Stories of Mary: Mary’s Delayed Response

A True, Recent Story…

Three months after her husband had been buried,
a priest knocked on her door and asked,
"Are you Mrs. Donna E.?"

(3 minute read - Enjoy!)

America Needs Fatima has 8 to 11 full-time teams of Fatima Custodians crisscrossing America all year long. Each team carries a replica of the miraculous Pilgrim Virgin statue of Our Lady of Fatima that wept 13 times. Her most recent weeping–photographed, investigated, and ecclesiastically approved–was in a church in New Orleans, USA, during the evening of July 17, 1972. (story and photo here)
Along with taking the statue of Our Lady of Fatima into their hosts’ homes, our Fatima Custodians show an audio-visual presentation on Mary’s apparitions in Fatima, Portugal in 1917, and speak about her prophetic message to the world.
Kenneth Murphy, one of our Custodians, relays the following true story from a Fatima home visit:
“Hosting the Fatima Visit was Mrs. Donna E., in Arlington, VA.
While explaining how to fulfill the Five First Saturdays devotion I asked, ‘Does anyone know Our Lady’s promise to those who make this devotion?’
Donna replied, "Those making the Five First Saturdays will receive all the graces they need for salvation before they die." (see note in P.S.)
She then said that her husband had loved making the Five First Saturdays devotion. However, when he died, it seemed that Our Lady hadn't kept her promise… He passed away suddenly.


Here’s what happened
One day Donna’s husband was traveling through snow-covered roads. Suddenly, he suffered a heart attack, lost control, and crashed.
The ambulance promptly arrived but, unfortunately, her husband passed away on the way to the hospital.
When Donna arrived at the hospital, she was told that he had died, and, unfortunately, without the benefits of the Church’s Sacraments…Besides the obvious grief at such news, she was anxious as to the state of his soul at that last moment.


Apparently, Our Lady hadn't kept her promise
Three months after Donna’s husband had been buried, a priest knocked on her door and asked, "Are you Mrs. Donna E.?"
The priest then related how, three months earlier, he had been driving behind her husband and saw him lose control of his car.
He said, "I knew right away that he had experienced a heart attack and was in danger of dying." The priest stopped, ran over and asked, "Are you a Catholic?" Mr. E. responded in the affirmative.
He was in a lot of pain but was able to make a full confession to the priest. The priest heard his confession and gave him Last Rites before the ambulance arrived.
Because the priest had been on his way to say Mass, when the ambulance arrived, he left for the Church.
After hearing that Mr. E. had passed on the way to the hospital, the priest felt that it was important to let the family know that he had had the Last Rites. The medical facility, however, would not give him the family's information.
Only after three months did someone at the hospital give him an address.
Indeed, Our Lady had kept her promise!  

---

P.S. OUR LADY’S EXACT WORDS: On December 10, 1925, Our Lady promised to Sister Lucia (the oldest Fatima seer) that she would “…assist at the hour of death, with the graces necessary for salvation, all those who on the first Saturdays of five consecutive months confess, receive Holy Communion, pray a Rosary, and keep me company for a quarter of an hour meditating on the fifteen mysteries with the intention of offering me reparation.”