735. The Blind Elderly Man Unknowingly Shared His Meal With Rats

💌735. The Blind Elderly Man Unknowingly Shared His Meal With Rats

As I thought of his innocent, bright face—so happy like a child just because I had come—my heart shattered. He had absolutely no idea what had happened to his rice he had been eating. Because he could not see, he had eaten the rice without realizing its state.

He could not use briquettes in the agungi (fireplace) or even operate a kerosene burner due to his blindness. Before I met him, he had been cooking for himself using firewood that he collected. But now, the rats—those that had crawled through sewers, fireplace, and even rubber buckets once used for his own human waste—had been crawling into his rice basket and eating his food. It meant he had been sharing his meals with rats all this time!

It was something I could not offer up to the Lord with Semchigo as if he had eaten decent food. It broke me to pieces thinking of how this he had lived all those years in a lonely place where no one’s helping hands had ever reached. I could not take it anymore—I ran into the room. “Father! From now on, I will truly be your daughter!”

I threw my arms around his neck and wept loudly. Startled and not knowing why, he looked bewildered and said, “Ma’am, why are you crying? Please do not cry.”

He said, and even he ended up crying with me.

How could anyone know the taste of bread soaked in tears if they have never had to eat such bread themselves? As tears and mucus streamed down my face, I silently offered a Prayer of Life to Jesus, begging Him that he would not fall ill from having eaten that defiled food.

"Jesus! Blessed Mother! Please transform the rice that he ate—shared with rats—into the Precious Blood from Your Five Wounds and the Blood from Your pierced Heart and Head. May you transform it into tears of Our Blessed Mother. Please ensure he suffers no harm from it and if there remains anything harmful in his body from eating such food, I beg You to heal him and remove it completely so that Your glory may be revealed."

As I cried, I asked the elderly man, "Father, did the rice not taste strange by any chance?" He replied, "The taste? I thought to myself that it had not changed, but there was a strange smell. Still, I was hungry, so I had no choice but to eat it. Why? Was something wrong with it?" I responded vaguely, "Oh no, it is just that sometimes rice can taste a little off."

But the shock and pain in my heart were so overwhelming that I could not hold back my tears again. With the rats leaving filth everywhere and even urinating and defecating on the rice, how could the rice possibly taste good? And thinking of the poor him having eaten that rice... It was unbearable. In that moment, I made a firm resolution: "I will definitely do all I can to help him regain his sight."

"Oh God! Please grant me this one wish. This he, Andrew Bong, is now Your son—please allow this kind son to see light before he dies, even just for one day. I will do anything. Please, I beg You for Your help."

As I tearfully prayed in desperation, Mr. Rufino, who had been watching me quietly, became teary-eyed and said, "Julia, I cannot possibly catch up the path of practical love that you live out. Honestly, I have read many books—I know things in my head and speak them with my lips—but I have not lived them. But you did not learn this love from books; you are living it. Through you, I am now learning what God's true love is. Thank you."

Although he seemed to take it well, I already knew his weaknesses very well, so I sincerely hoped that his words would truly come to fruition. On the day I bathed elderly man Bong in preparation for his baptism, Rufino went out saying he had to use the bathroom and did not return for over three hours! So, I prayed a Prayer of Life with a deep desire that he would awaken more fully and live out the words he had just spoken.

I said to him, “Words are easy to say. That is why we must love truth more than words, and value the movement of hands and feet more than mere thoughts. Even when it is hard, we must practice Semchigo as if we have received love and go on. Let us not stop at words—let us live it out.” At that moment, I heard the tender voice of the Lord: “My love, my little baby! You are Love itself—My very own love.”

My personal reflection note with Mama Julia🌹💗 

Link 👇🏻

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