"Do whatever HE tells you," John 2:5

It was August, 1993 in Chesapeake, Va., when we heard the tornado warning. My husband immediately yelled, “Get into the closets!” Soon I heard the deafening roar of the proverbial ‘freight-train.’ Terrified, I thought, ‘This can’t be happening!’ “Something” made me, I mean made me, cry out loudly, “HAIL, MARY, FULL OF GRACE!”

Then all was calm. We looked outside to behold a bizarre sight. There were six huge pine trees twisted off about 20 feet up but just a few shingles sheared off the ridge of our two-story home. Sadly, other families suffered substantial damages but thankfully no casualties.

I didn’t have the presence of mind in my weak faith to say, “Hail, Mary…,” from my own paralyzed heart. The “something” that made me cry, “Hail, Mary…,” was the Holy Spirit. With His faithful, steadfast love and mercy poured instantaneously into my soul, He strengthened and enlightened my will with His grace in that perilous moment. He instantly set the words in my mouth; I simply cried out mindlessly, “Hail, Mary, full of grace!”

Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

What an amazing gift from God who blessed me with His Sacred Word while glorifying Himself by saving our family of five. +Thank-you, LORD!+

I’ve pondered the words “Hail, Mary, full of grace” (Luke 1:26-56). I believe The Blessed Virgin Mary, our ever attentive Mother, was looking after us just as she looked after the people at the Wedding of Cana when she said, “They have no wine…Do whatever HE tells you”; then Jesus manifested His glory with a miracle (John 2:1-11).

The Blessed Mother sensed my need as I was fixed with fear. She alerted her Son who moved me to exclaim His Holy Saving Word bringing honor to Himself and to her with my compelling cry, “Hail, Mary, full of grace!”

In my distress, I humbly obeyed what God told me to say.

I also obey His Blessed Mother by saying the Holy Rosary: a meditation on the life of Christ with an abundance of “Hail, Marys…” (Luke 1:28,42) that proclaim love for Jesus and His Blessed Mother. The adoring Blessed Mother points us to her Son, which serves to multiply our love and adoration for Jesus (God) whom we solely worship.

Dogma of the Faith states that Mary was given a singular privilege and grace by God that preserved her from the stain of original sin at her conception. With free-will, Mary cooperated with grace by saying, ‘Yes,’ to God always. Mary humbly said, “…henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). By saying the Holy Rosary, especially daily, we fulfill that prophecy.

After I read St. Louis de Montfort’s “The Secret of the Rosary,” God’s grace prompted me to cooperate by saying and praying the Holy Rosary every day. Search online: ‘How to pray the rosary.’

Cooperate with grace, because without JESUS you can do nothing (John 15). “Do whatever HE tells you.”