We recently traveled to Conyers for the weekend of Oct. 13 to
join the many thousands of pilgrims for the Blessed Mother's anniversary
message. My wife and I have been to Conyers numerous times and
have experienced many graces in our lives. We have also witnessed
many small miracles such as the smell of roses and other unusual
occurrences.
On Oct. 12, we were on the Holy Hill for a prayer service. At
the end of the service we were walking around the grounds when
we noticed a stirring around the Our Lady of Fatima statue. Upon
approaching the statue, we heard some of the pilgrim's saying
that they could see visible changes in Our Lady's expressions.
Unfortunately, my wife and I did not see such changes, however,
our daughter Maria, who is seven years old and very devoted to
Our Lady, commented that she could see tears coming from Our Lady's
face. Another woman who was present (I overheard her talking
about the fact that she had Lou Gherig's disease) said "Your
daughter is right, I can see her crying". In any event,
I remember thinking among other things, how wonderful it was to
witness such love for the Blessed Mother.
At that point my wife to a photo of my daughter staring up at
the Blessed Mother. She then turned to Maria with my camera (a
Nikon F/3 professional) and said "Maria, you should take
a photo of Our Lady, since you are innocent, if there is anything
to be seen, you will surely capture it". At that moment,
I adjusted the settings on the camera and Maria proceeded to take
the photo. Over the next day and a half, we continued to receive
special graces too numerous to mention and shortly thereafter
we returned home to Pennsylvania.
About a week later we had our pictures developed only to find
that the image Maria had taken appeared to be very special. The
Blessed Mother, in actuality was holding a bouquet of roses which
evidently a pilgrim had given her earlier. On our photo, a bright
light appeared to be emanating from beneath the roses around the
area of Our Lady's heart. I have seen numerous images with unusual
characteristics, in many instances, these characteristics could
be explained away as lens flare. This is certainly not the case
here! I have had a handful of photographic experts look at the
photo with no explanation being offered. As I have come to understand
over time, I do not question how such a thing could happen, I
simply thank Our Lady for this beautiful gift she has given us.
By the way, the image was shot with Kodak Gold 200, conditions
were partly cloudy at the time with no direct sunlight. Unfortunately,
I did not note the f stop of the camera at the time.
I have included two scans of the image, one is simply a zoom on
the area from which the light emanates.
Click here to see the images.
Thank you and may God Bless all!
--Sam D.