Dear Friends of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,

“Do Whatever He Tells You.” (John 2:5)

This directive from the Mother of God to the servers at the Wedding Feast of Cana led to Our Lord’s first public miracle. It’s a line from scripture that has been reverberating within me for quite a while. When I asked my son a couple of years ago to find a wallpaper for my new phone, he (without knowing about my fondness for this particular scripture passage) found something that included an image of a pink rose and the words “DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU.” Just like that! Italicized in ALL CAPS! The message was quite clear. “Do Whatever He Tells You.”

Re-winding a couple of years earlier – in January, 2017, to be specific – I was asked by a friend to connect with another friend about an unanswered email regarding something called a Rosary Congress. We were all members of the Legion of Mary. Before making the contact with our mutual friend, I asked for some background information to become familiar with the topic. It was a long email thread appearing to be a bit of a “hot potato” situation. Each recipient was in support of the effort by the original sender, (my now friend, Peggy Downs), but the “yes!” wasn’t forthcoming. Being an “accidental recipient” of the information, I recall being really inspired while reading the details. (That’s what you get for being curious!) I especially loved reading about the original 1979 Rosary Congress held in Czestochowa, Poland – https://www.rosarycongressusa.org/history-diocesan-rosary-congress/.

After confirming that the original Legion of Mary email recipient was unable to commit to organizing a Rosary Congress, I bit the bullet and called Peggy Downs a few snowy days later. We chatted for a while as I tried to absorb all that I was about to embark upon. (Read Peggy’s testimonial in the email sent February 16, 2022.)

That first year – 2017, the 100th Anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady at Fatima – we held a “Traveling Congress” in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. I always describe our little group as a “rag-tag team of people who love Our Lady.” I literally begged my friends to beg their pastors to allow a 24-hour period at their parishes so we could come up with a seven-day stretch of continuous praying of the Rosary in the presence of Our Eucharistic Lord. (Most people seemed so confused… “You want what?!”) As it turned out, two local parishes each took a day and, at the last minute, two parishes with existing Eucharistic Adoration took the remaining days. It was a close call but we made it!

In 2018, we held another Traveling Congress, adding a participating parish and a high school. Things were looking up! In 2019, we worked with the newly assigned director of the newly formed “Shrines of Pittsburgh” to hold our first-ever continuous Eucharistic Rosary Congress in one location. That year, it was held at historic St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in Pittsburgh’s Strip District– https://pghshrines.org/st-stanislaus. Interestingly, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II, visited and offered prayers at St. Stanislaus Kostka in 1969. Beginning in 2020, we’ve held our annual Eucharistic Rosary Congress at St. Anthony Chapel in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood–https://pghshrines.org/about-st-anthony-chapel. St. Anthony Chapel is “home to the largest collection of Christian relics in the world outside of the Vatican.” It’s a breathtakingly beautiful place which receives visitors from around the world…

…which brings me to an amazing story regarding our last (2021) Rosary Congress at St. Anthony Chapel. On the very first morning, a woman of Polish descent approached me following the Opening Mass. She drove all the way from New York City the day before to make a long-awaited visit to St. Anthony’s before potentially moving back to Poland. She had no idea that a Rosary Congress was beginning that day (had never heard of it) and wanted to learn more about the relics in the Chapel. I invited her to pray the first hour of prayers with us and promised to get someone more familiar with the relics in the Chapel to show her around. Later, since St. Stanislaus Church is the first ethnic Polish parish in the Diocese of Pittsburgh (and has a memorial to St. Pope John Paul II at one of the side altars because of his 1969 visit as Cardinal), I drove her there for a visit. After a very nice lunch and great conversation, we headed back to St. Anthony Chapel for one last visit before she began her return drive to NYC.

Our Lady connected us for more reasons than spending a sunny October afternoon visiting some of the Shrines of Pittsburgh. Read on…

Because of the recent upheaval between Russia and Ukraine, I recently texted my new friend to see if she eventually made her way back to Poland, assuring her of my prayers. She made it back safely and – ironically (or not!) – said she was planning to contact me very soon… to inquire about starting a Rosary Congress near her home in Poland! …

…which brings me back to that snowy Sunday in January, 2017, reading about the first Rosary Congress in Poland in 1979 and how the people near Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa, Poland persisted in their trust that Our Lady would triumph!

…which brings me back to “DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU!” His Mother, Our Mother, knows she can count on you as you stay close to Her Immaculate Heart.

Say “YES!” and She’ll take it from there!