At one point in his homily, the archbishop spoke about Jesus entering into every molecule of our bodies when we receive Holy Communion. "Being divinized" he called it.

I did feel different after Holy Communion. That song came to me: "I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes." "It" being Jesus.

After Mass, feeling quite happy, I was drawn to the large statue of Our Lady of Combermere. She stood taller than me with arms outstretched, carrying Jesus in her womb.

I never really had a big thing with Our Lady, praying the rosary and the like, but I felt drawn to go and see her.

Well, that was it. Jesus just spoke clearly to me as if to St. John the Beloved: "Robert, this is Mary. Mary, this is Robert."

I’m an Englishman—stiff upper lip, eh? I don’t think so. Pow! I exploded inside with tears, and tears poured down my face. I just hugged Mary for quite some time. Then people began to come, and I sorted myself out. You never know what people will think.

Off to the main house for supper as the bell was ringing. Madonna House is something like a monastery, and the "duty of the moment" is their thing.

I didn’t know the community that well, but Jean Fox, the director of women, was at our table. I felt her look at me a few times, and then she said to me, "So what has happened to you?" I burst into tears and said, "I have found my Mother!"

Life moves on, and I became an applicant, a Madonna House novice. They call the life, "Nazareth"—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. It was tough at times, doing the nitty-gritty. Then my request for an annulment was turned down.

This was a big blow to me. I wanted to say "yes" to God, but how? It all seemed impossible, and I left Madonna House. I also said "no" to God.

I was angry at first, and hurt. I felt the Church had turned me down. But I had made my Act of Consecration to Mary according to St. Louis de Montfort, and Mary, the Mother of the Church, had me by the hand and wasn’t about to let go.

In his mercy, God granted that annulment thirteen years later. And now he is opening another door.