Brother Knights,
This being the September October Newsletter gives me an opportunity to reflect on a personal journey of mine. October 2nd marks Crystal and my anniversary, but that day marks another anniversary for me as well. It was October 2nd two years ago that I committed myself to praying the rosary daily. As a kid I didn’t know much about the rosary my parents weren’t big on going to church and I only knew of two people in my life then that I saw pray it regularly, and that was my great grandmother, Helen Quinn and my great aunt, Marion Waitson. So as a kid I thought of it as more of a girl thing rather than something that we all should pray. It wasn’t until I joined the Knights of Columbus, and the emphasis put upon the rosary that I realized the importance of it.
After becoming a Knight, I committed to praying the rosary daily during lent, but in September of 2020 I decided that beginning October 1st I would pray my rosary daily. If you noticed at the beginning, the date was not October 1st. So, needless to say I screwed it up right off the bat. In typical fashion I missed the first day. So, the next day, on my anniversary I started a journey. I now pray it daily and always finish by asking for Blessed Fr. McGivney and Our Lady of Fatima to pray for me.
Now this is a personal story that I have not shared with many people, and it tends to make me a tad emotional. As many of you are aware, my oldest daughter Aunna was diagnosed with cancer last spring, but what you may not know is the path that we took to finding it. About one month after I began praying the rosary daily, Aunna began having issues that were of no relation to the cancer diagnosis she would later receive. It was a long, complicated process of many hospital stays and much testing. It’s this testing that in the spring of 2021 discovered her cancer and just two weeks after diagnosis resulted in the surgical removal of her entire thyroid where they found cancer in two places.
We still do not know what the initial cause of the illness was. The doctors all said that if it wasn’t for the imaging done for her unexplained illness it likely would have spread further before she would have even started to notice anything wrong. I truly believe that there is no coincidence in the timing. Our Lady interceded and saved my daughter’s life. Praise be to God.
If there is one thing that I can strongly recommend to all my brother Knights and all my friends, it is simply to do what Our Lady of Fatima asked of us and pray the rosary daily. It may just change your life as it has mine.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
Blessed Father Michael McGivney, pray for us.
Vivat Jesus!
Ryan Polywkan
Grand Knight