Binghamton, NY

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This report comes to us from team leader Fr. Ignatius with our Endicott-Mount St. Francis Hermitage team in New York:

The Endicott Team returned to the streets of Binghamton this yesterday, and Providence seemed to smile on us in a new way. Fr. Ignatius and John the Postulant set out for about seventy-five minutes at the same place (if it’s not broken, don’t fix it) and from the first moments it was clear that something had shifted. Last week, though a good day with some deep conversations, most passersby declined the Miraculous Medal. This week was different. Person after person reached out to accept a medal, definitely the majority. So many, in fact, that the supply of ball chains, with which to “string” the medals, ran out entirely.

Fr. Ignatius transitioned to distributing rosaries with a pamphlet on how to pray them, and the response was just as warm. One moment stood out above the rest. A young man approached wearing a rosary around his neck. When Fr. Ignatius asked if he knew how to pray it, the young man looked genuinely surprised to learn it was a prayer at all. A pamphlet was pressed into his hands, and his face lit up with what could only be described as exuberance. The uncomplicated joy of someone who has just discovered a treasure he had been carrying all along.

Even the rosary pamphlets eventually ran out, and so Fr. Ignatius switched to pamphlets on Marian devotion, which were likewise received with openness. A man who had rather coolly declined a medal the week before accepted a rosary this time with great warmth and kindness.

Fr. Ignatius attributes the fruit of this outing in no small part to the intercession he had quietly asked of a soul or two. The Blessed Mother, it seems, was at work before the team ever arrived. Next week’s plan: generously restock supplies and ask for more prayer!