FATIMA

Fatima, Portugal--where Mary appeared to the three children--for the purpose of strengthening the Rosary Recital in the world and the Power of Prayer to bring Peace in the world. People must do Penance, Fast (if physically possible, according to age and health), make Sacrifices, try to attend 5 First Saturday Masses for the reparation of sins offending the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and go to Confession.

FATIMA is such a Holy Place! I went there on Pilgrimage in the late 80's. It was a time for healing and a time to learn how truly loving and close our Mother Mary is to all of us, if we'll just trust.

More later...

Tribute to Betty June for Mother's Day 2008

Betty June Wilson 5/27/28 - 9/15/93






Happy Mother's Day, Mom. I know you're in heaven





and I am sharing the story in your honor.








Betty June Wilson was born on May 27, 1928 in Wadestown, West Virginia. She was one of twin girls. Her sister died when only a few months old. Her mother, my grandma,Pearl Fox and her father, Ben Wilson were married long enough to have mom's older sister, Louise and Betty. Pearl left Ben and moved to Michigan to raise her daughter and re-marry to Charles McVicker. When Mom was 14, he died. He was an oil field worker. Grandma Pearl was beautiful with skin white as ivory, hair black as coal, stunning brown eyes, and pearly white teeth. She had one gold tooth in the front top--quite unusual--her lovely signature. She didn't have a middle name. In her teen age years, Pearl was chosen the winner of many beauty queen contests in West Virginia. She will be the subject of a future tribute.



Betty married before graduating high school to my father, Grover Candy. She had my older brother, Johnny and me, her first daughter, Sherry. My parents were too young to hang on to the shaky marriage. Each set of grandparents raised me and Johnny Ross through high school. Mom re-married to Paul Kughn.My sisters, Gail and Paula were born.

This Tribute to Betty June is to express to anyone who recites the Rosary-- for inspiration that you will continue to believe in the power of prayer. Rosary Prayer is powerful. I am going to share the story of how I know my mother went to Heaven precisely as I was praying the rosary on Christmas night, 3 years after she had passed on. Here is the awesome, hope-filled truth:


The Summer of 1993 I went to visit my mother in Las Vegas. I knew in my heart that it might be the last time I'd spend with her. Betty and Lyle (her latest husband) had moved out west to have a change of pace from the Michigan trailer park setting, senior citizen routine, etc..Right before they went out there Mom had had a terrible bout with the flu and it left her with Iritis (inflammation of the Iris). Also, Lyle had a minor car accident with Mom in the car and it pretty much traumitized her and made the eye problems, stress, and everything one Big Worry. So they decided to go to Vegas. Mom mentioned casually that she had had a check up and the doctor told her her heart was enlarged. Of course, her daughters would be very concerned about that factor.

When she got out there Mom did begin to see a good cardiologist. Yet, there was no surgery scheduled. She did have a number of pills to take each day. The situation was worse than she let on to us at home. Somehow I knew. I remember telling my sister Gail that I was going for a visit and I warned her that she should make a strong effort to come out too.
Caricature of Betty & Lyle in Las Vegas

As mother of six children myself, I left behind the family for a week to be with Mom. As I look back on the time there I can see Jesus at work in the circumstances. Besides all the fun I had going to see the casinos, eating out, a little shopping, driving out into the desert to see the sights & funny donkeys, I knew that it was a Gift to be with mom. After all, she tired easily, had a couple doctor appointments and stayed home while Lyle and I did some of the casino sightseeing.












It is significant that she asked me to repair a pair of rosary beads. My mom was never Catholic, but was happy to accept the beads from an older lady who gave them to her. My conversion to Catholocism and joy for St. Therese Little Flower spilled over on to Mom and she, too, grew in her faith about Jesus and Mary. She knew all about Fatima and the increase in love for our Mother, Mary that came out of that trip to Portugal I took with my husband. Anyway, I stayed up late one night fixing the beads for her--symbolic of the relevance of the prayer that would send Mom to heaven. I recall how she had stood in front of her apartment window looking out at the beautiful Nevada scene. She told me how much she loved the setting. Then she commented, "If only I could get to those mountains." --Symbolic of how the rosary prayer would lift her higher.

Photo of Mom at Niagara Falls at the age of 14. Also, the Rosary Beads.

Betty was known all her life for her generosity. She really didn't have that many possessions. She would give whatever she had if someone needed it. That's how the two girls found her to be when they had apartment problems and having met Mom they implored her to help store their belongings on her covered front porch. She allowed them to use the porch for a few weeks until they found a new place. As a thank you to her they gave her 6 Miniature Bone China Angels. Each held a different instrument and each had a little bird. Mom showed the angels to me and I pondered how they numbered the same as my children.


The visit came and went very quickly and when I

got into the taxi to leave for the airport I will never forget

the intensity of my tears and the heaviness in my heart
for the love I felt for my dear Mom and the feeling that I had of not seeing her again.


Once back in Connecticut, we, of course, kept in communication. Then one day as I was working at my flower shop, the phone call came from Lyle telling me of mom's passing on. She went into the hospital on September 13th with heart problems and died on the 15th. I did speak with her on the phone. Lyle was with her.



I kept busy a couple more hours and two special things happened. As I was unpacking and prepping the new flowers I specifically noticed that one pack of roses was named 'Paul's Pink'. I had never received this particular variety and have never since. Paul is my mother's second husband and father to my two sisters, Gail and Paula. The name of the Roses (roses being the best flower of all) signified that Paul loved Mom so much and would be 'tickled pink' to finally be with her again.

A second thing happened. A customer came in and purchased a wrapped bouquet. When I told him the cost he gave me the cash and then told me that he didn't have enough paper money, and that he hoped I didn't mind that he made up the difference in change. I told him I always needed the change and it was fine. As he left the store I was re-counting the money for the register, and to my surprise, one of the coins was extra heavy and large. I gave it a closer look and discovered that it was a Silver Dollar dated 1880. My mother and I shared the number '13'..because it seemed to show up at various times in our daily routines and also at important dates..and we enjoyed talking about these occurrences and how it happened to the two of us...we did not consider the number Thirteen as bad luck..it also means re-birth..it was our shared serendipity thing...Mom became ill on the 13th and in 1993...subtract the coin age to come up with 113 years...truly only a little thing, yet big to me in my wrenching loss.









Thus far, as I have told this story in honor of my mother, I have not even gotten to the most spectacular detail. Soon I will relate to you the dynamic power of the rosary prayer. Once you hear it you will see that all the rest of the story reveals the Presence of Jesus at work in our lives as a showering of gifts, graces and blessings. He is before us, behind us, above us, under us, and in us. He will never leave us. We have nothing to fear. Have Faith in Him. He is with us until the end of time. If He is with us what could we ever fear? As our new Pope Benedict writes in his encyclical, Saved In Hope, once the Magi followed the Star and found the Christ Child, Astrology ceased to be.



My deep belief in the power of prayer, especially rosary prayer, love for the Holy Family, trust in Mary's intercession, became stronger in the early 90's when my husband and I went on a pilgrimage to Fatima, Portugal. At that time I had been a convicted, converted Catholic for over twenty years. The trip brought healing and a profound awareness of Mary, our Mother, and her love for all her children--I can say that it happened for Ed and for me. My husband says the rosary daily. I do too, and rarely miss this opportunity to petition Jesus' Sacred Heart through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Full of Grace.

I found out, in one of my spiritual reference books (about saints, the Holy Family, Fatima, etc...) that on Christmas Day a lot of souls are released from Purgatory and go to Heaven. Praying for the souls in Purgatory is one of my ways of doing works of mercy. I try to pray the names of souls of family, friends, relatives, neighbors, enemies, and even strangers' names whom I have read about or heard about..I have a list. Almost daily I say the names aloud before the rosary prayer, believing that when you say their name, the person in Purgatory will see the face of the person praying, and know that someone is praying for him and may even go to heaven on that day because of the power of prayer. This is the prayer I recite before I read the names: Heavenly Father, I offer you the most Precious Blood of Jesus and ask that for every drop of blood our Lord shed in His Passion, you will let fall these many drops on all the souls in Purgatory.

In a future blog, I will relate to you two more special rosary stories that happened to me. The reason for these rosary-related prayer instances in my life is so God can reinforce the necessity to Pray, Pray, Pray...Pray about everything and worry about nothing (Padre Pio).

So, as was my way to do, three years after Mom died, it was Christmas Day night...December 25th, 1996. I was saying the rosary, quietly in the recesses of my walk-in closet...around 10:00 p.m....once I had spoken the names on my "souls list." My mother's name, of course, one of the names. I heard the phone ring in our bedroom and thought that someone in the family was probably calling a "Merry Christmas", even though it was late. Ed answered the phone and proceeded to call me to speak to my sister, Paula, from Michigan. I got on and she asked specifically, "Sherry, what are you doing right now?" She didn't say 'Merry Christmas' or anything else. So I responded, "Well, if you must know, I am in my closet saying the rosary for all the souls in Purgatory because I believe that a lot of souls go to heaven on Christmas Day!"

Paula then told me what had just happened that night. She and her husband and teenage children had spent the day visiting friends for Christmas. While on their way back home (she lives in the Lansing area of Michigan, out in the country where Mom lived), Paula said to Rick, her husband who was driving, "Would you mind driving past Mom--at the Dimondale Cemetery--for a little Christmas prayer. As they pulled up to Mom's gravesite, Paula said, she noticed that someone had placed an evergreen wreath on a tripod stake, and something unusual was emanating from the wreath. There were no lights or lamps present in this quaint country cemetery--except the headlights of the car. She got out promptly and went up for a closer look. Paula saw a tiny, inexpensive gold ornament hanging on the wreath. It was adorned with the Holy Family--Mary, Joseph, & Baby Jesus. As she peered at it, she told me, the ornament had a phenomenal glow that came out in long rays into the dark night. She was mesmerized. She asked Rick and the boys if they saw it and they said that they saw it too.

Paula got home, threw her purse on the table (she told me) and exclaimed, "I'm calling Sherry." (That's me)

I attend a Rosary Cenacle at a friend's home each week. Every Thursday we meet to say the rosary. When I told them of this happening, they confirmed what I had responded to Paula on Christmas....

At first I told her that the ornament was glowing as a sign to her that Mom was watching over her and that since Paula had called me to share it was a sign to me that I should keep praying the rosary. The women at rosary told me that they believed that because of the Divine Providence of the timing--Paula going to the cemetery at the same time I was praying the rosary--God used the ornament glowing as a Christmas Gift sign that He had brought Mom to Heaven at that precise moment in our lives--a beautiful Gift of Love & Mercy & Truth & Hope & Faith.

Similar ornament which Paula found on the evergreen wreath at mom's gravesite.


There is a little more to this wonderful story. My sister sent me a book for Christmas that year--BEFORE this incident happened--and here is a picture of the book.

To tell you the truth, I have not read the book because it's all about the title! (Sorry Gail--hee hee)

My daughter painted me a picture that Christmas--completely oblivious of any of this rosary story--and here it is:

Please notice the lovely figure going up on the cloud--(symbolic of my beautiful Mom); the figure with the flowers (just like me with my flower shop) and the pastel rainbow colors in the background. Every 'Hail Mary' on the Rosary is in actuality giving Mary a Rose (St. Louis De Montfort).

So now you know the Glorious story and I hope you'll be inspired to Pray the Rosary or say The Three Hail Marys. Or just a simple prayer from the heart will do. All prayers are heard. All are powerful. Jesus is sitting at the Right Hand of God, ready to ask The Father for all you need--ready to give you whatever you ask, if it is His Will.
God Blessed me with my wonderful mother. I know she's in Heaven, wearing jewels more beautiful than diamonds. I look at the six angels Lyle sent me and know that she is praying for all her loved ones here.

Happy Birthday, Mom. Happy Mother's Day Forever.