Mary gave me the strength I didn’t have alone

I had just spent three years studying in Rome. In the car taking me back to my monastery in France, Father Abbot expressed his concerns about my reintegration into the community: How would I experience this return to a very simple routine, stripped of the multiple activities of student life? I listened to him attentively, but I didn’t know the answer. When I returned to the monastery, I was appointed as cook and sent to work in the cheese store.

One fine morning—I still remember it as if it were yesterday—I was walking in the chestnut tree-lined path leading to a replica of the Lourdes Grotto, when I suddenly felt a desire to pray the Rosary. The prayer flowed from within me, as if it wanted to force my lips open. This continued for several months.

Everything else went smoothly in my life. The Blessed Virgin gave me the strength I didn't have alone and I passed it on, or rather, she helped me pass it on. Even today, the Rosary is for me an extraordinary source of peace in my mission.

Father Guillaume Marie, Abbot of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont-des-Cats Abbey, Godewaersvelde, France, testimonial given in 2006.