October is the month of the Holy Rosary, a prayer dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the mother of God and our mother. It is a very important prayer and is a source of help for those who pray it. Here is my story of how Mama Mary came to help our family.
Years ago I was working as a private school area supervisor in Cagayan de Oro City. Because of the unstable social situation in Mindanao, I did not bring my family to that place, preferring to commute to Cebu on weekends or once every two weeks when the pressure of work was heavy. One evening, after doing some reading I decided to go to bed. It was already half past ten and feeling tired after the day's work, I felt sleepy. Yet as I lay on my bed I could not sleep. I felt restless and I tossed in bed for hours. At about two o'clock in the morning I got up and decided to pray the Holy Rosary. I sensed that there was danger somewhere and I asked the Virgin Mary for protection.
As I knelt beside my bed and gazed at the star-studded sky by my window, I felt the presence of the mother of God and this inspired me to pray heartily. The prayer was so intense that I found myself crying not out of anxiety or fear but out of my awareness of such presence. After the prayer I felt a sense of relief and peace, then I fell asleep.
When I reported to the office that morning I told my co-supervisor about the experience. I am afraid something must have happened to my family in Cebu, I confided to him my fears. But he dismissed the whole thing as only a product of my imagination. Towards noon, however, a "rush" telegram arrived. It was from my wife and the text read: "Come, our house was burglarized." My initial reaction was panic. Has something happened to my wife and children? Then I remembered what happened that night. Surely, the Virgin Mary who inspired me to pray would not leave my family unprotected, I consoled myself.
There was a four-o'clock plane from Cagayan de Oro to Cebu that day. I took this and at half past five I was already home. Thank God, I found my wife and children unhurt. My wife then narrated what happened.
At dawn that day a man broke into our house by destroying the iron bars in our window. The burglar then stole a wrist watch and some low-cost jewelry in our bedroom then went inside the adjacent room where my sister-in-law, a college student, was sleeping together with our helper. The intruder tried to force himself upon my sister-in-law and there was a struggle. This awakened our helper who shouted for help. My brother-in-law who was occupying the next room shouted back, asking what was happening. Hearing him, the burglar rushed outside and disappeared in the dark.
When I asked my wife what time all these happened, she answered it was between two to three o'clock in the morning.
Between two to three o'clock! That was the time I was kneeling and reciting the Holy Rosary! That was the time too when, after praying, I felt a sense of relief and fell asleep. Verily it was the Virgin Mother who warned me of the danger threatening my family. It was she too who sent my brother-in-law to stay with the family that night to serve as their guardian angel. For the fellow was on his way to Ozamis City where he resided. He stayed only for the night in our house because he failed to catch the boat that evening. His presence in our house seemed coincidental, but I knew it was the Mother of the Family who sent him there to protect my wife and children and everyone in our home.