"I was bent over the steering wheel practically hyperventilating, I was crying so hard. I just stayed there repeating the words: God be with me. God be with me. God be with me.

"I climbed out of the car, holding the bag. My shoulders slumped over, I used my last reserve of energy to pick up the mail from the box outside my house. Shuffling through the envelopes, I saw a letter from a woman named Rose, whom I had met in Buffalo almost a year before, when I had given a speech to an audience of over five hundred Catholics. I told them the story of St. Theresa's novenas in my life and the presence of roses in times of trial.

"I ripped open the envelope to find a card with an image of St. Therese surrounded by roses and the words 'I will spend my heaven in doing good upon earth.' Inside the card I found my name and an announcement that a novena would be offered for my intention by Carmelite nuns, St. Therese's order, as requested by Rose.

"My eyes were already swollen with tears when I saw the medal of St. Therese that Rose had enclosed. It was an exact copy of the one I had been carrying in my pocket ever since the day my depression set in. On the front of the medal was a profile of St. Therese; on the back, above a crucifix and bouquet of roses, was the inscription 'After my death I will let fall a shower of roses.' "