Get up and walk

In Singapore, I saw a friend that I knew from Medjugorje, Fr. Michael Lim,who has a beautiful testimony.

From Chinese origin, a Buddhist, he knew nothing about our faith and wanted to keep away from Christians. His elder sister, Violet, has been gravely ill since adolescence. She had to go through many painful surgeries, including one that almost killed her. Her condition was getting worse and worse. Stuck to her wheelchair, she was a cause of great sorrow for her family, who felt powerless to help her. 

In June 1995, Rose, a Catholic, advised Michael to take his sister to a church where a priest was to lead a charismatic healing service. Michael was skeptical but willing to do anything to help his sister. He explained: 'People were waving their arms or placing their hands on another's shoulder to pray. I thought it was ridiculous. Rose told me to pray to Jesus to send the Holy Spirit through the priest to heal my sister. I didn't understand what she was talking about. But I spoke to Jesus and I said, 'Make her walk and I will believe in you.' When the priest came up to us, he prayed over my sister and then told her to stand. First she walked and then she started to run. The first thing that came into my mind was: He's alive! Jesus is real! I was in tears. From that point onwards I wanted to know everything there was to know about Catholicism. I read the whole Bible from cover to cover in less than 60 days.

Michael could not put the Bible down and spent several hours a day reading it, like a thirsty man who finally has found living waters to quench his thirst. His soul longed for the living God!

Of course the story does not end here, but I can tell you that after this event, his entire family was baptized and Michael was accepted into the seminary at the age of 38. He was ordained a priest last month, March 25th, the Annunciation. He said to his parishioners: It took me 35 years to find God. You were given that knowledge from birth and you want to throw it away? Listen to me. Never waste it!

Yes, Jesus is alive! On Easter we are going to celebrate the joy of having such a God, not made by human hands and powerless to save, but real and alive; and his name is Love! His name is Ieshua, God saves

www.childrenofmedjugorje.com

The Wrong number..

One night, about 3am, the phone rang in the Presbytery. The PP answered it and the caller enquired “Is that the funeral home ?” ; “No, we are all alive here, only sleeping, its 3am” was the response. The caller went onto explain that he had just returned from the USA having heard that his mother had just died and was trying to find out where she was. The Priest recognised the name; he was to conduct the mother’s funeral that week.

The plot thickened; as the son told him how he had left under a cloud, the ‘blacksheep’ of the family you could say, and although he wanted to attend his mother’s funeral he was a bit concerned about how he would be received by the rest of the family. Perhaps Fr.. could smooth things over for him ? He agreed to do so.

At the funeral, when he came in all his relatives embraced him and welcomed him, somehow the death in the family became a source of unity and they all cried together and were reconciled and put past events behind them.

The son was so pleased that he heartily thanked the PP for his help and said that “if there is anything I can ever do for you, just let me know and I will” The priest thought this over for a few moments and said “actually there is one thing, I’m having a Life in the Spirit Seminar here for the next few weeks and I’d like you to attend”

His face dropped at the prospect of having to spend a half a dozen evenings in church; He had been away from the church for a very long time, born into the Catholic church but never really deciding to be one. However he was grateful and so agreed to attend, just to please him.

As the weeks went by, and he listened to the teachings and testimonies of these “born again” Catholics, he received the gift of faith, it all started to make sense to him, the love of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He decided for God , was reconciled with Him and received His mercy and forgiveness.

A complete change came over him, the same zeal and dedication he had once had for sin, he now had for God and wanted to share this good news with others. Soon his family, amazed at his transformation, were attending the next Life in the Spirit seminar, as were some old friends. He was happy and at peace at last.

A couple of months later, still in his twenties, he had a heart attack and died.