A most blessed advent! A dear friend reached out and asked why I had not written anything lately; in truth, I am working on a “secret project” that only a select few know about and so, I will not be posting very much this month due to that endeavor and preparation for something else dear to my heart. But I wanted to post a brief blog today about a precious soul who messaged me through Etsy and was compelled to share her story with me. I received her permission to do so; please take a moment to watch this short video of how she escaped death by the hands of Our Lady. Her name is incredibly Marian: Rosario Guadalupe!

At the age of fourteen, Rosario Rodriguez was innocently unaware that she’d become one of many young women to be stalked by a serial rapist and murderer.  According to police, the suspect would choose and follow his victim for months near local high schools before he attacked. Rosario was abducted on her way to the bus stop and she was dragged into a wooded area.

The attacker attempted to rape Rosario as he firmly pressed his hand against her mouth. Rosario screamed the words of the Hail Mary as he fought to break her and silence her forever. In a 2011 interview with Tony Rossi, host and producer of Christopher Closeup, Rosario recalled, “His eyes got really big. He looked afraid, jumped up and ran away. My first reaction was to turn around to see what he saw, but I saw nothing . . . We’ve always had guesses [that he saw] St. Michael or my guardian angel or our Lady because I was screaming the Hail Mary. But I believe he saw something divine.”

Rosario was the first and only victim to have escaped the clutches of this man with her life and without physical injury.

In the video below she describes the scene, but also shares another chilling story where she was shot and survived:

Rosario: “We were part of the FSSP out in Los Angeles and while it was a blessing to be a part of that wonderful community, we wanted to live in a less communistic state! So, we moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in TX and are a part of the Mater Dei FSSP Parish. So far, we love it! My husband is an actor, writer, and producer and I’m a speaker, dancer, writer and producer. My husband has an agent out here in Dallas but the content he auditions for here is just as awful as it was in Los Angeles. After several years of having, it on our hearts we have decided to start our own production company. We want to make movies that are well done with great story and promote what is True, Good, and Beautiful! We recently did an interview with Steve Cunningham on Sensus Fidelium about what we want to do. You can watch it here:

When I watched the first video she sent me, I remembered quite vividly hearing it in person at a Catholic Conference in 2015. I realized that I had, in fact, heard her share her story live all those years ago, and it was the only thing that stood out to me during the series of talks that weekend. One particular conference was on Mary, and with all due respect, it was a boring speech because let’s face it, many people have no clue how to speak about Our Lady… even Catholics. But then this young woman was handed the microphone and she began sharing how Our Lady saved her life; when I heard just how Mary came to her aid, I never forgot it. I was so moved when she found my Etsy; what were the odds that the only story that touched me was from the very same young woman, and then she found ME? Our Lady never ceases in surprising me and connecting souls who seek to imitate Her. Living outside of time, She knew we would one day meet.

Please pray for Rosario and her husband Sebastain; she shared with me how they met. Rosario relayed how the desire for marriage had been placed on her heart for years but that she needed to “wait”. One day she prayed in front of a statue of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and asked Our Lady to please show her who this man would be, because she had been waiting to the point of not understanding how much longer it would take. Directly following that prayer, she received an invitation to attend an event where she met Sebastain that very night.

Sebastain and Rosario’s beautiful home altar and prayer corner:

AVE MARIA ET LAUDETUR CHRISTUS JESUS!