750. Carrying the Elderly Man on My Back to Take the Bus Every Day for His Outpatient Treatments

💌750. Carrying the Elderly Man on My Back to Take the Bus Every Day for His Outpatient Treatments

After the surgery, his eye test results showed he had regained 0.7 vision in the left eye and 0.2 in the right, so I got him a pair of glasses. “Oh, Ah-jim (which means Ma’am in the dialect),” he said, “I used to say that if I could open my eyes just once to see you before I die, I would have no more wishes left. But now I am looking at you with both eyes wide open. It is all thanks to you,” he said, beaming with joy. “Father, I did not do anything. God is the one who made the surgery possible,” I replied.

Not wishing to be seen myself, I said that the priest had paid for the surgery, keeping my part hidden. But he said, “Still, it is all thanks to you, Ajim. How could I ever repay all these favors?” He kept thanking me over and over. I said, “Oh, father, please give all your thanks to the Lord only. I have done nothing at all.”

After his discharge, I still had to accompany him to the clinic for daily outpatient treatments but transportation was very inconvenient. But on the first day of the outpatient treatment, thankfully, Father John Park, our parish priest, gave us a ride in the parish van, so we were able to travel in comfort.

We had been holding hands in silence for a while, then Mr. Andrew Bong called out, “Ah-jim.” “Yes?” I replied. He looked at me quietly and said, “Ah-jim, your hair is so pretty. If you cut it just a little shorter, it would be even prettier.”

His words brought me to tears again. He had lived a hard life—uneducated, poor, with a sick older brother and a younger sister who had been abandoned by her husband. He himself had grown old as a widower, scraping by however he could, catching fish by the stream and selling them to make a living.

He had even lost his sight and I often wondered how he managed to keep on living. Yet when this uneducated old man from the countryside spoke so beautifully, like an angel, I was deeply moved. I believed that the way he spoke so beautifully were entirely the grace of God. I had been meaning to get a haircut anyway, but with taking care of him every day, I had not had a single chance to do anything with my hair.

But then I thought, “He is 86 years old and has lived most of his life blind—how could he even know whether my hair was a little long or short?” The thought filled me with such deep gratitude. And then another thought came to me: “By the love of the Lord and the Blessed Mother, he has been reborn. Even the way he speaks now is so gentle and beautiful.” And with that, I could not help but cry.

As I pointed to the cars passing by outside the window, I asked,

“Father, what color is that car?”

“It is a blue car.”

“What about that one?”

“It is a black car.”

“And that one?”

“It is a white car.”

Then I pointed to a red brick house and asked, “What color is that?”

“It is red!”

As he named the colors of every passing car and everything we saw without a single mistake, tears of joy once again streamed down my face.

I could not help but give thanks to God once again. After receiving baptism with the baptismal name Andrew at the age of 86 and regaining his sight that same year, Mr. Bong Il-dong came to live each day with a profound sense of joy and renewal.

Except for the first day when our parish priest kindly drove us in the parish van, I carried him on my back all the way to the bus terminal, took the bus, then carried him again after getting off—walking quite a long distance—to reach Hong Eye Clinic for his treatment.

I made good money and could have taken a taxi. But out of infinite gratitude to Jesus and the Blessed Mother who restored the elderly man’s sight and for the triumph of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary as well as a heart to offer pain in reparation for the repentance of sinners, I chose to offer sacrifice by traveling on foot while practicing Semchigo as if I were comfortably riding in a taxi.

“O! My Jesus! What would this sinful handmaid possibly withhold from You, who have shown such mercy? Through this small, ever-so-small sacrifice, may You and the Blessed Mother be comforted, may You grant him good health, bring sinners to conversion and receive praise and glory forever and ever!”

My personal reflection note with Mama Julia🌹💗 

Link 👇🏻

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMn-IyINZ8oGN8Jv4M0-pozcdF67tEqzlPkk4s0EZKdnOdEw/viewform