Right on the heels of my struggle and resolution regarding Purgatory, my wife came face-to-face with her own stumbling block. I was reminded of this again last evening as I shared our “Journey Home” interview from 2018 with the R.C.I.A. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) class in our pastorate.
It was March 1, 2014. We decided to get away for an extended weekend. My wife found a very nice hotel at a discounted price. The hotel was in Bethesda, Maryland. We had no plans as to what we would do or see there, but once there we discovered that we were very close to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.
One of the places we spent a great deal of time was in the bookstore, where I bought my first Rosary. My wife collected several books we wanted to read to help her on her journey. We walked around and met a man named Tim who told us about his aunt who had a vision of the Blessed Virgin while visiting Mary’s home in Ephesus. His aunt had since had a replica of the house built in Jamaica, Vermont.
We sat drinking water and talking and my wife was in tears several times as the beauty, truth and reality was sinking in. After reading Revelation 12 she began to see Our Lady in a different light.
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. (Revelation 12:17).
Interestingly, on the way down to Bethesda, as my wife was driving and I was reading to her (our normal custom) from Dr. Scott Hahn’s book “Hail, Holy Queen,” she had said to me, “Mary is not my mother!” I responded back to her, “But she wants to be.” When she read the words from Revelation about the “rest of her offspring,” the tears flowed again.
The Catholic understanding of the Blessed Virgin Mary is often a stumbling block for non-Catholics to accept from the start. This was certainly the case for my precious wife.
Fast forward to my journal entry for March 8, 2015, just over a year later…
A week ago when my wife and I asked for one clear sign related to our future, I had no idea how you, Lord, responded until last evening on our way home from Catholic Underground (an evening sponsored by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal centered on adoration before the Blessed Sacrament). A little background—
We had planned to go to Catholic Underground and had invited our friend to accompany us. Just before I went to get the car I received a text from our friend that he wasn’t going to be able to go as his wife was feeling really bad. I was disappointed, but sensed that was an important evening for the two of us.
It was a beautiful evening of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. I gave my wife her space, but I sensed something significant was happening. It was beautiful adoring Christ and singing “10,000 Reasons.” And it was as I sensed, my wife had a very precious time and as we got back to the car she told me, “I’m Catholic!” My heart rejoiced within me! Up to this time she was willing to let me convert alone.
Then she shared the sign that was truly remarkable and one she had kept to herself for a week. On March 1, a year after our conversation at the Basilica, she woke up in the middle of the night to the strong smell of roses. The smell lasted several seconds and she knew. After hearing the witness of another convert several weeks before about the scent of roses, we had talked a few times about what it would take for her to move across the few remaining “sticking points,” chief among them being the Blessed Virgin. The sign she had asked for was given and now our hearts are completely united to pursue God’s call, fully anticipating a tumultuous journey ahead.
I never realized that it was exactly a year later that I woke up to that scent.... and having the total opposite reaction from those moments at the Basilica!
Ironic, huh? God had that planned all along... and it was such a beautiful answer to my angst about going back to my Catholic roots! Thank YOU Jesus!