Liz & Darrell Bennett with Pope John Paul II
My dear friends,

It is with great humility and love of our Lord and His Mother that I write of my personal conversion. It was October 7, 1978 - It is a day that lives on in my heart and memory. Even now, over 20 years later, at the very contemplation of that day, my heart is overwhelmed with emotions, and tears come to my eyes.

I am so very grateful and thankful to God for the gift of that day. I often describe what happened to me as the Paul-Peter-John Syndrome; however, before I continue with that, I would like to provide you with some background information.
I was raised Protestant. My family has deep religious convictions, convictions deeply ingrained in my life. My Mom and Dad are Baptist. They are still very active in their church. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. Sunday was not only the day to worship God, but it was also the day for family. My Grandmothers also left an indelible impression on me, one was Methodist and the other a member of the Church of the Nazarene. What I will always remember most about both of them is their faithfulness and love of the Word of God. To the best of my memory, there was not a day passed that they did not sit down, take out the Bible, and spend time with God. This took place day in and day out, year in and year out, good times or bad. The Word of God was the foundation of their lives and church was the extended family.

My religious upbringing was one of reverence for God, love for His Word, and respect for His commandments. Thanks be to God and my parents and grandparents. Unfortunately, I was not living a life anyone or any denomination would have approved in the weeks and months prior to October 7, 1978. I was a lost child. There are of couple of things I would like to mention. One is the fact that Liz, my wife and a devout Catholic, and I almost did not get married. I simply refused to sign an agreement to raise any children we might have “Catholic.” I finally did sign the paper. I thought I was being very shrewd in the process. As best as I can recall, it seemed to me at the time that the wording was open to interpretation. I intended to live up to the letter of the document, but my intent was quite different. To sum it up, we were to raise our children in the faith of the one, Holy, Catholic (universal), and Apostolic Church of Christ. I had no problem with that, because I absolutely knew for sure that it was not the Roman Catholic Church. I did respect Liz's beliefs however, but there was no way I was going to pray to statues, kneel before priests, or pray to or worship anybody but God Himself. My wife Liz would faithfully go to bed praying her Rosary. I would faithfully wake up each morning with her Rosary literally imbedded in my back. I would actually have to peal it off my back and live with its imprint for most of the day. I was not happy with this to say the least. She would try to keep it from happening, but I still would awaken that way. My thoughts about our Lady and the Rosary were not pleasant during those times. Apart from religion, I was very much engrossed in the world. I had one goal, to succeed in the world and be retired by the time I was 30. I wanted the wife and kids, 2 story home, 2 car garage, a boat, of course, plenty of friends and the money and power to enjoy the pleasures the world had to offer. I did not particularly care how I was going to achieve it. The end justifies the means was pretty much how I was thinking at that time. Little did I know what was in store for me.

The question I cannot answer, even now, is why I went to a lot in Lockport, Louisiana on Saturday, October 7, 1978. I have thought about it so many times and can only attribute it to the grace and mercy of God and loving intervention of our Lady. At the time the following events took place, I was working for an insurance company. The agents met regularly at the office in New Orleans, LA. I met a couple of other agents from Houma, LA, Patterson, LA, and Lockport, LA. The agent from Lockport told the story of a man from Lockport, Klebert “Tee-Beb” Belanger,  who was allegedly having apparitions of Our Blessed Mother Mary and that something extraordinary was to occur on Saturday, October 7. He did not know what but gave us directions to the lot where people would be gathering, and the time, etc.

I shared the story with Liz. We decided to go. We went to Lockport that morning not sure what we would find or experience. There were approximately 600-1,000 people there depending on who you talk to. I remember the crowd drawing closer together at one point when a couple arrived. Everyone began praying the Rosary shortly thereafter. After the Rosary, there was a cloud formation in the form of a cross that passed so slowly from west to east. I always like to clarify that it was not a cloud one say looks like a cross. When laying around and looking up to the sky one tries to describe cloud formations by their appearance as animals, people or things. This cross of clouds was near perfect and unmistakable by all who were there and saw it. Word traveled around the crowd that the man at the center of all this had left and would return later in the afternoon. So we left too.

We returned that afternoon. That man arrived again and like many others we tried to get a little closer to try and see what was happening. The crowd began to pray the Rosary again. This time I fell to my knees and began trying to mimic the prayers everyone was saying. I didn't know the words. I had never said or prayed a Rosary in my life. I guess 20-30 minutes must have past. When the Rosary was over we all got up. After standing for a moment I noticed my knee imprint in a bed of fire ants. They were all over the place. If you have ever seen an ant bed after being disturbed you can understand what I am describing. These ants are small and vicious and attack in mass numbers. I immediately took several steps back. It is strange and funny how the mind works at times. I remember taking a quick glance around me at all the people. All I could think about at that moment was how deeply embarrassed I was going to be, because I was going to have to strip down to my birthday suit in front of all these people. I then looked down at my pants and shoes to see how many were on me. There was only one problem. There were no ants on me, not a single one. I looked again thinking I must have been mistaken, but there were the ants on the ground going crazy as they do. There was my knee imprint. I was absolutely positive it was where I had been kneeling. I got Liz and showed her. I had her check to make sure I was not missing something. There was no rational explanation.

The cross of clouds and incident with the ants are extraordinary events, but it is what took place in my heart and in my life that day that is the most extraordinary and enduring. Our Lady stole my heart away that day. I have gratefully let her keep it for her Son ever since. Earlier I referred to the Paul, Peter, and John Syndrome. Let me explain, I was Paul, because the Lord knocked me off my pride and revealed the truth of His presence; Peter - for experiencing the question posed Peter by the Lord, a question that I must now answer each moment of my life, "Do you love me?"; John - for experiencing the words of our dear Lord from the cross to the disciple whom He loved, "Behold your mother!"

Life for us would never be the same. My heart, my very being was aflame, consumed by the love of God. Yet, like Paul, I would have to wait patiently for the Lord to open my eyes to His truth. All I knew at that moment was that there is a God and we had been blessed to encounter Him. Another thing I knew was that the Rosary was part of God's plan. I would never put the Rosary down, and I would devote my life to this prayer. I also knew that our Lady, Jesus' mother, would help us so that our lives would reflect our response to Jesus' question in imitation of Peter. "Lord, you know all things. You know well I love you."

Currently I represent a group called the Miracle of the Rosary Missionfrom the Thibodaux, Louisiana area. We gather in Lockport daily for the Rosary. We have been together for a number of years. Our spiritual director is Father Richard Mataconis, stationed in Rome. He is at the catacombs of St. Callistos. He previously was at EWTN. I have been receiving messages from Our Lady for some time now and recently I have been asked by Our Lady to make known these messages.  They are available for you to meditate and discern, and they are available through our electronic newsletter, "Mission Moments" offered below. I hope that you are blessed and favored by God and take to heart what is communicated to you.

God Bless You!
Darrell Bennett