BEFORE THE IMAGE OF MARY

Margaret was a sixteen-year-old girl. Her father had been a Freemason; her mother was not pious at all. She was educated in a school where the name of God was never spoken; yet Our Lord loved that young girl. On her way to school, whenever she passed by a church, she felt compelled to enter and remain there for some time gazing at the altar.

Many times, and in marvelous ways, God spoke to the heart of that girl, who secretly even went to confession and received Holy Communion.

The lack of religion in her home soon caused her to forget those divine inspirations.

She was not wicked and had never caused scandal, but she never prayed nor attended Mass. She thought only of amusing herself with her friends, giving herself to dances and outings. God, however, did not permit her heart to be stained by impurity.

It was the first day of the novena of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Some young women carrying jars, candles, and flowers entered the church where the solemn novena was about to begin. Margaret, who was passing by with her cheerful companions, felt something in her heart and said to the others:

— Let us go in; let us see what those pious women are doing.

And she entered...

She stood before Our Lady of Mount Carmel and contemplated her for a long time. I do not know what those eyes of Our Lady said to her; what I do know is that Margaret knelt down, folded her hands... The novena began, ended, long hours passed, and she remained there motionless, kneeling, her eyes fixed upon Our Lady, shedding tears, many tears...

And she would have remained there the whole night had the sacristan not come to tell her loudly to leave, for he was going to close the church... it was already late.

That was the day of her definitive conversion.

Later, when a missionary asked her what she had done during those long hours spent kneeling at the feet of Mary, she answered:

— I did nothing more than ask her to have compassion on me, to forgive my grave faults and, not allowing me to be unfaithful to her voice, to grant me the grace to begin a life so penitential that it would repair my past errors.

She owed to Our Lady the grace of her conversion.