An Excerpt from Julia Kim’s Diary

August 27, 1980

The Prayer of Life

One of the regular customers at our beauty salon was experiencing a problem in her family.  After repeated quarrels with her husband, she was thinking about a divorce.   

She told me that she decided to get a divorce because her husband had been unfaithful to her.  After hearing her story, I said to her, “Can you also consider that you might sometimes have been negligent toward your husband and children because of your job and, therefore, you may have to share the responsibility for the current difficulty to some extent?  Cover everything with love and forgive your husband.  Then, he will feel sorry and do better to you.”  Upon hearing me, she opened her eyes widely and said loudly, “Do you really mean that I should forgive him despite his infidelity?”  She kept staring at me and repeatedly said that she could not forgive him.  I said, “Yes, I meant that you should forgive him.  This problem could only be a passing wind.  Realize that it can be a scheme laid by the devil of division who wants to destroy your happy relationship.”

She only said, “No, I simply cannot forgive him.  I have been working so hard every day to earn even a little more money for the family, but this husband of mine does not think about the family but only flirts with another woman, neglecting his hard-working wife and children.  How can a normal human person do such a thing?  I simply cannot understand.”

I did not want to give up and continued talking to her on the subject of love.  As she did not show any sign of changing her mind, I decided to entrust everything to the Lord and to pray.

I knew that many women had the habit of getting a haircut when they were depressed.  This customer also asked me to cut her hair.  As I began cutting her hair, I made the Sign of the Cross and prayed:  “In the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!  Lord, manifest Thy glory through this sinful servant.”  Then, every time I cut out her hair with scissors, I prayed:  “Cut out hatred from her.”  “Cut out anger from her.”  “Cut out the inability to forgive from her.”  “Cut out self-centeredness from her.”  “Cut out all the bad habits from her and her family.” . . . . 

After I finished cutting the hair, I began forming the shape of her hair with a dryer and prayed:  “Jesus!  You have cut out every bad thing from her soul.  Now, restore order to her soul, restore love that has been lost, and beautifully make up her soul.  Thereby, liberate her family from the devil’s scheme to destroy it.  Turn her family into a community of love that overflows with love so that the Lord will receive glory, the Blessed Mother will receive praise and consolation, and we will ceaselessly sing praise and gratitude.” 

At that very moment, I heard the gentle and kind voice of the Lord, filled with joy:  “Yes, My little soul! That is it!  That prayer is the prayer of life that I really want.   Because this prayer is combined with your love for Me and for your neighbors, it becomes a meek and gracious offering, which flows from the meekness and graciousness in My Heart of Love.  This also means that I am in you and live with you.  That is why you are My little soul!” (August 27, 1980)

Next day, the customer came back together with a man.  The two appeared to be friendly to each other.  I was surprised and wondered who the man was.  When I looked at her, she made a sheepish smile and, pulling the man’s hand toward her, said awkwardly, “Uh. . .  This is my husband.”

Then, she said, “Actually, after my visit here yesterday, I gradually realized that everything had been my fault.  When I spoke to my husband as you had told me and explained what had happened here yesterday, he became overjoyed and asked where the beauty salon was located.  He said that we should go to the beauty salon right away and thank you for helping us start a new life.  That is how we are here now.”

She continued, “We made a firm resolution to love each other more, understand each other more, and live together well.  Our relationship could have been broken, but you laid a stepping stone for saving our love.”  Both she and her husband said, “Thank you.”

As I was listening to her, warm tears of gratitude kept flowing down from my eyes.  I thought, “It was not me who did this.  Despite my unworthiness, weakness, and sinfulness, Our Lord, Who is Love Itself, did not refuse my prayer but granted it.”  Warm tears of gratitude and joy continued flowing down from my eyes.

So, I said to the couple, “No, don’t thank me.  I didn’t do anything.  It was the Lord who loved you so much that He restored your love.  Therefore, thank the Lord.  And, from now on, live with a heart of thanking the Lord.”  The couple said, “Yes, of course.  We will begin going to the Catholic church.”  The husband also asked me to cut his hair.

So I began cutting his hair after making the Sign of the Cross and praying the prayer of life.  When I finished, he said, “Wow!  This was the best haircut that I have ever had since my birth!  Can I come back next time for another haircut?”  His wife seemed very surprised, because, whenever she had asked her husband to get a haircut at a beauty salon, he had bluntly and persistently refused.  She seemed very pleased. 

At that moment, I heard a gentle and kind voice of the Lord as if tenderly touching and passing by my ear:  “My beloved little soul! Your heart of sweet love, which wishes to give peace to a soul which is in trouble, not only gives joy to that soul but also fills My wounded Heart with joy.”

“Oh, my Lord!  I only did what I was supposed to do.”