C.R.C. Is Considering a Vocation to the Priesthood

November 30, 2016

 

Where do I begin? Sometimes it seems like an eternity since the days of Our Lady’s weekly appearances at St. Joseph’s in Emmitsburg and other times my mind can go straight back in the instant of a flash with crystal clarity to a specific night or event relating to Our Lady of Emmitsburg. The closure of The Thursday Night Prayer Group at St. Joseph’s has left a hole in my heart. At the same time it has left me with memories of the best days of my life, the happiest days of my life that I will treasure until the longest day I live.

It has been sad to see the apparitions of Mary treated as if they were a cancer that needed to be removed and destroyed. The attacks have been fierce and non-stop from many different angles. Many using untruthful accusations that I know are false.

For the moment it may seem as if those attacks have been successful. It gives me comfort to know that all true apparitions of Mary are met with this kind of resistance. Eventually, when the power and authority of the apparition is released in God’s time the power of the resistance diminishes to the point where graces begin to be recognized and the realization of the truth and good fruits are eventually realized such as Lourdes and Fatima. The list goes on to include all approved apparitions remembering that all of them were at one time unapproved.

Emmitsburg will be no different. In my family and in the families of others who were there the graces never ceased after the Thursday Night Prayer Group was shut down. Actually in many ways they increased and for whatever reason God did not allow doubt to enter into our precious experience of being there. As far as I am concerned that is a miracle in itself.

I remember in the early days of our being present at St. Joseph’s for the Thursday night apparition of Our Lady to Gianna some things happened that I just filed into the back of my mind without giving much thought to. This is one of them:

One Thursday (I don’t know which one) we arrived at St. Joseph’s. It was near Christmas and the Nativity Scene was set up at the front of the church. My son, C.R.C. who was about 7 or 8 years old at the time walked up to the Nativity Scene and knelt down and prayed for what seemed like a long time. It was during that time that a woman walked up to S.C.C. and I and said “I have to tell you something. “That child will be a priest someday.” I simply replied to the woman that time would tell. I had no idea who that woman was and still don’t but have never forgotten that statement.

C.R.C. is twenty five now and has turned out to be a very fine man. As a child and through his teenage years he had his normal ups and downs like all kids. But looking back on things there were times that I now think were signs of things to come. For instance he came to me when he was about twelve or thirteen saying he felt harassed by something evil. I don’t know how to explain it so I won’t but it bothered him for a good while.

Later when he was about 15 on May 13, 2006 Our Lady appeared to Gianna in our living room and the sequence of events that led up to C.R.C. being present was astounding so I will recount it here as taken from the original paper I wrote at that time:

I started driving home and was almost there when I remembered that S.C.C. had asked me to pick up a bottle of wine for the Jesus of Mercy prayer group and dinner at our house tonight at 5 pm. I turned around. It was at the instant I was turning the car around when SUDDENLY a CRASHING thought BOOMED through my mind that The Blessed Virgin Mary would appear to Gianna Sullivan tonight at my house during the rosary. I looked down and the time on the dash was 2:33 and the odometer was 1.3.

I arrived back in Emmitsburg and picked up a bottle of wine and drove back to the house. By the time I got there S.C.C. had just about everything ready.

The Jesus of Mercy prayer group was scheduled to begin at 5 pm and Richard and Rosalie Schneider were the first to arrive and about a minute later Gianna and Mike Sullivan arrived. It was the first time any of them had ever been to our house.

The prayer group is for married couples so C.R.C. stayed upstairs and watched a movie on his computer. Except for S.C.C. and I nobody even knew C.R.C. was in the house.

We all had a glass of wine and just talked for about the first half hour or so. We then sat in the living room and started the prayer group by reading the Liturgy Of The Hours first. When that was completed we got ready to pray the rosary. Before we started the rosary Gianna said it was unlikely that Our Lady would appear during to rosary but the possibility existed. Despite what happened earlier today at 2:33 I was not expecting it to happen.

We decided to pray the Sorrowful mysteries because we had prayed the Joyful, Glorious and Luminous during the Fatima Armata Bianca procession earlier in the day. I started the rosary and took the 1^st decade. Richard took the 2^nd decade and S.C.C. had the 3rd. Rosalie had the 4^th decade. Our Lady had not come by the time it was over. Because Our Lady always comes during the 3^rd or 4^th I did not even consider there being any chance of Her coming and I abandoned any thought that it could happen.

Mike Sullivan took the 5^th decade and very shortly later the phone rang. C.R.C. was upstairs and picked it up on the 2^nd ring. A few minutes later the phone rang a 2^nd time and again C.R.C. picked it up on the 2^nd ring. It was getting a little annoying. I could not believe it when the phone rang the 3^rd time.

This time C.R.C. came walking down stairs with a note in his hand and at the VERY INSTANT he walked into the room Gianna bolted to her knees and before her knees hit the carpet she had turned 90 degrees towards Sr. Genevieve’s picture of Our Lady of Emmitsburg that hangs in our living room.  C.R.C. went to his knees at the same time because he realized that Our Lady had just come. C.R.C. was stunned to find himself suddenly present during an apparition looking right at Gianna from about 2 feet away. Our Lady appeared at 6:20 pm after the 9^th Hail Mary of the 5^th decade.

The timing of C.R.C.’s arrival to bring me a phone message from Dr. J.F. was perfectly timed with Our Lady’s arrival. The best way I can describe it is like 2 perfectly timed simultaneous gunshots. So perfectly timed that the two shots  sounds like only one. It was incredible.

The apparition lasted about 4 or 5 minutes. When Our Lady left Mike continued the rosary with the last Hail Mary and had a small smile on his face. Just as we completed the rosary Richard said “My God did you see how your son arrived here just at the instant of the apparition? INCREDIBLE !”

It was amazing and everyone in the room knew this was not by chance. It turned out that the first two phone calls were from C.R.C.’s friend P.F. and the third phone call was from his dad, Dr. J.F.. C.R.C. misunderstood what Joe said to him and thought it was an important phone call that I needed to know about. So he wrote a note to bring down stairs to me.

It was very clear that Our Lady used P.F. and Dr. J.F. to cause C.R.C. to walk downstairs at the precise instant of the apparition. Our Lady is such a loving and caring Mother that She was not about to appear to Gianna in our house and leave C.R.C. upstairs in his room and not be present when She arrived. It was unbelievable but it happened.

After the rosary we sat down at the dinner table to eat and C.R.C. left to go to the movies with the Ferguson’s. We had a very nice dinner and suddenly while we were eating I had a sudden thought about Our Lady having appeared in our house on the 13^th and it was only the 11^th that Fr. Leo was here and blessed our house. As this thought crashed through my mind I glanced at my watch and the time was 7:13

After dinner we completed the prayer group by reading the selected reading which were Acts 2 1-13.  We then continued to sit around the table and talk for a long time. Later Richard and Rosalie left and about 10 or 15 minutes later Mike and Gianna left. After they left S.C.C. and I walked back in the house and the time on the kitchen clock was 9:13.

Shortly later C.R.C. arrived home from the movies. He wanted to talk about what had happened. He was still stunned. We decieded to pray a family rosary in thanksgiving for what had just happened. We completed the rosary and I glanced at my watch and the time was 10:33:33.

 

Of all of our personal experiences in Emmitsburg this one along with a few other spectacular moments remain etched into my memory with the clearest detail. I can always think back on it and it’s like it just happened.

Since that time there have been times that I would get a sudden thought about C.R.C. becoming a priest. Sometimes it would be so sudden and out of nowhere that I knew to glance at my watch and the time would always be 13 or 33 minutes past the hour. Sometimes I would have that sudden thought crash through my mind while driving. I would glance at my watch and it would be nothing then as I looked up the oncoming car had the license plate of 333.

This past summer C.R.C. came up to me and told me he was thinking about the priesthood. He said he has been giving it some thought and it might be something he would like to do. He said he would be praying about it. I told him I would also pray. One day I was mowing grass in our front yard when I had a sudden thought about C.R.C. being a priest and at the same time an exorcist. This thought was so sudden and strong I knew I had to glance at my watch and the time was 11:13:13.

Two days later C.R.C. called as he was driving back from Emmitsburg and we talked for a very long time about our experiences in Emmitsburg. I mentioned to him about the thought of him becoming a priest/exorcist and it stunned him. C.R.C. then revealed to me for the very first time that becoming a priest/exorcist has been on his mind for a long time!

Another example is my mom has been in the hospital with pneumonia and I was visiting her and my sister B.M. was there. I mentioned to her that C.R.C. was thinking about becoming a priest. She said “I know… I have known that for years.”  She then told me that he had that feeling years ago in St. Josephs during the apparition and it has remained with her ever since. She said she is not at all surprised and actually expected it ever since C.R.C. was 7 or 8 years old. She told me this and the time was 3:13 PM.

R.C.

Nov 30, 2016

3:33 PM