“I kept thinking in my head, could this be real?”

Back at my previous parish, Our Lady of the Woods in Woodhaven, I used to go to adoration every  Wednesday morning after the 9 a.m. mass. One day, as I walked in, I could smell the fragrance of roses. Right away, I figured there must be roses somewhere inside the chapel.

I looked around, but all I saw was a woman who I had never seen before, kneeling in the back. She was deep in prayer, and her face looked radiant. Not in an abnormal way really, but just radiant enough that it struck me. I continued to look around for the roses, but could not find any. Before long, the women got up and genuflected to Jesus. I turned around to take another look at her. She gave me a beautiful smile as she walked out. Immediately, the fragrance was gone. It took a while, but finally it hit me. That woman – did she invoke the Blessed Mother? I tried to get the smell of the roses back, but at first I couldn’t. Then I said to Mary, ‘If that was you, could you please allow me to smell the roses again?’ The aroma returned for just one minute, then was gone again. I felt so blessed. I kept thinking in my head, could this be real that the mother of my Lord was here and allowed me to smell her roses, too?

Well, you can draw your own conclusions. But as for me, I believe.

As for the woman, I never saw her again.