She Lives in the Moment with Mary

Thirteenth of the Month Club member Pauline Trubacz of Nashua, New Hampshire, did not start practicing her Catholic faith until she was in her 30s. But a powerful encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary while praying the Rosary inspired her to develop an intimate relationship with the Blessed Mother, from which we can all learn something.

When the Lord called Pauline back to Mass, she had just ended a nine-year civil marriage. During this difficult time, she came across these words in a book (The One Minute Manager by Og Mandino):

The God Memorandum
From: God
To: You
Take counsel. I hear your cry.



She read that if she said these words for 100 consecutive days, a miracle would occur. "At the end of 100 days, it was raining and I just burst out crying," she said. While tears streamed down her face, she had the feeling that a hand was on her shoulder. She turned around and said, "Father?" But no one was there. She went to the nearby Immaculate Conception Parish, where she felt as though the homilies were geared toward her.

One day, she and two friends started praying the Rosary together after Mass. "I said to Mary, 'You're going to have to help me because it's been a long time and I don't know how to say it.' And that was my start," she said.

"I didn't have a lot of knowledge of the Blessed Mother. I just knew that praying the Rosary was going [to affect] my life somehow. And I didn't really ever ask for anything ... I just prayed it with my heart."

One day in prayer, she heard the voice of Mary speaking softly to her heart. "[She taught me that] Jesus was to be loved and not feared."

Eventually, Pauline said that she went through a period of desolation and stopped praying the Rosary. "I didn't feel good about it, but I didn't pray it," she said.

She made it through that difficult period by praying the Rosary at her Parish. She said, "The enormous joy that people had in praying it ... I wanted to feel that love."

Pauline said that her relationship with the Blessed Mother keeps her going back to the Sacraments. "[Mary] changed my life tremendously because I trust. Whenever I have fear ... she is right there telling me to push forward."

Pauline calls upon Mary for just about every need, even while mowing the lawn and doing the laundry. "[I just say,] 'Mother, help me to simply do the next right thing,'" she said.

MBK

You might also like...

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, having received the opinion of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, decided in 2002 that it would be appropriate to publish guidance directed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church and, in a particular way, to Catholic politicians and all lay members of the faithful called to participate in the political life of democratic societies.

As members of God's family, the Church, we are invited - even obligated - to accept His name, His identity, as our own: Divine Mercy.
'My whole journey has been about the importance of being small and trusting,' Rosa says. 'The smaller we are, the better God can fill us with His grace and with purpose.'