A warm welcome to today’s Guest Blogger, Carla Winner. Catholic Coach, Counselor and Mom of two littles, Carla shares the excitement and butterflies that come with NEW THINGS. Sit back, relax, and listen as we share and cultivate how God moves in and through us as we navigate the many different seasons of a woman’s life.

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The month of May has always meant a great deal to me. It is the month the Roman Catholic Church honors our Blessed Mother Mary. It is also the month we celebrate Mother’s Day! As a wife, a mother and now a grandmother, the celebration of motherhood has always been important to me. I love children, always have.

When I was 10 years old, I became a mother’s helper, earning a whopping quarter an hour. I graduated to babysitter, earning $.50/hour. I felt so lucky when I started earning $1.00 an hour! While in college I became a Nanny for several families. So, when I became a mom, with each baby Joe and I had, much like the Grinch, my heart grew threw sizes larger!

I want to extend a Mother’s Day blessing to all of the moms out there! You are doing important work, whether you are a stay-at-home mom, working mom, or empty nester, you matter.

Our Mother Mary is also important to all of us. Who better to be our intercessor than the mother of Jesus. I have a strong devotion to the Blessed Mother.

But it wasn’t always that way.

Grandma Regina always encouraged me to pray the rosary. But truthfully, as a little girl, I saw the rosary as a boring, rote prayer with little meaning. But my grandma was persistent with her encouragement.

One day while visiting her, she told me that praying the rosary is one of the most powerful prayers anyone can say for protection against evil, as well as for direction and guidance. She explained, “Kathie, every time you say a ‘Hail Mary, ‘ you give a rose to the Blessed Mother. When you say a decade of the rosary, you give her a small bouquet, and the full rosary will give her a large bouquet of roses.” Grandma continued, “Kathie won’t it be wonderful when you arrive in heaven and see all of the magnificent roses you sent her during your life!”

The rose represents Mary as Queen of Heaven. Although roses are beautiful, there is also a hidden suffering in their thorns. For Mary, the thorns on the rose remind us that Our Lord Jesus Christ wore a crown of thorns and gave up his blood for all humanity. As His Mother Mary witnessed this suffering and death firsthand at the foot of the cross.

My grandma said the rosary eight times a day—on the hour. What an honor it was that my grandmother passed away on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, October 7th. Coincidence? I think not.

The bouquet of roses’ imagery launched my affection for the Blessed Mother.

As a wife, a young mom, a not-so-young mom, and Nonna, praying the rosary while meditating on the life and passion of Jesus Christ has always been a source of comfort for me. But the Blessed Mother’s miracle of the rosary I experienced in September of 2022 was one I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life.

In August, I embarked on walking (actually, it isn’t walking, it is hiking) the Camino de Santiago. I was so blessed to have my husband’s and my children’s support. So off I went enduring the transportation gymnastics necessary–by planes, trains, and taxi to Madrid, Spain, and then onto St. Jean Pied de Port, France, to begin this (over a) month-long pilgrimage.

Before I left a very dear friend gave me a blue-knotted decade of the rosary with a small silver seashell to take with me, knowing this was a prayer pilgrimage for me. I wanted the rosary as an outward sign of faith and never removed it from my backpack.

My Camino experience is a story in and of itself, and I will save it for another blog post. What I want to share is the miracle that occurred along the Camino.

Traveling the Camino alone, gave me the opportunity to meet many people. A woman I met early in the morning on a lighted bridge leaving Puente la Reina was Mimi from Massachusetts. We walked quite a bit that morning together.

As days past from our first meeting, we would run into each other along the Camino, I enjoyed our time together–often in silence, which worked well for both of us. As I mentioned earlier, the Camino was a prayer pilgrimage for me, and I started my day by praying the rosary.

One morning while walking with Mimi, she asked me if I was Catholic. She noticed the sterling silver cross, and Miraculous Medal I wore around my neck. I told her yes. Later on, Mimi shared a little of her faith journey with me. She had the most incredible experience with the Blessed Mother many years ago in Medjugorje. (See note on Medjugorje below.) She felt transformed by the intimacy she experienced with Jesus’ Mother. Then she explained that her Medjugorje trip happened a long time ago, and with life, work, and her boys, she has never been able to reconnect in the same way with the Blessed Mother. After we chatted a little longer, I walked ahead and decided to pray a decade of the rosary for her. I asked the Blessed Mother to please ask Jesus to reignite Mimi’s love for His mother.

At the end of the day, as I stood in line waiting for my bed assignment at the Hostel, I felt a tap on my shoulder; it was Mimi! She was with another woman, Jo. They asked me to join them for dinner. We had a great time at dinner and returned to the Hostel. We made a plan to start the following day together around 6 AM.

I was the last to reach the lobby that morning. When Mimi saw me, she had energy I had not seen before, especially before dawn. She called my name as I was coming down the stairs. Mimi kept saying “You are not going to believe this!” She swung around the backpack she was wearing. She said, “Kathie, look!”

I focused on what she was showing me. It was a blue-knotted decade of the rosary. I said, “Oh my gosh! I have one just like that, only it also has a seashell.” I looked closer and noticed it, too, had a seashell on it. I pulled off my backpack and noticed my blue-knotted rosary was no longer there. How was it possible to be on Mimi’s backpack? Our rooms were on opposite sides of the floor we were on. Mimi and Jo never came to my room. How in the world did the rosary end up on her backpack?

Then I remembered that I had prayed a decade of the rosary for Mimi the day before, using my full rosary.

Mary answered my prayer! I started to cry and said, “The Blessed Mother really wants you close to her, Mimi!” She thanked me for not taking the rosary back. I told her, “The Blessed Mother gave it to you! Be blessed!” From that point on, Mimi said the rosary every morning. And I am happy to say, our friendship continues, as does our affection for the Virgin Mary. We both have returned from our Camino with even stronger faith than when we began.

I can only explain that what happened was a miracle, and when I try to bring logic into this scenario, I realize I had a prayer answered immediately. I experienced other miracles along the way, but I will save those for another time.

I want to leave you with one question,

“How excited will you be when you get to heaven and see all of the bouquets of roses you gave Jesus’ mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary?”

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Note: Camino de Santiago and Medjugorje reference:

Camino de Santiago: The Camino de Santiago, (St. James Way) starting in St. Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago Compostela, Spain is an 800 KM or 500-mile pilgrimage. She felt the Blessed Mother, St. James, her guardian angel, and Jesus by her side walking every step with her.

Medjugorje is a village in the municipality of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1981, it has become a popular site of Catholic pilgrimage due to Our Lady of Medjugorje, a purported series of apparitions of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, to six local children that are still happening to this day.