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PILGRIMAGE TO
NAJU, KOREA,
ON OCTOBER 19, 2003,
THE 17TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE BLESSED MOTHER’S
FIRST WEEPING TEARS OF BLOOD
ON OCTOBER 19, 1986
Praise Jesus and Mary! I pray that the Blessed
Mother’s words: Together with my Son Jesus I bless you all
gathered here in my name, will be realized to all of you around
the world who love Our Lady of Naju. I wish the combined Love of
the Hearts of Jesus and Mary be with you.
On this 17th anniversary of the
Blessed Mother’s first weeping tears of blood in Naju, about 1,000
pilgrims including many from abroad came to the Blessed Mother’s
mountain and, then, participated in the overnight prayer meeting in
the Chapel. They did not come looking for more miracles and signs
but came because of their love for the Lord and the Blessed Mother,
after realizing the truth from God through the Blessed Mother who
has been showing us the shortcut to eternal life.
The sky was clear without any clouds. There
were many pilgrims on the Blessed Mother’s mountain from early
morning. The atmosphere on the mountain was fresh and holy, as many
pilgrims were quietly praying and some were drinking the water from
the Blessed Mother’s spring.
At 11 a.m., Mass began near the statue of the
risen Lord at the 15th Station on the Way of the Cross.
The Mass was concelebrated by five priests: Fr. Francis Su from
Malaysia, Fr. Louis Bosmans from Canada, Fr. John from Indonesia,
Fr. Yanus from Poland, and Fr. Clemens from Hong Kong. The Korean
pilgrims thanked the Lord and the Blessed Mother for sending these
foreign priests so that they could attend Mass on this mountain
commemorating this important anniversary. People prayed for their
personal needs as well as for the official recognition of Naju as
soon as possible.
In the middle of the Mass, fragrant oil with
milky color came down upon the altar. The pilgrims were also
greatly consoled by the strong fragrance of roses coming from the
direction of the altar during Mass.
I could see that the pilgrims who came to the
Blessed Mother’s mountain and her Chapel in Naju were forming a
chain of burning love for the Lord and the Blessed Mother and also
were becoming a reason for greater hope for the triumph of the
Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Mother. An intense fragrance of
roses covered the whole mountain as a sign of the Blessed Mother’s
welcoming her children. The pilgrims deeply inhaled this fragrance
as if they were trying to replace all the dirty odors in their souls
and hearts with the holy and pure fragrance from the Blessed Mother.
At 12:30 p.m., Paul from the United States and
other pilgrims from abroad did the Stations of the Cross.
Afterwards, it was the lunch time. Many of the pilgrims were
sharing food with each other.
At 3 p.m., pilgrims began the Stations of the
Cross in Korean. They meditated on the Blessed Mother’s message on
August 29, 1989: In order to avoid the approaching calamities,
the children who have been called must climb Mt. Calvary with a
deep, silent love—without sighs or lamentations, even if they are
ruthlessly despised and are insulted under the heavy burden of
pains. Thus, they are being crucified together with my Son Jesus
for the conversion of sinners. The pilgrims promised to
themselves that they, who are supposed to know the Lord and the
Blessed Mother, will become little sacrificial offerings and climb
Calvary again and again carrying the cross given to them, following
the Lord and the Blessed Mother Who are suffering extreme pains in
their Hearts for the salvation of the human race. Especially when
they arrived at the 12th Station where the Lord had died,
many pilgrims cried loudly, praying for the grace of repentance and
promising to live a new life.
In the evening, the pilgrims came to the Chapel
to attend the overnight prayer meeting. There was not enough room
in the Chapel for all the pilgrims, but the front area was reserved
for the foreign pilgrims. The prayer meeting was led by Peter Kim
from the City of Taegu. The atmosphere in the chapel was quite
animated and was filled with holy joy, love, and peace as the
pilgrims were singing a hymn of the Blessed Mother together. After
the five priests from abroad were briefly introduced, several
prayers from the Catholic prayer book were offered, followed by 15
decades of the rosary.
Then, Fr. Francis Su from Malaysia gave a
sermon. He said, “The Blessed Mother loves all her children and
pleads them to repent their sins.” He also said that he always
carried a photograph of the Blessed Mother of Naju shedding tears of
blood in one of his pockets so that he could take it out and look at
it whenever he faced a temptation. He asked the pilgrims to always
remember the Blessed Mother’s tears of blood and not to sin any
more.
After Fr. Su’s sermon, there was an
announcement. It was about a book titled: Miracles. It was
just published in Korean and is being distributed through bookstores
all over Korea, available to the whole population in South Korea.
It will become available in English later. This book outlines the
messages and miracles in Naju and discusses the current question of
the Korean church hierarchy opposing Naju as well as the following
debates and activities to explain and reverse the mistakes and
errors that prevail in the current atmosphere in Korea. The author
consecrated the book to the Blessed Mother. He was a reporter with
a major newspaper company in Korea.
During a short break, many pilgrims formed a
line to smell the fragrance from the spot in the front of the Chapel
where the Eucharist had come down and on August 27, 1987 while Fr.
Raymond Spies and several volunteer helpers were praying the
rosary. This fragrance has continued ever since, for more than six
years, and is a sign of the Lord’s and the Blessed Mother’s
continuous presence especially in the Chapel.
The second part of the prayer meeting began
with more Marian hymns. After the singing, the pilgrims offered up
a prayer consecrating themselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Then, Fr. Louis Bosmans from Canada gave a brief talk. He said that
this was his 14th visit to Naju. He first came to Naju
fourteen years ago (October 14, 1989) when he was in Korea to attend
the International Eucharist Congress in Seoul. During that visit to
Naju, he witnessed Julia’s suffering the pains of the Crucifixion
and of the Korean martyrs’ martyrdom. He also saw copious amounts
of tears of blood flowing down from the Blessed Mother’s eyes on her
statue.
While the pilgrims were joyfully singing the
hymns following the ladies who were dancing in the front, I thought
that they were like children. I remembered Our Lord’s Words in St.
Luke’s Gospel (10:21): I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise
and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes,
Father, such has been your gracious will.
After singing, the pilgrims watched a video of
Julia’s mystical suffering of pains. In the section showing Julia’s
suffering the pains of abortion, the cruel scenes of a little baby
being killed in the mother’s womb were shown. Many cried and
received many graces.
After Julia had visited a Catholic priest for
the first time in the early 1980s and soon afterwards had been
miraculously healed of her cancer and accompanying illnesses, she
experienced a profound conversion and heard the Lord speaking to her
three times while she was praying: “The gate of Heaven is open.”
Likewise, regardless of how sinful we may be, if we approach the
Lord repenting our sins and asking for His forgiveness, the Lord and
the Blessed Mother will not ask questions about our past but instead
bestow abundant graces upon us. Therefore, all the pilgrims who
have experienced this hour of mercy during the overnight prayer
meeting in Naju realize that the grace that we must ask for most
ardently is the grace of repentance and that all other blessings
follow afterwards. That is the reason for their coming to the
Blessed Mother’s house every month. During this hour of mercy,
abundant graces were received by all the pilgrims thanks to the
sacrifices of suffering pains by Julia.
After the hour of mercy, several pilgrims spoke
about their experiences. The full testimonies will be available on
the Naju internet site. The following is a brief summary.
- Catherine Ahn from Pyungtaek (a city south
of Seoul) ran into trouble because of a loan guarantee she had
made for her sister-in-law. After knowing the Blessed Mother of
Naju, she was able to forgive her sister-in-law. Her health had
deteriorated, but she did not have money to buy the necessary
(Oriental herbal) medicine. So, she has been praying to the
Blessed Mother for health and has repeatedly been smelling the
odor of ginseng from the water from the Blessed Mother’s spring in
Naju. She is convinced that the Blessed Mother will cure her.
- Lucia Lee from the Youngsan-po Parish (close
to Naju) had been suffering from a malfunctioning heart valve for
five years, but was healed during an overnight prayer meeting in
Naju. Another long-term illness of hers, an infection in her
sinus, also disappeared while she was making pilgrimages to Naju.
- Tom Watkins from Kansas city, Missouri, in
the United States, has brought large quantities of the water from
the Blessed Mother’s spring in Naju and gave it to many people
together with the Blessed Mother’s messages. His wife, a Korean,
has helped him in doing this. So far many people have reported
miraculous healings. The following are two of the recent cases.
There are two young women who were told
by their doctors that it would be impossible for them to become
pregnant and that if they ever did it would be a miracle. These
women did not give up and continued to drink the water from Naju and
rub their belly with it, praying. Tom recently was told by both
women that they became pregnant.
4. During
her first visit to Naju in 1995, Elizabeth from Hong Kong was
looking at the photograph of the Blessed Mother’s weeping tears of
blood in the Chapel and began wondering why she was crying. Then,
suddenly, she saw a bright light radiating from the Blessed Mother’s
statue and heard the Blessed Mother speaking to her, “Do not put
your soul into mah-jong(a gambling in China) but tell everyone
around you to pray fervently.” She bought a replica statue of
the Blessed Mother and says that, ever since, the statue has been
exuding the fragrance of roses.
Please don’t forget the next overnight prayer meeting on November 1
(First Saturday). The prayer meeting in Naju is being organized by
pilgrims themselves, but is actually being led by the Lord and the
Blessed Mother. That is why many participants experience amazing
graces here and find the truth and eternal life. I hope many of you
will be able to come and experience the immeasurably large and wide
love of the Lord and the Blessed Mother.
Romulo Tae-Ho Lee
Seoul, Korea
October 2003
(Translated at Mary’s Touch By Mail, Gresham, Oregon)
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