This was the first book I did in the Monastery. It is available on Amazon either as a Paperback or Kindle. All paperback sales go to support the monastery while the Sisters have graciously allowed Kindle sales to go to me.
Told to Make Rosaries
by Kathryn M. Hillier – Arthur, Illinois
My miracles of the rosary began in 2001. I was very ill with an illness that medical science could not solve. I had numerous medical tests, including CT scans, abdominal x-rays, blood work-up, upper and lower GI series, colonoscopies, gastric scopes, gallbladder tests, liver scans. Nothing helped. All the doctors could offer me was narcotic pain medication to ease the pain. My life was totally consumed with trying to ease the pain. Depression and suicidal thoughts began to creep into my thinking. My husband Richard, unable to help, became as frustrated as I was with this illness. Our marriage began to suffer.
But my life was about to change. My husband was going to the Pentecostal church and happy with his faith and beliefs. I was raised a Southern Baptist, but had slipped away from that and tried other religions. Finally I just gave up on all of them.
But miracle one was about to happen. Unable to sleep, I got up early one morning and turned on the television while waiting for my tea water to heat. I was weak and in a lot of pain. I laid down on the sofa. The station that came on was EWTN. This irritated me but for some reason I did not change channels.
The “Rosary” came on and I listened to it, then the “Mass” came on. Again irritated, I listened. Finally the Mother Angelica show was on and I listened. This one I actually liked. I found her funny. By this time my husband woke up and he changed channels. I got up to make another cup of tea and just as I got to the kitchen doorway I heard a voice. It was so clear. A quiet, but insistent voice, it said “Make rosaries.”
Realizing that strong pain medication can do strange things to the mind, I chalked it up to that. But twice more that voice spoke to me, and finally I decided to test this voice, as absurd as I thought it was. I turned on the internet and typed in Make rosaries. Up on the screen popped “Our Lady’s Rosary Makers.”
Before I called Our Lady’s Rosary Makers in Louisville, Kentucky, I decided to tell them I didn’t have any money, thinking that if they heard that they wouldn’t send any rosary making supplies to me. Instead a lady with the sweetest voice answered the phone and asked me what type of rosaries I wanted to make, cord or chain ones? When I said I didn’t know, she took my name, phone number, address, and gave me an ID number. When I asked her the cost she said it would be about $15.00. Now was my chance to tell her I didn’t have any money! But she surprised me. She said, “That’s okay, Honey, you have 30 days to pay for them and if you don’t have all the money send whatever you can until it’s paid off.” I was so surprised, I don’t even remember if I thanked her. She told me it would take a week to ten days for the supplies to arrive and to be patient.
The next morning the supplies were in my mailbox! This was the second miracle.
That week my husband Richard and I made over a hundred rosaries.
The third miracle was that I started to turn on the Rosary each morning and began to pray it still not knowing why I was doing it. By the end of nine days I was completely healed. I did not know what a Novena was at the time but I had just made one! On the 10th day I called our parish in Arcola and made an appointment to meet with Carol Bauer and Fr. Joe Allen to begin converting to the Catholic faith.
The fourth miracle was my husband’s conversion. I had prayed for this for months. During the special Mass when I went through the Rite of Acceptance my Richard got up from the pew and went to Fr. Joe and Carol and said “I should have been up there with her!”
My husband and I went through the Rite of Election together in Springfield, Illinois. I was baptized, and we were both confirmed at the same time in 2002. Today Richard and I are Extra-Ordinary Eucharistic Ministers; we go to the Arthur Nursing Home and pray the rosary once a week. Together we conduct a Communion Service for the residents at the Home. We are both RCIA team members and soon to be Lectors in our church.
