The John-Henry Westen Show - It Took Killing Someone to Teach Me How to Pray

00:00:00.000 I'm not going to turn to anything. I'm not going to turn to drugs. I'm not going to turn to alcohol

00:00:04.360 because of my stability in my faith and because I had God in my faith. The only option for me

00:00:11.300 was to turn to him and was to bring my suffering to him.

00:00:17.400 When bad things in your life happen, sometimes it can totally throw you off. A lot of people,

00:00:23.140 when something really severe happens, turn to drugs and alcohol, turn to who knows what,

00:00:32.040 especially if it's really, really, really bad. Imagine being really young and a terrible accident

00:00:40.900 happens where you actually kill somebody. That's unreal. How in the world do you even deal with that?

00:00:47.860 Well, we're going to find out right now from someone who's been there.

00:00:51.340 Stay tuned for this episode of The John Henry Weston Show.

00:01:21.340 Jacinta Riggi, welcome to the program.

00:01:24.480 Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

00:01:27.360 Your story really is one I think that will touch many people. It is a story of great suffering,

00:01:34.800 but then also great redemption. So take us through, if you would, from the beginning.

00:01:40.260 It was the summer of 2018. You know, supposed to be the best summer of my life. I was

00:01:47.920 heading into my senior year right after that. How old are you at this time?

00:01:52.620 So I am 17 years old. I went to an all-girl private Catholic school. And so in the summers,

00:01:58.640 we would go to school and, you know, clean the school and help set up the classrooms.

00:02:04.620 And so I was at a piano lesson and I was headed up to my school, whereas usually after a piano lesson,

00:02:10.540 I would head back home. So today I'm heading back to school on this day in June, and I decided to take

00:02:18.480 a different road. And I took the same road that I usually do, but I took a different left. I took

00:02:23.120 a different turn. And I think that's just another thing of like God saying everything happens for a

00:02:28.260 reason. And he decided that that day I need to take that left turn. So I'm driving. It's very

00:02:34.740 busy on ongoing traffic. And there's, you know, there's traffic going with me. There's traffic

00:02:39.200 coming across from me and there's a middle lane. And in the middle lane, you, you can wait your turn

00:02:46.720 to turn left until it's good to go until the traffic's gone. So there's actually, you know,

00:02:53.580 a train coming on this side and it finally, the train, I'm waiting for the train to go away.

00:02:59.540 And I'm just sitting in the middle lane for about like 30 seconds. And the train finally goes,

00:03:04.840 traffic's gone. And I remember thinking I can turn left. There's nobody coming. And of course that

00:03:12.600 might be me now. Like that might be me going back and being like, I'm just trying to convince myself

00:03:20.820 that there is nobody, but I do remember thinking there's nobody coming. I can turn left. And so

00:03:26.900 I turned left and I remember taking a very slight turn, a very slight left. And all of a sudden out

00:03:34.420 of the middle of nowhere, a huge loud crash, a huge noise. And it was like the loudest sound I've ever

00:03:42.760 heard. My car turns. I'm just in complete shock. I'm looking around in my car. There's airbags off

00:03:49.700 everywhere in my car. And I'm thinking, what did I just hit? Like, did I just hit a man? Did I just

00:03:56.960 hit a human? Did I hit a car? Did I hit, did I hit an animal? I had, I had no idea what I just hit.

00:04:03.580 So I'm in shock and I'm sitting in the car and for about 10 to 20 seconds, I do nothing. I just sit

00:04:10.080 there. My car automatically calls 911. And then all of a sudden I start screaming out of nowhere. I just

00:04:15.780 have no idea what's happening. And then a man, man opens my door and he's like, you need to get

00:04:22.840 out. We need to get you out. Um, but don't look, don't look. He keeps, he keeps reiterating, don't

00:04:28.360 look. And so I'm like, okay, don't look. I'm like, what did I hit? What did I hit? What happened?

00:04:34.720 And then I get out of my car and I look, you know, straight across from me, probably about 10,

00:04:40.740 15 feet away. And, you know, there's a body just, just lying there. Um, it's, you know,

00:04:48.740 dismembered. It's just blood everywhere. There's blood coming out of the head. There's blood all

00:04:55.840 over the street and it's a very graphic image and, you know, something I'll never forget.

00:05:01.120 And I remember seeing it and, and this man was trying to cover my head and cover my eyes. And he's

00:05:05.800 like, no, we need to get you away. We need to get you away from, from, from the scene. Don't look,

00:05:10.420 do not look. And I keep, I kept saying like, what is it? What happened? Did I hit somebody?

00:05:16.600 Did I, did I hit somebody? Did I hit a car? Did I do that? Did I, did I do that? Like after I saw

00:05:22.760 the body, I started saying, did I do that? Was that me? And he took me across the street and he was

00:05:30.040 like, we need to call your family. And I'm just sitting there, just, just standing there staring

00:05:36.060 at the body. And luckily, you know, the people, people come, the ambulance comes. I, I see them

00:05:41.740 put his body in a body bag, bring him away. And he, this man ends up calling my family. My family

00:05:48.580 shows up and, and yeah, that's, that's what happened. That's how it happened.

00:05:54.220 You come from a good Catholic home. You, you know, you're, you're going to school, you're,

00:06:01.060 you're, you're praying, you're going to private Catholic school, you're, you're praying, going

00:06:05.240 to mass. And yet this happens to you, you know, did that kind of thing shake your faith? You know,

00:06:11.100 because when this happens, a lot of people say, you know, even if they're faithful, sometimes,

00:06:15.520 Hey God, what was that? How dare you? What was your reaction?

00:06:19.100 You know, even growing up as a Catholic and even growing up in the faith, I automatically didn't,

00:06:25.220 didn't think, Oh, this, everything happens for a reason. You know, I live by that quote. Now I live

00:06:30.980 that, you know, everything happens for a reason. God does everything for a reason. Um, but at that

00:06:35.800 point, no, I was not thinking that I was thinking what I just killed a man and what am I going to do

00:06:42.680 about it. And I remember thinking like, just, just being in shock and not knowing, um, not turning

00:06:49.920 to God at first, you know, in the first, in the first minutes, in the first hours, I just, I didn't

00:06:54.060 even even think about praying because I had no idea what just happened. But luckily, you know, my brother

00:07:01.340 is a priest and my mom's a psychiatrist with help, which helped. But I remember right after we were on

00:07:07.120 the way to the hospital and my brother called me, he was a priest and he said, this happened for a

00:07:12.840 reason. He was chosen to go at this point and at this point in his life. And like, don't, don't

00:07:22.640 bear like the responsibility of his death. And, you know, my mom, luckily it was just, you know,

00:07:30.140 just like, just trying to comfort me, just trying to like say over and over again, this wasn't your

00:07:34.860 fault. This wasn't your fault. Don't worry about it. And then they took me to the hospital

00:07:40.020 and my mom was like, the hospital waits long. Do you want to go home? And I was like, just take me

00:07:45.360 home. Just take me home. I can't, I don't want to be in a hospital right now. So I went home and I sat

00:07:52.340 in my bed and lied in my bed for about, I think three days in complete shock. And I was just staring

00:07:59.000 staring at the ceiling and just thinking about what had happened and rerunning the images and

00:08:06.560 rerunning what had happened to my mind 24 hours in the day, just over and over and over and over and

00:08:12.160 over again, thinking, what did I do? What the parents are just are receiving a call. Like his mom and dad

00:08:19.560 are receiving a call today saying, your son died. Your son passed away in an accident. And I'm the reason

00:08:25.460 that they're going to get that call. When did you realize the details of the accident?

00:08:31.540 You know, did you hit him? Was he walking or what was happening there? And how did you find out?

00:08:36.960 He was on a motorcycle and he's not unfortunately wearing a helmet. I think I saw his motorcycle

00:08:44.080 and, but I found out he was on a motorcycle and he wasn't wearing a helmet, unfortunately,

00:08:51.640 which obviously impacted it. He was coming at about 75 miles an hour. And he, which is just

00:09:01.880 very, it's incredibly fast. And especially when I'm turning, if you saw pictures of my car,

00:09:07.940 it was just completely gone. I mean, the fact that I, it was just a miracle that I even survived.

00:09:13.600 Um, and so we hit straight on and he just flew up from the motorcycle onto the ground and just,

00:09:23.020 you know, died pretty much instantly from that. You had mentioned about the parents, uh, being

00:09:30.400 informed. I presume they were informed and, and how did that go? And how did you learn about it?

00:09:35.280 I just couldn't even imagine my mom getting a call and saying, your daughter is dead.

00:09:38.560 And so something I had to deal with was really, you know, figuring out, was I going to reach out

00:09:44.120 to them? Well, how are they going to react? I believe my mom reached out to his mom first,

00:09:49.940 found his email somehow and said like, you know, you know, my daughter is the one that was involved

00:09:55.680 in the accident. Um, but she, the father, um, which I later found out was, you know, obviously not

00:10:02.840 happy about it. Um, he wasn't, he, I don't think he'd ever want to speak to me. He wouldn't ever want

00:10:09.960 to, you know, interact with me, which I completely, I completely am fine with, but the mom was, she is

00:10:17.480 just an absolute angel. She emailed me and told me, please know that this was, this is not your fault.

00:10:27.480 And she said, my husband got in a, in a motorcycle accident and he lost his leg. And ever since my

00:10:35.160 son, Chad, Chad was his name. He was in his thirties. She said, ever since he got a motorcycle,

00:10:40.100 I've been waiting for the call that says your son has passed away. Your son has died in a motorcycle

00:10:46.600 accident. And so she reached out to me and she said, please do not bear this on your shoulders.

00:10:53.420 Know that like, this wasn't your fault. It's okay. It wasn't your fault. She would send me care

00:10:59.620 baggages in college and email me constantly. We email each other once or twice a year, definitely

00:11:07.680 every day on the day that Chad passed away. And I just reassure her, you know, know that he's always

00:11:13.160 in my prayers, know that, you know, I'm praying for my family, praise for him. And now I've shared my

00:11:18.520 story publicly. And I know that there are other people that have reached out to me saying,

00:11:22.260 I keep him in my prayers. I keep the soul of Chad in my prayers. So you're not that much older now,

00:11:27.820 and yet you seem so well adjusted. How did you make this transition? How did you deal with this

00:11:34.320 massive problem? I mean, a lot of people would have turned to drugs, alcohol. They would have

00:11:41.560 perhaps rebelled against God and the whole faith. What was your journey? I grew up in a family,

00:11:46.400 you know, where we had the faith. I'm so lucky. Like every day, I'm so lucky to have grown up in

00:11:53.260 the Catholic faith and with the Catholic faith around me. But when something like that happens,

00:11:58.440 you don't, you don't think of faith right away. You know what I mean? I mean, luckily I was able to

00:12:05.240 down the road, but right away, I was thinking like, this is my fault. And how am I going to deal with

00:12:10.280 this? But I remember the Sunday after it happened, I was like, I need to go to church

00:12:17.400 and I need to go to mass. I don't care if people are looking at me. I felt like everyone was staring

00:12:21.800 at me. I felt like people at school were, when I went back to school, I just felt this heavy weight

00:12:26.880 on my shoulders all the time. And I was like, this heavy weight needs to go. And obviously, you know,

00:12:34.920 I was 17. Luckily I didn't, I was like, I'm not going to turn to anything. I'm not going to turn

00:12:39.180 to drugs. I'm not going to turn to alcohol because of my stability and my faith. And because I had God

00:12:45.200 in my faith, the only option for me was to turn to him and was to bring my suffering to him. And I

00:12:53.780 like to say my faith is my therapy because I turned to God with all my issues and my problems. And I

00:13:01.760 talked to him about them. And I talked to him about Chad and I relived the scenario with him. And I,

00:13:08.100 I didn't know what else would I do. I mean, I didn't want to ruin my life and, and turn to all

00:13:15.260 these, these worldly things to distract me from this terrible, terrible tragedy that had happened

00:13:20.720 in my life and other families' lives. So I turned to my faith and it was my therapy. And I talked to

00:13:28.880 God about it every day. And I, I remembered to say a prayer for a Hail Mary for Chad's soul every single

00:13:34.020 day. And my faith is what really got me through it.

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00:13:59.540 give.lifesitenews.com. And now back to the video.

00:14:04.320 A lot of people wonder what that is because I think most people know they, they say they're

00:14:10.560 Hail Mary's. They might say a rosary, they go to mass, but you're talking about talk to God. A lot of

00:14:15.880 people say that phrase of, of, um, you know, talk to God and so on. What do you mean by talk to God?

00:14:23.240 How do you even do that?

00:14:24.140 I remember when I was little in my catechism lessons, we were taught to speak to God as a

00:14:29.780 child speaks to his father in heaven. And I was thinking, I always was like, what does that even

00:14:33.940 mean? Like, that's so like, I'm not going to just talk to God. Like, no one just talks to God.

00:14:39.160 You sit in the church and you pray and you know, but you don't like talk out loud to God. That's

00:14:44.200 weird. Ever since that accident, I have been doing that. And I will like after the accident, when I

00:14:50.560 finally got used to driving my car again, I would go on drives and on my drives, I would literally

00:14:57.140 just talk out loud as if it was a therapy session. You know, when people go to therapy, they think

00:15:02.100 it's because they need to share something with someone and they don't want to share it with

00:15:06.700 their friends and they don't want to share it with their family because it's too close and it's too

00:15:10.580 personal. And my accident was very close and very personal to me. And it still is. And luckily I've

00:15:18.320 come to a point where I can share and talk about it with other people, you know, thousands

00:15:21.440 of people. But I knew that I had to turn to God and I don't know why I started it, but I

00:15:29.240 just started talking out loud and I acted as if it was a therapy session. And I would basically

00:15:34.160 what I do is just say, okay, God, this is happening in my day. This is annoying me today. I can't

00:15:41.760 get through this. You need to help me through this. You need to help me through this, God, because

00:15:44.880 I'm someone who needs to talk out loud and it works. And he, he shows signs and it just brings

00:15:52.120 me, it just brings me so much peace to be able to share my life with him because I'm not someone,

00:15:57.640 especially who opens up easily with people. I don't open up about my feelings or my emotions

00:16:02.380 with people. So with the accident, I don't talk to many people about it. But after being able to just

00:16:08.400 share with God and, and, and he's, he's helped me heal in so many different ways. Um, and yeah,

00:16:16.620 so, you know, my faith is my therapy. That's my, that's my quote.

00:16:19.760 I think that's really beautiful. It's funny, you know, our Lord counseled his own disciples and all

00:16:26.120 of us to go to a private place to play, to shut your door. He went to the Mount of Olives. He would

00:16:34.740 often climb a mountain to play because he's there all by himself. So you can talk out loud. I, I'm

00:16:41.800 like almost a hundred percent sure our Lord would have prayed out loud. Exactly like that. Talking

00:16:48.060 to his heavenly father. Yeah, exactly. You have to be alone because there's, there's just so many

00:16:56.000 distractions in the world. There's so many distractions at the tip of our fingertips, you know,

00:17:01.460 whether it be our electronics, whether it be, you know, drugs, alcohol, bad relationships,

00:17:06.720 there are so many things that the devil has prepared and ready for us. And he's just like,

00:17:13.080 grab this, you know, because we don't see, we don't see God right away. If you, if you're not

00:17:18.320 stable in your faith, you don't see God. You see, you see all the other distractions around and they're

00:17:23.260 gold and they're silver and they look great. Um, but they don't fulfill you. And, you know, ask,

00:17:30.120 ask any drug addict or alcoholic or anybody who's addicted to anything. None of that fulfills you.

00:17:39.220 And none of that stays with you forever. It's very temporary. God created you. He's never going

00:17:44.560 away. He's someone that, you know, you can always trust and you can always go to. Whereas the other

00:17:50.500 things, they're going to ruin you. They're not going to bring you up and they're not going to bring you to

00:17:54.240 heaven. In these kinds of conversations you have with God, you don't get answers. So maybe you do.

00:18:01.560 Have you heard God speak to you or, or what do you make? Cause normally when you have a conversation

00:18:05.720 with someone, when you're talking to somebody, you're supposed to get an answer, but do you hear

00:18:10.040 things? No, I'm not like a saint over here saying, I talked to God and he talks back to me. We have this

00:18:15.520 really great relationship. Um, no, he doesn't, he doesn't talk back to me like speaking, but he speaks

00:18:24.040 to me through, I don't know if anybody else knows this, but he's, I mean, obviously everybody does

00:18:28.340 like everyone's like, but God has such a great sense of humor. I mean, things will happen in my

00:18:33.940 life where I'm just like, you knew that I hated that. And you knew that I'm going to have to suffer

00:18:38.440 going through that. And you know, the fact that you brought that is just, it just makes me laugh,

00:18:42.800 but there's just so many signs that happen in your life just every day where you're just like,

00:18:48.940 that's not, you know, people say it's the universe. It's the universe talking, you know,

00:18:53.160 and, and people are so like spiritual about it, but not in the right way. Um, and it's like, no,

00:18:58.900 that can only be like a spiritual, that can only be God. That can only be the person that created you.

00:19:05.240 If you're open to it, give us one of those examples where you laughed and, and, uh, you felt our

00:19:10.300 Lord was speaking to you through, through something that happened. It's not work now. It was work years

00:19:14.600 ago, but someone I did not get along with at all. And I'm just like, for some reason, this person

00:19:19.320 bugged me, bugged me so much. And I, um, was assigned to work with that person for weeks on end.

00:19:28.860 We were on the same shift and we worked together. And I was just like, God, you know, that I am just

00:19:38.260 so annoyed by this person. Every time we hang out and every time we work together and he put that

00:19:44.340 person in my life for a reason. And, you know, after the, I was just like, you're so funny because

00:19:49.780 you're laughing up there right now. Like, ha ha. Like you're going to have to deal with this person

00:19:53.660 for the next two weeks. Um, and then after that, we ended up like bonding and we ended up becoming

00:20:00.540 like friends, not great friends, but we ended up becoming friends. So it just shows like

00:20:05.120 everything happens for a reason. And God has a plan for everything. And sometimes it's going to be

00:20:10.340 humorous. He's all just, he's all, he's perfect. And he has a little bit of sense of humor and that's

00:20:15.640 okay to, um, to say that he does. Yeah. You know, it's amazing because those two things you put

00:20:22.800 together in your life, what your priest brother told you, um, that's kind of odd having a father

00:20:29.460 brother, but anyway, um, he tells you that everything happens in God's plan. So every single

00:20:37.200 thing, there were no coincidences. And I think that's why you can see God's answers in your life

00:20:44.420 to your prayers, to him, to your conversations with him by what happens, because you know that

00:20:50.140 they happen with God's will, even the tragedies, but also everyday little things. There are no

00:20:56.960 coincidences. Every person is brought into your life for a reason. Everything happens for a reason,

00:21:02.140 every tragedy, because I think every tragedy is an opportunity for you to become closer to God.

00:21:07.860 When that tragedy happens, whether you have faith in your life or not, that's the opportunity you have

00:21:12.440 to either turn away from God or turn towards God. And those are, there are the biggest moments of

00:21:19.220 weakness because the devil was so powerful and so strong. I am so stuck on this because I think it's

00:21:24.640 a real revelation that we do have conversations with God. It's great to have them out loud because I

00:21:30.320 think that's, that's totally needed and people all need to do that. But then to see his answers in

00:21:37.460 your life, because you know, every single thing is controlled by him in your life, bad or good.

00:21:42.560 It's an amazing thing. So it really is a conversation that plays out you with words to him and him with

00:21:47.960 your life to you. Yeah. And God brings every single person in your life for a reason. Like,

00:21:53.280 like Chad, for example, you know, that was the name of the man that passed away, Chad. And

00:21:57.220 in that moment, God decided I'm going to take his soul. It's his time. It's his moment for whatever

00:22:06.120 reason. I have no idea what his relationship was with God. I don't even know if he had one. And at

00:22:12.140 that moment, he decided I'm taking Chad's soul and, and you're going to stay, you're going to stay on

00:22:17.380 this earth. And so I think he may have not had anyone praying for him. You know, Chad may have

00:22:25.440 not anyone really, you know, you know, praying for him and, and praying for his soul and praying for

00:22:32.780 a state of grace. Who knows? We have no idea. And so I think the reason why he was brought into my

00:22:38.700 life. And the reason why that happened is because I pray for him all the time and I'm helping save his

00:22:44.400 soul, you know, because I don't know where he is, unfortunately. And I think that, you know,

00:22:49.100 I've shared my story a few times now and I've, I've received comments on Instagram or on YouTube

00:22:54.540 saying like praying for Chad and praying for Chad and things happen for a reason. And God brings

00:22:59.800 certain people into your life for a reason. Um, and I think that was the reason why Chad was

00:23:04.620 my mind. What would be your final piece of advice for young people who have experienced tragedies in

00:23:10.340 their lives? Cause this is really tough. You were faced with something really monumental.

00:23:16.900 What's your advice to young people? I think people need to know that they need to turn to God with

00:23:22.880 their sufferings. I think a lot, a lot of depression is happening right now in our world. And a lot of

00:23:29.560 young people have depression and anxiety and all this stuff. And I think people with depression,

00:23:34.620 they decide that nobody wants me. Nobody wants to hear my problems. Nobody wants to talk to me.

00:23:43.400 Um, and I think those people, people who are going through tragedy, people that, you know,

00:23:48.720 their, their families are divorced. Their parents are going through it. You need to know there's

00:23:54.600 something that you can turn to. That's not just the world. You know, the devil has built this perfect

00:23:59.700 little empire where we want to turn to the worldly things. You need to know that those are the times

00:24:05.060 and you need to take your suffering to God because God will be your greatest advocate in life. And she's

00:24:12.100 never leaving. He's always going to be by your side. When that happened to me in my life,

00:24:16.840 that was the moment when I decided I meant to be on this earth and I meant to be on this earth for

00:24:22.100 something. And ever since that happened, I have been career driven, spiritually driven. And I think

00:24:29.660 people need to look at the terror and the terrible things that are happening in their life and realize

00:24:36.640 this is an opportunity and this is an opportunity for greatness. And I could become great because of

00:24:42.640 this not great in a worldly manner, but great spiritually. So I think just remember, turn to

00:24:48.620 God and turn to him in suffering and speak to him, you know, speak to him like a child speaks to his

00:24:54.980 father in heaven. And it's so true. Those words are so true. And I think just live by them. Bring your

00:25:01.040 suffering to him. He loves it. He loves hearing our suffering to him. It brings us closer to him

00:25:05.680 because he knows that, you know, he created us and he, he created us human. He knows that we have all

00:25:11.620 these emotions. Don't turn to the devil, you know, you know, turn to God in times of need and times of

00:25:17.120 suffering because he's the only one that's really going to really going to help us, you know, get to

00:25:21.620 our end goal in the end. What father doesn't want to hear his children speak to him? Yes, speak to him

00:25:30.240 formally in, you know, all the proper ways a son or daughter should speak to his father with great

00:25:37.060 respect and everything else, but also in that way, that's just from the heart. Cry to him, laugh to

00:25:43.420 him, share your happiness, share your, your worst things. He's your best friend. He should be your

00:25:49.080 best friend, um, as well as your father, someone who you respect and you love. So I think if you treat

00:25:56.020 him as your father, as you would your, your father, um, yeah, you'll just build a beautiful

00:26:01.940 relationship with him. And I know mine has changed completely ever since my accident has happened.

00:26:07.560 Jacinta Riggi, thank you so much for being with us.

00:26:09.640 Thank you so much for having me on. I hope we can speak again soon.

00:26:13.020 God willing and God bless you, Jacinta.

00:26:15.080 God bless.

00:26:16.020 And God bless all of you. We'll see you next time.

00:26:21.360 Hi everyone. This is John Henry Weston. We hope you enjoyed this video and to see more like this,

00:26:26.560 be sure to hit the subscribe button below to get all the latest content from LifeSite News.

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00:26:42.820 news. Thanks for watching and may God bless you.

The John-Henry Westen Show - November 08, 2022

It Took Killing Someone to Teach Me How to Pray

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