of feeling that I instantly recognize and associate with being in Emmitsburg. I looked at my watch and the time was 3:33.

When I got off work I drove to Fairfield to go to the LMC meeting at St. Mary’s. Traffic was not to bad until reaching Fredrick, Maryland. Traffic was backed up for at least 2 miles. It ended up being a traffic accident in the south bound lane that should not have had any effect on the north bound lane but it did because of people slowing down to see the accident.

I thought the meeting was at 6:30 and I was going to be late. When I arrived in Emmitsburg I stopped first at St. Joseph’s and arrived at 6:33.

I got out of my truck and just walked up to the corner of the church and kissed it because I don’t know what else to do to show my love and thanks. I got back in my truck and rode to St. Mary’s and when I arrived nobody was there except the choir. I did not see anybody from the LMC.

I started thinking I had the wrong day because I thought the meeting started at 6:30 and now its about 6:45. I called Karen Major to ask and just about that time I saw Phil C pull up. It ended up that the meeting started at 7.

Fr. Messaro was running late and when he did not show up Phil called him. He asked us to come down the hill to the rectory and we would have the meeting there. I rode to the rectory with Phil. We took 2 cars because there were about 8 of us. After the meeting I rode back to where my truck was parked with Phil. When Phil started his car the time on the dash was 8:33.

Phil dropped me off at my truck and then I started driving home. On the way I stopped at St. Joseph’s to finish the rosary I had started earlier in the day at "Parish Church". I walked around the church praying the Joyful, Sorrowful and Glorious. When I finished I got back in my truck to go home. When I started it the time on the dash was 9:33. I drove home and pulled in my driveway at 11:33:59.

R_____ C___

Oct. 26, 2003

8:33 Pm