This article written by Sister Mary Rose Reddy, DMML was published in Our Sunday Visitor’s May 20, 2018 Pentecost Conversion stories section.
Abuse of drugs and alcohol, the darkness of sin and the depressing literature I’d read as an English major led me by February 1979 to a point of insanity, where I believed that all reality was subjective and that my death would help the world. When I arrived at my aunt’s house in Exton, Pennsylvania, I was planning to leave the next morning to die. But that night it snowed so much that I couldn’t leave! Then my aunt gave me a Brown Scapular and plastic rosary. I put on the scapular and began to pray the Rosary. Instantly light flooded into my soul! I was no longer insane. I could see how many gifts God had given me and how I had wasted them. The next day I went to confession.
During the following year I struggled to follow the Lord while the devil tried to convince me that I had gone beyond the limits of God’s mercy and so must be damned. The turning point came on March 25, 1980, when I consecrated myself to Jesus through Mary in the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal in Philadelphia. Immediately I stopped thinking that I was damned and began to experience our Blessed Mother’s kind presence and help in every situation. On Aug. 16, 1980, I entered the convent. Now more than 37 years later, I can assure you there is no treasure I’d trade for the gift of being forgiven and espoused by Jesus Christ, King of Mercy!
