THE
LORD CALLED ME, A GRAVE SINNER, THROUGH
A EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE
My childhood
I began going
to a Catholic church with my mother when I was eight years old.
I was baptized before Christmas next year.
Then, we moved to the country, where there only was a mission
chapel and a priest came once a month to celebrate Mass and hear
confessions. Sometimes we
walked to a larger town, 8 miles from our home, for Sunday Mass.
After I moved to a large city to attend high school and college, I
went to church every Sunday at first, but gradually became neglectful,
attending Mass only occasionally.
Immigration to the U.S.A. and
lukewarm faith life
Later, my
family immigrated to the United States.
I resumed going to church seeking spiritual and emotional
consolation, as my life as an immigrant was hard and lonesome.
My faith,
however, was weak, and I always had many doubts. I frequently criticized the Church, judged priests, and
clashed with fellow parishioners. The
troubles were even spreading to my own family.
So, I stopped going to the Korean church and attended Mass at
American churches occasionally. Even
when I was attending Mass, my mind was full of doubts and negative
thoughts. I thought that the
Eucharist was merely a ritual in the Church and only had a symbolic
meaning. Eventually, I even had doubts about the existence of God and
believed in Darwinism, denying that the world was created by God.
Then, for more than ten years, I did not go to church at all.
My mother’s last words
I know that my
mother was very worried about my soul and prayed for me a lot.
Anna, my younger sister, who now lives in Hawaii, has also prayed
for me very much. My mother
passed away last August in Los Angeles where my sister lived at that time.
Her last words were that she wanted me to come back to the Church.
After her funeral Mass, Fr. Edward Kim, a Korean priest at St.
Basil Church in Los Angeles, told me, “Your mother suffered a lot,
because you were not coming to church.
She prayed for you until her last moment and left her last words
that she wanted you to come back to the Church.” I
still vividly remember the parishioners at St. Basil Church who were so
selfless and kind.
My sister in Hawaii informs me
of Julia’s upcoming visit
One day I got a
call from Anna in Hawaii. She
said that Julia Kim of Naju was coming to Hawaii soon and asked me to be
there without fail. Actually, Anna had sent me many books and videos on the
miracles in Naju, but I had never reviewed them and had little faith in
those miracles. I had mailed
back some of the packages to her. I
had no interest in going to Hawaii.
But, because my
sister was so insistent and I did not want to hurt her feelings too much,
I finally asked my boss if I could take a one-week vacation.
It was ten days before the date I needed to be in Hawaii.
My boss, however, said that a vacation was out of the question
because it was a busy season. I
was glad, thinking that I tried enough to comply with my sister’s
request.
There was one seat available on
the airplane!
Then, on
October 27 (1994), which was one day before Julia’s arrival in Hawaii, I
was told by my boss that I could have a one-week vacation.
I was surprised. Because
it was nearing the end of business hours, I hurriedly called several
travel agencies. I was told that, because it was only one day before the
departure date, the roundtrip airfare from Seattle to Honolulu was $1,280.
Since that amount was substantial for a salaried person like me, I
thought that I had to give up the trip.
Then, I remembered to call one more place:
Hawaiian Airlines. Their
answer was that there was one seat available and the fare was $387 round
trip. I immediately made
reservation and hurriedly went to their office.
When I arrived there, they were getting ready to close.
Because the airplane was going to depart before their office would
open the next day, it was truly a dramatic experience.
Early next morning, I was on the airplane for Honolulu.
All of the 308 seats were occupied.
Julia Kim arrives in Hawaii
When I landed
in Honolulu, Anna was at the airport.
She led a prayer of thanksgiving.
Anna told me that she had been offering a novena with fasting that
I might be able to visit Hawaii and return to the Church.
Later that day, we went back to the airport to welcome Julia and
her companions. She was an ordinary, simple person, smiling, humble, and kind
to everyone. She was
radiating an air of peace, composure, and trust.
Julia gives my sister a replica
statue of Our Lady of Naju
After her
arrival, Julia gave a very special gift to Anna: a statue of Our Lady,
looking identical to the original weeping statue in Naju.
Anna and I left the hotel where Julia and her companions were
staying, and came to Anna’s house.
When we opened the box containing the statue, a sweet fragrance of
roses filled the whole house. It
was more pleasant than the fragrance of beautiful roses.
I saw the Blessed Mother and
smelled her fragrance in my dreams
That night,
Anna placed the Blessed Mother’s statue close to my bed.
After I went to bed at about 1 a.m., I had an unusual dream.
The Blessed Mother’s statue and Julia, standing next to her, were
looking at me. The Blessed
Mother seemed to be in deep thought, having pity on me.
Julia seemed the same. Then,
suddenly, a powerful fragrance of roses began overwhelming me. The fragrance was so strong that I woke up.
It was about 2 a.m.
After I woke
up, I could not smell the fragrance.
With much amazement, I prayed Our Father, Hail Mary,
and Glory Be, and went back to sleep.
After the six-hour flight and two-hour time difference, I was very
tired and fell asleep promptly. Then,
I had the same dream again.
I woke up
again, but, this time, the room was filled with the same strong fragrance
that I smelled in the dream. It
was 3 a.m. I was totally
amazed. Why did the Blessed
Mother and Julia appear in my dreams twice and give me this fragrance?
Julia speaks at Waikiki Shell
The Marian
Conference, hosted by St. Michael Center in Honolulu, began on Friday
afternoon (October 28, 1994) and continued on Saturday, from 9:30 a.m., at
Waikiki Shell, an outdoor conference hall.
It was a clear day, not too cool, not too warm.
Everyone felt elated and pleasant.
First, there was a Mass, followed by sermons and music all day.
When Julia stood up after Mass to return to her hotel for rest,
many people gathered around her, greeting her and asking for prayers.
The next day,
on October 30, Sunday, there was a Mass in the morning, and Julia was
scheduled to speak for one hour from 3:15 p.m.
As is usual in Hawaii, the weather was pleasant in the morning, but
became warm with strong sunlight in the afternoon. The temperature was 89 degrees Fahrenheit.
Many people were tired because of the warm weather and also because
it was the last day of the conference.
Nevertheless, a large audience gathered to hear Julia.
As she began speaking, Waikiki Hall was filled with expectations
and fervor. About two thousand people were present, attentively listening
to Julia. In the middle of
her talk, everyone smelled a strong fragrance of roses for quite a while.
What was also amazing to me was that the fragrance was coming from
the front, while the warm wind was blowing from behind.
I asked a man sitting next to me, “Do you smell some
fragrance?” He said
with much excitement, “Yes, it is a strong fragrance of roses.”
When I looked around, everybody seemed to be excited, repeatedly
breathing in the fragrance.
While speaking
to the audience, Julia mentioned that light was coming down from the sky.
Many people later said that they heard the sounds of thunder or
hailstorm at that moment. I
also heard it, but, because I was looking down, I thought it was an
airplane. Julia talked for
two hours and fifteen minutes, much longer than the time allocated to her.
But the audience was very absorbed throughout her talk.
Julia said that the devils were becoming more and more active,
making their last efforts to pull even one more soul down to hell.
They are destroying families, leading people to drugs, murders, and
abortions, and instigating them to judge and criticize the Church and
priests. She said that there
were already many signs like wars, accidents, and natural disasters,
signaling the approach of the day of judgment that Our Lord predicted.
Many people in the audience were repenting their sins, shedding
tears.
Julia prays for a blind old
woman
As Julia
finished her talk and came down from the platform, many people gathered
around her, trying to touch her and talk to her.
Suddenly, I heard someone shouting in Korean, “Where is she?
Where is she?” It
was the voice of a blind old woman, looking for Julia.
I went to her and held her right hand, saying, “She is over
there. Follow me.” We approached Julia, to whom I said, “She is blind.”
Hearing this, Julia put her fingers on the old woman’s two eyes
and prayed. Many people
continued pressing upon Julia, trying to talk to her and touch her with
their rosaries and other holy objects.
Everything that Julia held in her hand even briefly became
fragrant. Because there were
so many people, a security guard came and helped Julia leave the place.
A potluck party was held
To celebrate
Julia’s visit to Hawaii, a potluck party was planned at my sister’s
house in Kailua, about 20 miles from Waikiki, on the northeastern coast of
Oahu from 5 p.m. on October 31. Because my sister’s house was not big, she could not invite
many people. She said that
only 50 to 60 people would come. Tables
were prepared on the lawn. Audio
equipment and lights were prepared by John Kamanu.
John was a
close friend of mine, who had invited me to immigrate to the United States
in 1975. He was a very devout
Protestant. His two elder
brothers were clergymen and his three nephews were also clergymen. Rain
was forecasted for that evening. Also,
the state and city laws prohibited the use of microphones outdoors or
making any noise after 8 p.m. Because
heavy clouds were gathering in the afternoon, we were worried.
Close to 5
p.m., people were gathering. More
than 100 people came with some prepared dishes.
I had never seen so much food during my life as an immigrant.
The party was to begin at 5 p.m. with Julia’s prayer, but she was
still in the room. About 30
minutes later, Julio, Julia’s husband, came out and said that Julia was
suffering severe pains. As
she was not coming out past 6 o’clock, people began praying the rosary.
She did not come out even past 7 o’clock.
Then, Maria,
who was helping Julia, came out and said that Julia was suffering severe
pains in her right shoulder, side and hip.
Suddenly at that moment, a young woman in her 30’s came to the
front and said, “I had an accident five years ago.
Since then, the condition in my right side worsened, severely
affecting my right shoulder and leg.
I was barely able to come here this evening.
Only a while ago, however, I suddenly began feeling very warm in my
right side, hip and leg, and now I do not feel any pain.”
As soon as she finished speaking, an old lady came out and grabbed
the microphone. She was the
blind woman I met at the conference, but she was no longer blind! She said, “Until yesterday I had been blind because of
my cataract. At the
conference yesterday, I was wandering around seeking Julia.
Then, a young man came and took me to Julia. Julia put her fingers on my two eyes and prayed.
Soon I was able to see. The
Lord restored my eyesight! This
evening I came here with healthy eyes like this.” Everyone
was amazed and praised the Lord. Some
were so moved that they shed tears.
Finally, Julia came out
At about 9
p.m., Julia finally came out supported by others.
She looked pale, tired, and so pitiable.
She looked like one who just got up after a long-term illness.
Because she could not remain standing, she began praying sitting in
a chair. Then, she relayed
the messages and explained the heavenly signs in Naju.
At first, she sounded so weak, but gradually became filled with
energy. Because there was no
interpreter that evening, many of the guests could not understand a word,
but listened very attentively until the end.
While Julia was
speaking, I began smelling an intense fragrance of roses.
When I looked around, I noticed that others were also amazed at the
fragrance. When Julia was
offering prayers at the end, many were shedding tears of repentance.
When the prayer ended, it was thirty minutes past midnight.
She spoke for three and a half hours from 9 p.m. without even
drinking any water. To us it
felt like only 20 minutes.
John Kamanu’s remarks
The next day,
John came to visit me at my sister’s house.
He told me that there were five phenomena in the previous evening
that amazed him.
First, when he
went home after the party, the ground was all wet around his house, which
was only 2 miles from my sister’s house.
It rained in all areas in and around Kailua that evening, but it
did not rain at my sister’s house.
Second, when he
smelled the fragrance during Julia’s talk, he sneaked out and walked
around wondering about the fragrance.
He found that the whole neighborhood was filled with the fragrance.
Third,
Julia’s talk lasted past midnight, but no one in the neighborhood called
police. It must have been the
Holy Spirit Who calmed down the neighbors.
Fourth, he
could not understand a word that Julia was saying.
But she looked like the Blessed Mother, and he understood what the
Blessed Mother was trying to say through Julia by watching her and hearing
her voice.
Fifth, while
Julia was speaking for three-and-a-half hours, none of the guests became
distracted. They were totally
focused on Julia and her talk. One
person whom he knew had a pain in his side and normally could not remain
sitting in a chair for more than two minutes.
He also remained in his chair like a statue, listening intently to
Julia.
John further
said, “My two elder brothers and three nephews are Protestant
clergymen. I have been a
Protestant from the time I was in my mother’s womb, and have denied and
rejected the Blessed Mother who is honored in the Catholic Church.
However, I have realized many things by witnessing these miracles.
I believe that, in the Protestant churches also, the Blessed Mother
must be recognized. She
cannot be denied.”
A world-renowned promoter of
the Eucharistic devotion witnesses a miracle
The weather was
superb on November 2. Fr.
Martin Lucia, living in Texas and having traveled to more than 500
dioceses all over the world to promote Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration,
was one of the guest speakers at the conference.
He wanted to see Julia and, together with Brian who was among the
hosts at the conference, came to my sister’s house at 10 a.m., as Julia
was staying there for a few days after the conference.
Fr. Lucia asked Julia many questions for more than two hours,
repeatedly saying, “Wonderful!”
Then, he said that he was training 25 men (15 Americans, two
Australians, two Filipinos, two Koreans, two Frenchmen, and two Poles) to
continue and expand his work of promoting Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.
He asked Julia to write a letter of encouragement for them.
When Julia wrote a letter and gave it to him, he was overjoyed.
Then, he asked Julia if it would be okay to have a Mass together
there. Julia said, “Yes,
if that is Father’s wish,” and asked Anna if it was okay with her.
Anna said that she would be honored.
Fr. Lucia asked Brian to prepare for Mass, and Brian was about to
call St. Michael Center in Honolulu about the Mass.
At that moment, Julia said to Father Lucia, “Father, if
possible, can we have the Mass in a church?”
Fr. Lucia asked Brian if there was a church in the neighborhood.
Brian said that there was St. Anthony Church about 1 mile from
there. Fr. Lucia gladly
agreed to Julia’s suggestion, and Brian informed St. Michael Center
about the Mass at St. Anthony Church.
We took several photographs in the frontyard and left for the
church.
A while after
we arrived at the church, Thomas Pereira, director of St. Michael Center,
arrived carrying the replica statue of Our Lady of Naju, which Julia gave
to the Center after the conference. At
the Mass celebrated by Fr. Lucia, there were Brian, Thomas Pereira, Julia,
Julio, Anna and her husband, Richard Nakamura, Juliana from Korea, and
myself. It was a quiet and
holy atmosphere. I had some
feeling that the Lord was going to show us something special.
It was 2 p.m. when the Mass began.
When Fr. Lucia consecrated the host and lifted It up, It radiated a
brilliant light. After all of
us received Communion and came back to our seats, Julia, sitting on my
left, began shivering as if she felt cold.
Fr. Lucia, who was cleaning the chalice, noticed this and came to
Julia and held her hands tightly. I
stood up and looked at Julia. She
had her eyes closed and seemed a little worried about something.
Her face, however, looked bright.
A while later, when she opened her mouth, I saw that most of the
Sacred Host had already melted but only a small piece still remained on
her tongue, slowly changing into the shape of flesh and becoming larger.
It became reddish flesh and was moving.
Then, Its color changed into dark red.
Red blood was flowing from It.
Fr. Lucia continued holding Julia’s hands and was praying
fervently. A while later, he
said to Julia that it would be okay for her to swallow the Eucharist. I was in total shock after witnessing this stupendous miracle
of the Eucharist.
Until then, I
had thought that the Eucharist was merely one of the rituals in the Church
and only had a symbolic meaning. The
Lord showed this miracle to this grave sinner who had insulted the
Eucharist with such foolish thoughts!
I felt that my heart was being torn apart.
I began crying wildly. Tears
were coming down like a waterfall. I
have betrayed the Lord; I have turned my back against the Lord!
I have driven huge nails into the Blessed Mother’s Heart!
Despite that, the Lord and the Blessed Mother are embracing me in
Their bosoms today! I kept
giving gratitude to the omniscient, omnipotent, and greatest God!
There was a message for Fr.
Lucia
Julia offered
up a special prayer for me, a prodigal son who came home.
Then, she relayed to Fr. Lucia a message that she received from the
Lord while the Eucharistic miracle was occurring:
“As Fr. Jerry
(Orbos of the Philippines) responded to My Mother’s call, My beloved
priest here has also responded to her.
So, all the priests, religious and lay people who have accepted My
Mother’s call must unite with each other and with your spiritual
director, forming a chain of love, and unceasingly spread all over the
world the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist and the intentions of My Mother
who is imploring you shedding tears and tears of blood to save the entire
human race.”
Hearing the
Lord’s message, Fr. Lucia was overwhelmed with joy and was deeply moved.
He had been devoting his whole life to promoting Eucharistic
devotion all over the world. How
could there be any better gift from the Lord for him?
Fr. Lucia was greatly excited and could not find words to describe
his feeling. His eyes were
burning with joy, hope, and zeal like the flames in a furnace.
It was a miracle that only the all-knowing and all-powerful God
could perform. How can anyone
deny the Lord?
The Blessed Mother’s statue
makes a big smile
After hearing
the Lord’s message through Julia, Fr. Lucia posed with Julia for
photographs. At that moment,
the replica statue of Our Lady of Naju on the altar made a big smile.
Her smile was so big that even some wrinkles were formed around her
mouth. When she was smiling,
she looked so gentle and loving. We
were totally overwhelmed with joy and amazement.
Then, Thomas Pereira, who brought the statue, said, “While I
was outside my office, I suddenly smelled the fragrance of roses.
Wondering where it was coming from, I entered the office and
realized that it was coming from the Blessed Mother’s statue.
A few moments later, I received the phone call from Brian about the
Mass here.” He said
that he was so grateful to the Lord for allowing him to witness the
Eucharistic miracle and that he would spread this information widely.
I received a new life
I was born
again as a new person with a new life in the Lord.
Until now, I have betrayed the Lord; criticized priests and threw
insulting words at them; falsely accused my fellow Catholics; and denied
the Lord’s Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.
The Lord had pity on this unforgivably grave sinner, forgave me,
and personally showed me that He was truly present in the Eucharist.
Until now my
sister has prayed a lot for me. My
mother also prayed to the Lord, shedding tears, that I might return to the
Church. The Lord heard their
prayers. My mother in Heaven
must be very happy and grateful to the Lord for granting her prayers.
Thank you,
Blessed Mother, for praying for this sinner who denied the Lord that I may
be forgiven and return to His bosom.
Lord, I give Thee all this joy and glory, as Thou saved this soul
who had fallen into a sewer, and led me to Thee.
Glory be to the
Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Peter
Noh
1681 S.W. 327th St.
Federal Way, WA 98023
December 1994
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