Journey of the Rosaries

journey of the

Rosaries

Rosaries

by Barbara Hurst and Cecilia Perez

My name is Barbara Hurst. I became friends with Reverend Father Bala about a year ago through Facebook. Father Bala is a Roman Catholic priest who is part of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) and who resides in the Vijayawada Diocese in India. We had a mutual Indian priest friend, Father Russel Raj. Over time, I became good friends with my dear brother-in-Christ, Father Bala. I shared with him my conversion story to the Catholic Church and how Mother Teresa of Calcutta was my favorite saint, especially her great love for the poor. After various conversations about the needs of the people in his region, Father Bala expressed to me the depth of the poverty in India, especially in the region where he lives. He told me that despite India being primarily Muslim and Hindu, there were many converts and devout Catholics in his area. He shared with me that many people loved to pray the rosary, but they did not have an actual rosary. He said they would need 6,350 rosaries so that each person in his region could have their own. He agreed to help teach them to pray the rosary with a physical rosary. So I began to pray and think about this. He and I both agreed we would ask the Blessed Mother to help us figure this out. My husband, Guy, is a Third Order Dominican, and I knew that one of his

fellow Dominicans, Cecilia Perez, had a rosary apostolate. I attended one of the Dominican meetings in January 2020 and mentioned Father Bala’s request to her. We both were a little overwhelmed at the sheer number of rosaries needed, but we entrusted it to the Blessed Mother to help us. Cecilia had a small group that would make rosaries as part of her rosary apostolate. They would meet on Wednesday afternoons for a few hours, so I went to Cecilia’s house in late February. We all discussed this request from Father Bala, and I forwarded Father Bala’s written request for rosaries to her. Cecilia said she would coordinate with

the ladies to start making the rosaries. Despite the pandemic, Cecilia let me know in early May that they had completed 1,900 rosaries. I was so excited! I went over to her house in early May to pick them up. It took me a month to work out how my husband and I were going to send the rosaries. Because many companies were not delivering to India due to COVID-19, my only real option was to send them via UPS. I took them to the UPS store in June . The rosaries weighed 40 pounds and it would cost $721 to ship them. I couldn’t believe it. But we wanted to be able to track the shipment. I declared the value at $100 but insured it

for $800 ($100 for the materials and $700 to cover the shipping cost) in case it got lost. I was relieved to know they were actually on their way to Father Bala and would arrive in 2-3 weeks. Several weeks later, Father Bala texted me to let me know that the shipper in India had contacted him and said there would be an additional excise tax of nearly $1,200 due before the rosaries could be delivered. We couldn’t believe it! So for many weeks, between myself, Father Bala, and Ernie Newland, the owner of the UPS Store at Sudley Road, we tried to have the excise tax waived and get the rosaries delivered. Because the pandemic was so bad in India, all shipments ceased for much of the month of July. Our package seemed to get caught in this endless loop. Nor were any of us able to make any headway in having the tax waived. Finally, Ernie agreed to cover the $1,200 tax in order to get the package delivered and arranged for the fee to be placed on his account. Shortly afterwards, Father Bala received a call informing him that the box of rosaries had made it to a UPS facility in Vijayawada, but that there was yet an additional $120 tax due. We absolutely could not believe the corruption! These were simple plastic beaded rosaries that were a donation to the Church for the parishioners. We were not selling them; we were giving them away! So, we all continued to pray, including Cecilia. We all entrusted this to the Blessed Mother. I remember telling the Blessed Mother: “Mama Mary, these rosaries were a labor of love for your children. We know it is your heart’s desire that all people pray the rosary, for through the rosary we grow to love your Son more and more. Mama Mary, please make a way for these rosaries to get to Father Bala without costing us more than we have already paid so that he may give them to those who will pray the rosary and, in turn, grow to love your Son even more. Mama Mary, take over! Please make a way. Thank you in advance, Mama. Amen.” Many attempts were made to reach UPS in India, but with no headway. I reached out to Ernie again and he elicited the assistance of a representative in UPS International who put a tracer on the package. Father Bala also was following up virtually every day about the parcel of rosaries this entire time and I told him on August 16, that I would reach out to the UPS International representative to see what could be done. I contacted the representative on August 17 and was told they would check on the status of the tracer that had been placed on the parcel. On August 20, Father Bala received a call from UPS that the package was in Vijayawada (about 40 miles away), no other fees were due, but that he would have to pick it up. Unfortunately, they told him that the next day was an Indian festival (Friday, August 21) and that their office would only be open half a day and he would therefore, have to come on August 24 to pick up the parcel.. When Father Bala related this to me, I told him we needed to pray for

a miracle because the Queenship of Mary was on August 22, and he needed to start distributing the rosaries out on that day. So we prayed! Astonishingly, on the morning of August 22, Father Bala received a call from UPS that if he could come right away to pick up the package that they would wait for him. Father Bala luckily was able to go get them. What joy! WHAT A BLESSING! Father texted me immediately after he picked up the rosaries and we rejoiced together during a video call. Father Bala blessed all of the rosaries and began to distribute them on the Feast of the Queenship of Mary. Many of the people knew how to pray the rosary but had never had an actual rosary to use , so he taught them how. He also asked all of them to recite three “Hail Mary’s” together for the intentions of those who had made and arranged for the rosaries to be sent and also asked them to pray the first decade of every rosary for all our intentions. Who knew that we were raising up an army of prayer warriors on the other side of the world for all of our intentions?! What graces God has given to all who have participated in this project. On that same day, I researched and discovered that the Hindu festival

celebrated on August 22 was Ganesh Chaturthi, honoring the Hindu god of good success, giver of wisdom, and remover of obstacles. I was reminded of how the Blessed Mother appeared to Juan Diego in Guadalupe, Mexico to help combat paganism with the Aztecs. I realized that the Blessed Mother had done it again. The Blessed Mother, who was appointed by the Holy Trinity to be the Queen of Heaven and Earth, had trumped a pagan god. One of Mary’s titles is “Our Lady of Good Success.” She is also the giver of wisdom and is a remover of obstacles. I was in utter awe at the miracle that God had just worked through the Blessed Mother. Mary’s son, Jesus, had heard and answered his mother’s prayers for us. In all that has happened in the world in 2020, how very profound it was to see this miraculous occurrence on the Queenship of Mary. Once again, our heavenly mother showed her children how much she loves them and the extent to which she would go to help bring the praying of the rosary to the world.

My name is Cecilia Perez. Barbara came to our Dominican chapter meeting in January and told us about Father Bala’s request to help provide over 6,000 rosaries for the people in his region in India. I invited Barbara to join us on Wednesday afternoons (pre-pandemic) to help make rosaries. Barbara came on February 26 to help make rosaries and we discussed this request from Father Bala. I asked her to send me the letter from Father Bala requesting the rosaries, and she did. We had no idea how we would make that many, but we decided to entrust it to the Blessed Mother to help us. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and we all had to stay home. We decided it was a great time to make rosaries! One third order member ordered rosary materials as part of his contribution to this apostolate. So various people came and picked up rosary materials from my house. Also, I connected with a lady from Seton School in Manassas who was teaching some of the students how to make rosaries. I helped her by doing a Zoom call with the students to teach them how to make rosaries. Also, word spread of our need to make more than 6,000 rosaries, so we also had several Hispanic families in Florida (17 family members) who started making rosaries for us. Besides this family group in Florida, there are several Hispanic families here in Manassas who started making rosaries as well. Amazingly, even the men in the families were helping make rosaries. This is a wonderfully unusual happening within Hispanic families. The family in Florida mailed us 3 boxes of rosaries with 360 in each box, totaling 1,080 rosaries! The next thing we knew we had 1,900 rosaries ready to be sent to India. I made arrangements for Barbara to come pick them up and she coordinated their shipment to India. This was a culmination of the efforts of many people and a labor of love for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who were on the other side of the world. The Blessed Mother heard our prayers and she helped coordinate this. To date, 1,100 more rosaries have been made, for a total of 4,000. We continue to make even more to help fulfill this request of a Marian priest from India. I was in a holy hour in the chapel, and as I was praying about all of this, I felt

*all images in this article are courtesy photos

that the Blessed Mother was saying to me that this is not the end and that once these rosaries from India were completed that she would pick another country. I believe she does not want this to stop, and that she desires for us to continue making rosaries for the poorest of the poor that cannot afford a rosary.

I am amazed how the Blessed Mother has worked through this apostolate. My faith has become so much stronger as I have seen what she has done through this apostolate of rosaries to help bring us closer to her Son. It helps one to trust in her intercession even more. We should not be afraid. This is a lovely example of her intervention during this pandemic. It has touched so many people. She found the instrument; the people to help fulfill this mission. As a third order Dominican, I have been utterly amazed at what the Blessed Mother has done through the laity who have responded to God’s call.