What a miracle!

By Kim Ae-ran

Every year on June 30, the religious congregation of the Daughters of Saint Paul celebrates the feast day of Saint Paul in a very special way. It is such a meaningful day for the Pauline sisters that we usually have either perpetual or temporary professions across the world. (Daughters of St. Paul are living in 50 countries around the world.)

Singapore is not an exception. One of our Junior Sisters renewed her vows. With much apostolic zeal for mission, she arranged a book outreach on the feast day as well.

As usual, three of us were supposed to leave at 6 o'clock in the morning for a book outreach at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes founded in 1888 in Ophir Road.

Being so eager to practice driving, I tried to reverse the car from the garage on behalf of Superior. Accidentally, a cute red car was nearby, and I tried to avoid hitting that small car. Unfortunately, however, the left corner of the front bumper of our car hit the wall near the gate.

What a shock! My heart began to beat fast. Nevertheless, I had to explain the situation when the Sister came out. I was so shocked, but she was very calm and said,

``You are lucky that you didn't scratch the nearby car."

Along the way to the church, my heart was so heavy and gloomy. Making an apology to her did not soothe myself at all. Various thoughts came and went away. And I became negative and my mood became darker.

I was so worried about the bumper and asked if repairing it is expensive.

The Sister said, ``Relatively."

I asked, ``What do you mean by 'relatively'?"

And she said, ``Quite..."

I replied again, ``I am really sorry, Sister..."

In a small community with limited income, each of us has to be very conscious of our expenses.

Then, I attended the 11 o'clock mass and prayed harder. During Mass, my mind began to transform. All my dark thoughts were changed into positive and hopeful thoughts, and my inner voice encouraged, healed and refreshed me.

At the end, I made up my mind to tell the Sister to give me another chance to begin again. It was because I firmly believe that the most generous and merciful God always gives us a new opportunity.

After Mass, I stood by the audio-visual corner. In the midst of people gathering around the tables to browse, a middle-aged Singaporean man came to me with a big smile and handed me something.

``Sister, keep it for yourself."

I asked to him to donate the amount in the donation box for Africa in front of the gate. At the moment, we were still raising funds for Mozambique in Africa.

But he kept saying,

``Never mind. I just want to give it to you. Please spend it for your needs."

Then, without letting me know his name, he walked away almost like a guardian angel.

After a while, I looked at the folded amount of money and counted; it was $750 in all.

What a miracle it was! It was really a mysterious and amazing experience to me.

I was healed and so consoled that I became much more confident in the providence of God. During Mass, I changed into a new person again, and God sent me an angel. Handing the amount to my dear Sister was almost like a surrendering appreciation to the will of God.

At 5 o'clock in the evening, we celebrated mass in memory of St. Paul together with our collaborators, vocations, and many other acquaintances in our Chapel at home. Among them was Maria Park with whom I shared my mysterious experience which happened in the morning. She gave me some offerings as well, saying "It is another miracle!"

The writer belongs to the Daughters of St. Paul, an international religious congregation. Her email address is mtorchid88@gmail.com.