March 25 is the Feast of the Annunciation. On this particular year 1945, it fell on Palm Sunday. This is such an important season in our church. But in those times, during the final days of the war, thoughts were not focused on Palm Sunday, or the Feast of the Annunciation, or even Easter, for that matter.

Ida Peerdeman, the woman to whom the virgin Mary chose to come, called it a "hunger winter". Priests would visit private homes, rather than take a chance on Nazi retaliation for trying to perform religious ceremonies, like Mass, especially not in public places, like churches.

On that day, Fr. Frehe, who had been Ida's spiritual director for many years, chose to visit Ida and her family, as he had done many times in the past. The sisters and the priest sat in the drawing room, speaking of many things. We would imagine the condition of the war was the major topic of discussion. It seemed that their prayers were being answered; the enemy was being trounced by the foreign allies. Whatever it was, the visionary stated that they were in "deep conversation".

At a given point, Ida was distracted by a bright light emanating from a room, right outside the drawing room. She felt herself moving toward the light. Now, remember, she had been involved in this conversation with her sisters and the priest, and all of a sudden, she's just up and away, walking in the direction of the light, which only she can see.

Where the wall of the room had been, a scene appeared before her. It was a sea of light, and what she described as "infinite depth". Ida described what happened next: "And out of the depth, I suddenly saw a figure coming forward, a living figure, a female form. I saw her standing to my left above me, dressed in a long, white garment and wearing a sash, very feminine. She was standing with her arms lowered and the palms of her hands turned outward, toward me. As I looked, something strange came over me. I thought, 'It must be the Blessed Virgin; it can't be otherwise.'"