💌 477. The Landlady's Family Who Even Disliked to Hear Anything Close to the Word, “Church”

My elderly landlady allowed my family to live in her house, telling me that I could live there even if I were to have 20 children, on the condition that I should not go to church. I found this house after much difficulty in renting a home because we have many children. At that time, I had already decided to go to church again when I moved to Naju but even though she told me not to go to Church, I had no other option than to live there.

The landlady’s family hated church to the point that they named their dog ‘Jesus.’ This was because the landlady’s children had experienced a lot of sufferings from the pastors and elders at Protestant Churches. The entire family of the landlady hated Church, which made things even more difficult for me, especially since I had already decided to go to the Catholic church.

After moving there, Jesus called me to Church through my husband and completely healed me of terminal cancer. From then on, I attended daily Mass out of longing and fervent love for Jesus but I dare not tell the truth. I had no choice but to go to Catholic Church without them knowing, which was practically very difficult and in conscience.

The elderly landlady had seven children and since they all lived nearby, it was a great challenge for me to go to the church without them knowing. The third son lived near the church and had to pass by the church to go to his school and the youngest daughter often ran into me near the church. I faced great difficulty going to the church because I attended daily Mass without them knowing.

However, I meditated on the Passion of Jesus and offered up each day's hardship with Semchigo as if I were receiving Jesus’ love. While I was leaving the Church, if I happened to see one of their family members, I would be startled, quickly hide, waiting for them to leave before coming out. Once, I had to wait hiding in an alley for three hours. Then, I took that time as a sign to pray, so I waited praying the rosary.

I felt so guilty whenever I encountered them and my heart beat so hard. It was okay for me to be uncomfortable but I thought that going to Church in secret without them knowing was deceiving the elderly landlady. The heavy burden of guilt weighing me down became too much to bear, so I felt that I could not go on like this any longer.

One day, at a gathering of the landlady's family, I carefully asked them why they hated Church so much. Everyone reacted sharply but the third son showed the greatest resistance by saying, "Hey, lady, I do not even want to hear anything close to the word, "Church." I felt so sad that I said. 

"There is an endless variety of diverse individuals but they cannot all be the same. Not all people who attend Church are bad; there are many good people, but I think the one whom you know was an odd person among them. But he might have been worse if he had not gone to Church. Still, he must have tried to live a better life since he goes to Church."

"Oh my gosh, this lady is talking too naively. Do not say such things without knowing anything. Every day, people who go to Church make up excuses and justify themselves. They say they can communicate directly with God and after doing bad things, they believe that as long as they pray for their mistakes, they are forgiven, which is truly absurd. With such a mindset, what kind of things they cannot do?

So I thought those bastards were worse than dogs and so I call my dog ‘Jesus’.” I spoke as euphemistically as possible in response to his increasingly angry reaction. “Even so, how can you call your dog, ‘Jesus’?” “This woman still does not understand me. I do so because those bastards I know are not as good as dogs.”

“Well, even so, they are not Jesus.” “Oh my, you are so exasperating. What do you think you know? Are you a Jesus freak as well? Why are you supporting such bastards? If you go to Church right now and drag someone out, that person is a thief and a robber.” I could not get any more words out.

In response to the third son’s extremely stubborn reaction, I thought, “Now I am in big trouble.” Not only was it difficult to hide that I was going to Church but my conscience would not allow me to do, so I thought, ‘Should I openly say that I go to Church?’ But after listening to his words filled with fury, I could not even dare to mention anymore that I was going to Church.

My personal reflection note with Mama Julia🌹💗 

Link 👉🏻

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