It's a True Crime

 After returning home from a family wedding across the state, I was shocked to find half my outdoor Rosary was missing. The Rosary was made out of two-inch blue stones and laid right in front of my statue of Mary. Who would take half of a Rosary? Also, the three rocks with the words printed on them were missing.  The three rocks were "Trust," "God," and "Love." Are you kidding me?  Trust God's love is the Divine Mercy message.  Was this the work of Satan? I was fuming. Theresa suggested we check the house security cameras, which began our full-blown investigation. 

 It wasn't long before we discovered who did it. The crime occurred in the middle of the day while we were away. The criminal looked right at the camera as he took one stone and another. He shoved them in his mouth, ran away, and then returned for more. It was one of the neighborhood squirrels!

 Why would he do this? If I knew he was out evangelizing the squirrel community, I could jump on board with him, but I feared this may not be the case. Theresa googled the habits of squirrels and found that they usually buried their treasure and then marked the area. "I bet you it's under a leaf," Theresa deducted. 

 "Theresa, we have hundreds of leaves in our yard. There is no way we will find them," I replied. Theresa paid no attention to my pessimistic attitude. Within a few minutes, she found one of the buried rock beads. Unfortunately, we did not discover anymore. 

 As I collected the remaining rocks in front of Mary, I wondered if it made her sad. I thought about this the rest of the day. Is it possible that squirrels aren't the only creatures that gather Rosary beads and then hide them? Is it possible people do that as well? Perhaps not in the ground, but forgotten somewhere in a drawer. That, too, is a crime. 

 Then I had an idea. Maybe we could start a neighborhood watch. We could pull out our rosaries daily, pray with Mary, and encourage our neighbors to do so. That way, we could be assured that no more rosaries would get buried again! Satan may have gotten to this squirrel, but let's help Mary step on that snake's head and allow God to have the last word.

-Susan