This story is written by guest columnist Janet Cecile
I was raised Catholic but my parents knew very little about the faith. Our home was without a Bible. I was drawn to
Archbishop Sheen as a child, but did not always comprehend his teachings. I had one year of catechism before receiving the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation on the same day. Our class was taken to see the movie “Our Lady of Fatima” on the big screen. It had a lasting effect on me. Growing up I had this yearning to learn more about the faith.
Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you.
I learned at a young age how powerful the Rosary was, how powerful even one decade was when praying for a particular intention. A friend and I went occasionally to Church after school to pray the Rosary together. The churches were opened back then.
I loved music as far back as I can remember. There was a popular song by Frank Sinatra called “All the Way”. I thought of Our Lord and how he loved us sacrificially – all the way. When it was time to take a name for Confirmation I chose my grandmother’s name, Cecelia. It was then she told me St. Cecilia was the patroness of music and I was even more thrilled to have taken the name. Later I found out that she was also the patroness of artists, two gifts God gave me that I did not use for His greater honor and glory until later on in life. There was a time when I suffered and made an act of surrender – it was then revealed to me that my suffering was due to not using these gifts for God.
I had a very intimate encounter with the pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima when it was brought to our parish of St. Nicholas of Tolentine in 1990. My son was with me. He was well behaved and sat in his stroller, which he loved being in, as I prayed and was able to have a heart to heart with Our Lady. I was so drawn to her and did not want to leave her. My husband and I had four children, and I knew what it was to have a mother’s heart. I loved my family so much. I understood well Our Lady’s sorrowful heart. I could see the pain in her face as I contemplated her suffering watching her beloved Son tormented on the cross. I took many pictures of this statue. One picture was an extraordinary gift. Once I had painted Our Lady holding the Infant Jesus in her arms and I blacked out the background – I liked doing this as it made the image more dramatic. I had a 44 millimeter camera, nothing special with no special filming effects, but to my surprise one picture of Our Lady was developed with the background completely blackened. That was a gift from Our Lady. After this encounter with Our Lady I felt a change in me and it was as if I were being led to become stronger in faith. Six months later I joined the music ministry at my parish. The following month the songs began coming, all spiritual, all Catholic, all from the heart, and I was learning more about the faith through my own compositions. There were some “mystical” events happening while writing these songs. For example, if I needed a word, it came to me from a priest’s homily; if I had a religious theme I wanted to write about, it was inspired by a priest’s homily; when I wanted to write a song about the Holy Souls in Purgatory, two people asked me, a few days apart, to write a song about the Holy Souls. There were many other experiences that lead me to believe I was not writing these songs alone. I didn’t have any formal schooling in song writing but I was able to compose, lyrics and music close to 90 songs. And I was learning from them. So I figured if I could learn from them, others can, too.
God provided and many of the songs were recorded at very little expense by a neighbor who had the equipment in his home. Then with the purchase of second hand equipment I was able to produce more recordings. A friend mixed my music and the result was quite professional. The music was a vehicle that led to evangelizing on the radio. For twenty years I have been a stand-in host for Joe Grady on the program “My Jesus Mercy”.
The visit with Our Lady of Fatima brought me closer to Jesus. I began attending daily Mass, became a daily communicant and prayed the Rosary daily. In 1992 I joined the Pro-Life Union of So. Eastern, PA. We met every month in So.. Phila., and I was blessed to have known saintly souls, good friends, like John Stanton, Sr. Paula Beirschmitt, Leon Marino, Fran Rafferty and many more who are no longer with us. I have been the pro-life rep for our parish for a very long time. Have written many pro-life songs. Performed “Rap for Life” with four ten year olds which is a song and dance routine on youtube.com.
There was something else I got involved in and I consider it one of my greatest endeavors – helping to spread Eucharistic Adoration. There was a group of us, including my friend Rudy Valentino, who were able to get ten churches in So. Philadelphia to have a day, a few hours, or whatever they could give us to offer time with Our Lord in Adoration. This was before Cardinal Rigali mandated the churches in Philadelphia to have Adoration at least once a week for a year. I’m proud to say that since our appeal for Eucharistic Adoration, a Perpetual Adoration Chapel was built in the basement of Stella Marra’s Rectory, an Adoration Chapel was erected at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, and an Adoration Chapel was built at the National Shrine of St. Rita of Cascia. For many years I went to Adoration on a mostly daily basis, riding to the church on my bicycle, one day at one chapel, and another day at another chapel, as my husband took the car to work.
Before my husband retired I prayed that he would join me for daily Mass and the Rosary. My prayer was answered. Since his retirement eleven years ago, he has joined me in daily Mass and Communion, and we remain after Mass to pray the Rosary. We are living in a very tumultuous time. We are in a spiritual battle that can only be fought by spiritual means: the Mass, the Rosary, our sword, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, our shield, and Eucharistic Adoration. I am convinced that Our Lady is the answer for the Church, our families and our country. Stay close to Mary, you can’t go wrong. I believe God wants us to cling to her now and forever.
Yours in the Hearts of JMJ,
Janet Cecile
Charles DeFeo: Catholic Blogger and Useless Servant of Christ 