Last Minute Gifts

by Paula Veloso Babadi

I am sure you have heard stories of faithful Catholics who have experienced the sweetness of our Spiritual Mother’s presence. I grew up in a family that said the Rosary almost every evening, with parents who were devoted to Mary. Still, as I left home for college and later started my own family, unlike my parents and sisters, I did not keep up that tradition. It took a while on my spiritual journey to understand how much Our Lady loves us and how eager she is to give us gifts that bring us closer to her Son.

Over thirty years ago, when one of my sisters relayed that she was going to Conyers, Georgia, where a housewife, Nancy Fowler, was reportedly receiving messages from Our Lady, she suggested it was not too late to meet up there with the rest of my family. I didn’t think it would be possible to get time off so quickly, but miraculously, I was granted vacation days and rushed home to prepare for the almost 350-mile trip. I wondered how on Earth I would find a place to stay or my family in a crowd of thousands. It was the days before GPS and cell phones.

“A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”—Revelations 12:1

People flocked to Conyers to witness the wonders occurring there, and after what seemed like an eternity of “No Vacancy” signs, I found a place to stay the night. The next day, miraculously again, I found my parents and two sisters amid a sea of people gathered in a muddy field. With oohs and aahs, the crowd was taken in by the sun playing in the sky and a blue light bearing the resemblance of the Blessed Mother’s outline hovering among nearby trees—except me. I didn’t see what my family and everyone else seemed to have seen. How could I have missed it? Am I too skeptical?

“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’”—Matthew 17:19–21

When the Rosary and other prayers finished, and people started joyously leaving the field, I was downtrodden. We approached the small farmhouse where Nancy Fowler had been kneeling inside, and I lingered as my parents and sisters moved ahead toward the parking area.

“I believe you were here, Mary, but I’m sad, I didn’t see your signs,” I said. “Please let me experience your presence.” People walked by, and with each one who passed me, I could smell perfume.  I finally stopped one young woman: “Are you wearing perfume?”

“No.” 

The scent continued; it was the sweet smell of roses, just like the heirlooms in my father’s garden.  

I ran to catch up with my parents.  “Did you smell roses when you walked by the farmhouse?”

“No.”

I broke down crying and told them what happened, at which they hugged me and said Our Lady had given me a gift.  Our Blessed Mother is ready to carry us closer to her Divine Son and to protect and console us in troubled times. 

When I arrived in Conyers, I was mildly doubtful, slightly hopeful after seeing the crowds in awe, and overcome with gratitude when I received such consolation at the slightest movement toward belief. People far more devout than I can attest to the beauty of devotion to Mary and the fruits of dedication to daily Rosaries.

Over the years, I became more mindful of praying the Rosary, but I wasn’t consistent.  As I remembered that gift so many years ago, just before Lent, I am committing to say the Rosary every day, just as we did when I was a child.

Copyright 2026 Paula Veloso Babadi

Edited by Gabriella Batel

Photo by ClickerHappy-3678 at Pexels