I hope and pray that you are well and hanging in there as best as you can during this terrible deadly pandemic. Let us keep up our many prayers, stay safe in isolation, and trust God. I have a busy writing day today, but I feel a need to pause from it for a bit so that I can write this blog post. I want to share a good dose of HOPE with you.

Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s entrance into Eternal Life. I prayed for his intercession and went about my busy book writing day. My heart felt a bit heavy because with each passing hour, things got terribly worse in New York City where one of my children lives.

I am not an alarmist.

Trust me…

I don’t watch every single news report or get caught up in hysteria. I only get the news from what I hope to be credible sources. I consider myself a realist. On top of that, I believe that my Faith is strong and I do believe in miracles. As well, I know that we have to be smart. We can’t fool around and be stupid at a time like this. We have to stay safe and isolated and do the best that we can.

That said, the news reports were getting more and more grim as reporters told of the thousands of body bags bought and shipped to New York City for the Covid-19 deaths that were being predicted. And, it sure doesn’t make a mother’s heart feel very good hearing about the make-shift morgues consisting of the many tractor trailer trucks pulling up outside of the New York City hospitals. As you must well know, there’s so much more to this, and my point is not to dwell on the negative aspects of our current situation. We can’t live in crippling fear.

A tidbit more…

My husband’s friend showed him a video filmed by his friend who, supposedly (I take most everything with a grain of salt) filmed in the basement of a New York City hospital. The video showed many rooms overflowing with filled body bags. My husband told me about it and I questioned it. Was it “fake news”? Who knows? It could be true. So, all of the above was weighing on my mind as I went about my morning–working and praying.

A bright splash of color…

Though it was a rainy day, I decided to step outside for a moment to cut some daffodils since the vase in my foyer contained just a few lonely daffodils –waiting for some company. At that particular moment, I might not have bothered to go out in the rain to pick them. However, because I had accidentally broken a few daffodils when I raked out my flower gardens on the previous sunny day, I needed to fix that silly looking bouquet.

By the way, my arms are sore as I write this. 🙂 I haven’t raked since last year. And, I’m getting old!

Well, I’m glad that I took a moment to step outside. After picking a few more, I popped the bright yellow happy flowers into the vase and set it on my foyer table. I noticed quickly how the yellow paint on my foyer walls perfectly matched the flowers. I also recalled that I was not particularly fond of that paint color twenty years ago when I moved into this new home. I even declared at that time that I would paint it another color as soon as I had the chance. Funny thing, the yellow grew on me–I began to appreciate the bright splash of the color in the entryway and in the stairway.

The picture of the daffodils on the table of my foyer didn’t get posted on Instagram as I had planned. I had wanted to post a hopeful image at a time when the world is so worried. I never did get a chance, though. I was beckoned by my work and I got caught up in the busyness of the morning. The picture would need to wait for later…

Instead of posting the daffodils, I ended up posting this photo…

J.P. 2, we love you!

I’m holding up a special relic card of dear St. John Paul II.

So, on with the day I went, working and praying, asking God for protection and help for everyone and to please especially watch over my son in NYC. I had asked Joseph the other night if he could come home to Connecticut. I knew things would get worse and there would be a time when he couldn’t get out and would have to wait it out there–for better or worse.

But, Joseph felt he had to stay there. He didn’t want to chance infecting anyone by leaving. He wasn’t sick, but knew that there are carriers of the virus and that is one of the reasons we are all to stay home. He believed he would be okay. He said he would be careful and stay in and only go out once a week for groceries, but several times a day to take the dog out for a short walk.

Though he was staying there for now, I asked him to consider coming home and to bring his girlfriend (and her dog) and that he and his girlfriend could be quarantined for 2 weeks here before we get close to them. I’m sure you can imagine my concern that I can’t simply put him under my wing to protect him like a mother hen would. I knew that he didn’t have surgical face masks. They are impossible to buy at the moment.

So, I needed to continue to trust God and continue to pray.

A cry for help from the other side of the world…

Before everything got so bad here in the United States, a man in Hong Kong who had read one of my books and had gotten in touch with me a year or so ago, recently got back in touch again. The first time that he wrote to me was about his reading and enjoying my book, The Miraculous Medal: Stories, Prayers, and Devotions. Another time to ask for blessed Miraculous Medals though he was not yet a Catholic (but hoping to be one day).

This time around he was in touch to ask me an unexpected question. Could I possibly find surgical masks and mail them to him? He said they couldn’t purchase any and people were panicking as the Covid-19 Virus aggressively attacked. Well, it’s kind of a long story and I told about it at length in my newsletters, but I’ll TRY to keep it short right now, and give you a nutshell version.

By the grace of God, it turned out that I was able to order a large quantity of the best masks available to protect from virus and flu. Still, I wasn’t sure if my order would actually make it to my house or if I would get a notice that they were out of stock. I had heard this was happening all over. Thankfully, the masks arrived!

I had not known…

I was surprised to find out that my new friend was a doctor of a small clinic and was rapidly running out of supplies as he was treating people and exposed to illness. That was the first I heard from him that he was a doctor. He told me that he was wearing the blessed Miraculous Medal that I sent to him and praying for protection as his wife and son stayed isolated at home

He also said the government was not helping them at all to get the necessary supplies. I was so happy to help. I shipped off the package to him after saying a prayer. My new friend was so very appreciative when I told him that it was on its way to him. Yet, we didn’t know if my package would get to him– would ever make it to Hong Kong. It seemed to take forever. As well, we felt that there was the chance that it could be stolen or confiscated. Our prayers were answered–it arrived safely. Praise God.

At the time I sent the masks to my new friend, I didn’t save any for ourselves. I didn’t think that shortly thereafter, it wouldn’t be possible to purchase masks. After my purchase, the mask prices immediately skyrocketed (companies were taking advantage of the pandemic) and then it soon became completely impossible to purchase the masks because factories could not keep up with the manufacturing. We are still in that situation.

Uncertainties loomed…

I asked Joseph about the possibility of making masks out of fabric as many people are doing now. Did he have any handkerchiefs or fabric? The fabric masks won’t fully protect from the Covid-19 virus, but at least it is somewhat of a barrier. Joseph assured me that he and his girlfriend (who also lives nearby in New York) would do so. They’ll probably do this sewing by hand. I planned to pull out my sewing machine very soon…but, I wanted Joseph to have something sooner than I could make and send them. It seemed that every hour counted…

Last night as my husband and I prayed a Rosary together, we prayed for all who needed help and I asked for special protection for Joseph and his dear girlfriend. Towards the end of our Rosary, I felt as if I was struck with a lightening bolt (not literally!). I suddenly remembered that once upon a time we had a few masks in the house. It was about 3 or 4 years ago when needed for a home construction project.

I was thinking that I might have thrown the package away at some point. Or, maybe there were some left and the package was someplace tucked away SOMEWHERE! Bringing my focus back, I kept my mind and heart on finishing up the Rosary.

Well, I knew exactly what I had to do as SOON as we finished!

I didn’t say anything to my husband because I wanted to surprise him. I got right up from the Rosary and as I quickly walked to our garage, I prayed.

“Please God, show me where they are…please lead me RIGHT to them!”

I opened the door from the house to the garage and walked straight over to a box, carried it to the kitchen and opened it up.

Imagine my surprise…

Guess what was right at the top, under the flaps of the box???

TWO (not one!), but two N-95 masks! They were in a protective plastic package. I praised God and thanked Him on my knees. Then, I brought the masks to show my husband and immediately texted my son. I told him that miraculously, I found 2 N-95 masks and would send them to him the following day!

I added some “survival” food items to the package, sealed it up promptly, and my husband took the package to the Post Office this morning. But, before that package left here, I blessed it with Holy Water so that it would arrive safely to my son. We had heard reports that some New Yorkers aren’t getting their mail deliveries.

The package is in God’s hands. Please Lord…get it there safely…

God is forever showing us that He loves us very much and that He is in the very details of our lives. As well, I thank dear St. John Paul II for his intercession.

Please be assured of my prayers for you and yours.

God bless you!

Donna-Marie

PS I almost forgot to tell you! Take a look again at the photo of the daffodils. Notice the Divine Mercy image reflected in the mirror of my foyer from my front door window? The Image of Divine Mercy has been added to our front door at the encouragements of Fr. Chris Alar, MIC. He said we should “seal our doorposts”! Exodus 12!

One more thing…I posted this on Instagram today. Remember, Our Lady of Fatima requested that we pray for souls in danger of dying. Please, let us remember them continuously in our prayers.

There’s more to share, but must go for now. I am going over to an empty church with my husband to meet up with two friends to pray the Stations of the Cross. We will be on opposite sides of the aisle, keeping a social distance. I haven’t been out of the house since last Sunday when I went to the same empty church to pray.

I will be praying for you tonight. Please pray for me too. Please check on your elderly neighbors and reach out by phone, text, or email to those you know who need encouragement. These simple acts of love indeed make a huge difference in someone’s life–especially if they are anxious.

We are in this together!