It was a beautiful sunny winter morning and I had just returned home from Friday morning Mass, which always puts me in a wonderfully peaceful state of mind. But as life has a way of doing, upon getting home I received some news that upset me very much and left me feeling frustrated and angry. Out the window went my serenity as quickly as it had come in.

         I had a two-hour ride ahead of me from Atlantic City, NJ to Southampton, PA to pick up my mother and bring her down for the weekend. As I began to drive, I felt bad that I had left my husband in a depressed mood. He and I had a "tiff" before I left, and before that he had been in a very good place spiritually and I felt that I had put a damper on his day. So I called him on the cell phone as I drove and told him I loved him and to be happy and not to forget to pray.

         When I got off the phone, the last thing I felt like doing was praying, but I began the rosary. I found it very difficult to concentrate and to mean the prayers, as my mind was preoccupied with the news I had received. I continued to pray, finishing the rosary, when I heard a very clear voice internally saying, "You might as well stop praying these prayers because the way you are saying them is useless - Jesus and Mary are not even listening - your so-called prayers are almost an insult to them - so why don't you just forget it?"

         I knew that this was not of God - and so I resolved to pray more fervently and not to stop until I reached my mother's house. Well, after about 15 minutes more of praying, as I was saying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, I had such a wonderful peace come over me. I felt so loved and then I heard another voice internally. This time I heard, "I want you to buy a fast food lunch and give it to one of the people selling pretzels and flowers on the street corner. And buy coffee, not soda, because it's cold and they need something hot to warm them."

          I was astounded because this was not my thought - it came out of nowhere.  I asked, "Who do you want me to give it to Lord?" There was no answer. I asked again, "Lord, who is the lunch for?"  Again, no answer.  So I said, "Ok Lord, I'll buy it and trust that you will let me know when the time comes."

         I picked up my Mom and told her what had happened. And so we stopped and bought the lunch and started off two hours back toward home. As I passed a little side street on my way to a major intersection, the Lord said internally: "There she is!" , and there was a little woman bundled up in a long coat, with a scarf wrapped around her head and neck, walking with only two bunches of flowers for sale. She looked foreign. As I turned down this small road, my Mom said: "Do you know how to get home this way?" But I just replied, "She's the one, Mom!"

         I put on my flashers and let the traffic pass, got out and walked toward her. I said to her, "The Lord told me to buy you this lunch and to tell you how very much he loves you!" Her reaction was that she started to cry and as my eyes met hers, I was awestruck with how beautiful her eyes were.  She had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. I will never forget them as long as I live.

         You see, I saw the Heart of Jesus in those eyes. She wanted me to take a bunch of her flowers as a thank you and I said no twice - but then I heard the Lord say: "Take the flowers - let her have the joy of thanking you." So I took the flowers from the lady and kissed her goodbye. A perfect stranger.

         Now, at our home in NJ we have a beautiful picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in our living room and when my mother comes to visit, she always buys flowers to place in front of Jesus. Well, as I walked back to my car I looked at the flowers she had given me, and I heard this in my heart, "These are my flowers; please place them before me," and so when I got home, I did just that.

         They never opened, they drooped and withered, but I couldn't help but smile every time I passed them and thought of how grace-filled the day had been. I thought to myself, "If I hadn't persevered in the Rosary in the beginning of the day, and stayed close to Jesus, this wonderful day would not have occurred." And I was so thankful that I didn't let the devil rob me of an opportunity to have the Sacred Heart of Jesus touch me in such a personal and profound way.

         Blessings to all in the Sacred Heart of Jesus