DOT 1 CONNECTING THE DOTS Someone recently asked me if Mary, the mother of Jesus, has ever appeared to me, or spoken to me directly. My answer was a cautious yes and no. The strange look on the person asking indicated utter confusion. I can't adequately answer such a complicated question in simple terms. It's not that easy because what I have witnessed and continue to witness, is not of this world. I have come to the conclusion that many people who have little, or no faith want to believe in something, anything. People want a response or imagine a reenactment as one might see in a religious movie. "Kevin, does she appear on a cloud, and do you hear harps or violins? You know, angelic music. Does she gently whisper words to you?" My response is, "It's not at all like you may have seen in some movie with dialogue written by a Hollywood atheist." What I have witnessed is nothing like that. I have no words to describe such beauty and holiness. I do know that when I pray, especially while reciting our blessed Mother's rosary, she is always, as promised, by my side. Whenever I lead the rosary with fellow parishioners, Mary, Our Blessed Mother, appears. I know that she is there, standing to my left, just behind the altar. Usually, I do not see her face, but only her forearms which appear to be translucent and aglow. I hear no words from her, but I know that her hands are open with palms up with white light radiating from them. I have learned that this light is God Himself and through it, He is blessing all who have gathered to recite Mary's blessed rosary. I have also learned that where there is Mary, there is Jesus, and where there is Jesus, there is God. Always. In addition to Mary, Jesus is behind me and to my right in the blessed tabernacle. I have witnessed radiant light coming from this wood and gold structure while reciting the rosary with young Catholic school children. On one occasion, a parent in attendance captured this spiritual glow while photographing her child. The first time I ever felt and witnessed the presence of Mary was in 2017 during a pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal. This encounter occurred as I sat alone on a concrete bench in an olive grove in front of a massive statue of the Virgin Mary. I remember just staring at it. The air was totally still, and calmness surrounded me. I decided to break the ice and speak to Mary directly. I suddenly broke my silence and proudly proclaimed to her, "Mary, I've written a book and I have recorded two rosary apps; so now what?" As soon as I finished my arrogant remark to Mary, something shot past my right ear. Whatever it was hit the ground with such force it startled me. "What the?" I nearly swore. I looked down and noticed a brown pinecone lying next to my right shoe. That's it, that's what almost killed me, I said to myself. I also noticed that seeds from this pinecone had come loose and now lay on the red bricks. As I stared at the seeds, I heard Mary's response: "Plant the seeds of my Rosary." Such a gentle response to my rude question. I heard nothing more. Suddenly, I found myself back in the real world. That's when my eyes caught Fr. Mark, the leader of our pilgrimage, approaching me. I stood up and shouted, "How many pine-cones do you see lying on the ground around here?" With a puzzled look he asked, "What are you talking about?" I repeated my question, "How many pinecones do you see lying on the ground?" Father slowly scanned the area around him and said, "None. I don't see any pinecones, why?" Like a police detective, I pointed to the broken pinecone and seeds lying next to my right shoe, "This one almost hit me in the head and could have killed me." Fr. Mark looked around and noticed something that I had not. "We are in an olive garden, Kevin. There are no pine trees here." I shot back, "Well, this pinecone from a pine tree that's not here, almost hit me in the head!" Fr. Mark laughed and said, "Kevin, if it had hit you in the head, it would not have hurt because you don't have a brain." I picked up the pinecone, carefully collected the seeds and placed them in my jacket pocket. Since leaving the olive garden that day, my life has never been the same. I now knew exactly why I was born and what my new life's mission was: To plant the seeds of Mary's rosary. I often hold this pinecone from Fatima while reciting the Sorrowful Mysteries. The first Sorrowful Mystery, "The Agony in the Garden," commemorates Jesus on the night he was betrayed, alone in a garden of olive trees called Gethsemane, just outside Jerusalem. It was here that Jesus felt alone and abandoned, even by His Father in Heaven, as he awaited His own death. I can relate. I have felt totally alone so many times in my life. How-ever, I now realize that I was never really alone. If we choose to be with God and love Him, He is always with us. If anyone had asked me thirty years ago if I would someday write a book about God, my response would have been, "Are you high?" Not only am I writing a second book about God, but I'm now convinced God created me to plant the seeds of the rosary. Before writing my first book, I wish I had taken photos of the broken statue of the Virgin lying in the snow next to a filthy dumpster. I would have recorded the exact time of day and would have asked the name of the clerk who let me take the broken Madonna home with me. Now, looking back at my entire life, I wish I had kept a journal, a detailed diary of it. Just as God knows every second of my life and will review it on my Judgment Day, I would have a record revealing everything that has happened during my life. Well, maybe not everything. Time has really flown by since that cold, dreary day in 2011. It's now been more than eleven years since God called me to that dirty dumpster outside a flower shop in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since that day, I've kept a detailed record of events that I or others have witnessed relating to Broken Mary. I began this discipline in January of 2015 as I was preparing for a trip to Fatima, Portugal to visit the shrine of the mother of Jesus Christ herself-a trip that would forever change my life. At the end of my first book, Broken Mary: A Journey of Hope, I wrote about a small child asking my dear friend, Fr. Mark Przybysz, to see the statue of Broken Mary. This little boy was asking for his mother. He wanted to physically take the statue home for someone who was sick and in great need of prayer. As I wrote about this child, I could not help but recall the quote, "And a little child will lead them." (Isaiah 11:6) I ended my first book referencing a child and now, within the first pages of this new book, I will reference innocent children who lived in poverty. These children are Lucia Santos and her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, the shepherd children living in a small village outside Fatima, Portugal in 1917. I will refer to these children continuously throughout this book. I will also reference the miracles of Lourdes and Fatima, two events that have had life-changing impact during my conversion and have become the foundation of the love I have for God today. These two miracles involved children. One involved a French girl named Bernadette Soubirous, who was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858. The other involved three young shepherd children from Fatima, Portugal. Lucia Santos and her cousins, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, were visited by the Angel of Peace in 1916 and then by the Virgin Mary beginning in 1917. These children had many things in common. They were poor, uneducated, Catholic, they recited their rosaries daily, and they all witnessed the presence of Mary. All miracles begin with God, including the holy events at Lourdes and Fatima. Before sixteen-year-old Bernadette saw, heard, and spoke to our Blessed Mother Mary, God prepared Bernadette for this holy encounter in Lourdes, France. God's intervention in Bernadette's life by placing her alone in a grotto in 1858 is an example of Divine Providence. It involves God placing us in His personal care at a specific location and time to alter our very being and, indeed, the entire universe. The story of Bernadette demonstrates, once again, that there are no coincidences. She was in poor health due to respiratory problems that eventually led to tuberculosis and, ultimately, her death. Since Bernadette could become ill very easily, her mother did all she could to protect her from the cold. One day, she needed firewood and asked Bernadette's sister and her friend to go out into the woods and gather some. The girls were excited to go and began to leave when Bernadette pleaded with her mother, "May I go too Momma, please?" Reluctantly, her mother replied, "Okay, but dress warmly and keep your feet dry. You girls watch over Bernadette so that she does not catch cold." The three girls left the tiny house with excitement. They soon came upon some fallen wood, but it was on the other side of a stream. Bernadette's sister, remembering her mother's words, instructed Bernadette to wait behind while the other two waded across to gather the wood. Bernadette was left waiting alone in this now-famous grotto in Lourdes, France where God arranged the...
