My Family

October 31 - November 1, 2003

A few nights ago I received an email from Steve K stating that the Friday night Rosary for Life had been canceled because of trick or treaters. Because of this email I had no intention of going to Emmitsburg to pray the rosary on Friday night. That was fine because the 3rd Order of The Missionary of Charity meetings have been changed to the 1st Saturday of each month and that would be the following morning after the 8 AM mass at St. Mary’s.

I was extremely busy at work for the best part of the day after many interruptions and delays. When I was finally able to take my lunch break I drove to Our Lady of The Blue Ridge to pray the rosary. When I finished the rosary I looked at my watch and the time was 1:13. I drove back to work and arrived at 1:33.

After returning to work I spent the rest of the afternoon resisting a constant bombardment of sudden urges to go to St. Joseph’s and pray the rosary tonight. The thought that accompanied each sudden urge was to join with The Blessed Virgin Mary to offset the evil and Satanic practices that accompany Halloween. The desire struck so often that it seemed to be a matter of urgency. Each time I felt the need to glance at my watch and each time it would say XX:XX:13 or 33. The final urge struck and at that instant I just happened to notice the time on my computer screen switch to 4:33.

I called S.C.C on my cell phone and told her that I changed my mind and was going. She said ok but did not seem very happy about it. I arrived in Emmitsburg and just as I turned off of Rt. 15 onto South Seton Avenue a car pulled out in front of me with a Maryland license plate that read OURLADY.

I followed behind this car on my way to St. Joseph’s. About 3 blocks before getting to St. Joseph’s a fireman stopped all traffic. He walked up to my truck and explained that the street was going to be closed for about 20 minutes because of the VFW Halloween parade. As I was turning my truck off the time on the dash was 7:13.

Traffic sat there and after a while the same fireman came up to my window and said “That’s the tail end of the parade, it should only be a few more minutes”. A few minutes passed and traffic did start moving again. I traveled the last 3 blocks of my trip to St. Joseph’s and arrived at 7:33.

I prayed the 3 remaining mysteries of the rosary that I started earlier in the day at Our Lady of the Blue Ridge. When I finished I returned to my truck to go home. When I started the truck the time on the dash was 8:13. I drove home and glanced at my watch just as the truck came to a complete stop. It said XX:XX:33.

November 1, 2003

I got up this morning very early because I wanted to attend the 3rd Order of The Missionaries of Charity meeting at St. Mary’s. It was scheduled to begin with 8 AM mass for the feast of All Saints. I drove to Emmitsburg and was running a little early so I decided that I would stop at the Grotto of Lourdes and just take a quick, early morning walk through. I arrived at 7:33.

When I left the Grotto I rode by St. Joseph’s. When I arrived the odometer was 1.3. I glanced at my watch as I was getting out of my truck and it said XX:XX:13. I left the truck running while I went in and just prayed 1 Hail Mary. I then left and drove to St. Mary’s and when I arrived the odometer was 33.

Mass had just started as I walked in the church. Fr. Messaro was the celebrant. (He is the only priest at St. Mary’s.) After mass we had the meeting which lasted for about an hour. After the meeting Phil C asked me if I would help him copy the 33 Day Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. We made the copies and when we finished I drove back to St. Joseph’s because I wanted to pray my rosary. I prayed the entire rosary and when I finished I looked at my watch and the time was 11:33.

I walked out the front door and the time was still 11:33 and I then walked over to the Palms Restaurant and got something to eat. I then stopped again at the Grotto of Lourdes on my way home. When I arrived the main parking lot was full so I had to ride down to the overflow parking lot. At the very instant the truck came to a complete stop I just happened to notice my watch and it said 12:13:33. I made one more walk through the Grotto and returned to my truck to go home. When I pulled out of the Grotto the time was 12:33.

I drove home and was delayed by heavy Saturday traffic in both Fredrick and Leesburg. When I finally arrived home and pulled in my driveway the time on the dash was 3:13.

Later that evening we went to mass at "Parish Church". I was scheduled to be Eucharistic minister and C.R.C was also scheduled to serve. Just before mass started S.C.C said she wanted to talk to me later tonight. I instantly knew something was bothering her and I could tell she had been crying.

After mass C.R.C went home with my sister and spent the night there. S.C.C and I went home and had a much needed talk. During this talk it became very clear to me that S.C.C feels there needs to be a better balance of things.

She expressed a sadness of knowing that I am doing the best I can considering the circumstances but feeling left out because I don’t talk to her enough about what is happening in my life with the events in Emmitsburg. She wanted to know why I don’t tell her more. This made me feel very sad that she felt this way and I really did not know exactly how to respond.

I told S.C.C that the biggest reason that I don’t just sit down and talk about it very much is because I do not know how to talk about it. I do not have the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation with anyone regarding what I am currently experiencing. The only way I can tell this is to sit down and write it down.

S.C.C has read some of the papers I have written in the past but unfortunately she has not read any that I have written in over a year. The reason for that is because after I write it I just stick it in a folder that I am keeping and I don’t even go back and read them. I don’t need to.

This has caused S.C.C to fall a year behind in the events that have taken place in my life except for very brief verbal descriptions that I have given her. I do not like talking about the events that are taking place in my life and try not to whenever possible.

S.C.C is now reading every page I have ever written regarding Emmitsburg. S.C.C also asked me if we could go on a vacation. I said yes and she said she wanted to go to Medjugorje.

R_____ C___

Nov. 2, 2003

10:33 Pm