Refuge in God’s mercy

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Refuge in God’s mercy

Author: Testimony,
"Love One Another!" 37/2016

I wish to share with all of you the grace that I received from the Merciful Jesus and to encourage you to always turn to Him in hopeless situations.

Refuge in God’s mercy

At the age of eighty-one, my dad had to undergo hip replacement surgery. The pain had become so acute that he could not walk freely, and he was in constant pain, even when sitting or lying. The operation was scheduled for 3 May 2009, the feast of Mary, Queen of Poland.

A few weeks before the operation, I had a dream in which I heard a voice saying: “You will need God’s mercy”. When I woke up, I remembered the words clearly, but did not pay much attention to them. The day of my dad’s operation arrived. On that day, three people were scheduled for operations; the first was my dad, because of his age. During that time, my brother and I went to a nearby church, where Mass was celebrated. After the operation, my dad felt well. My brother and I decided that we would look after him for two days and then go back home, because patients after this type of operation start to walk on the third day. On the second day, in the evening, my brother had already left, because of my dad’s good condition, but I still wanted to see him start walking again. When I went to my dad, he began to talk to me, but I could not understand him because an unintelligible gibberish was coming out of his mouth. Soon his stomach became hard and swollen. I called for nurses immediately, saying that something bad was happening to my dad. The nurses asked him to stand up and take a few steps, but having stood up, my dad lost consciousness.

The doctors suspected intestinal obstruction. I was terrified! I went to the hospital chapel, where I saw the image of the Merciful Jesus. I remembered the words that I had heard in my dream — that I would need God’s mercy. I knelt before the picture and with tears in my eyes I asked Jesus for help. After that, I often went to the chapel and prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy for my dad’s healing. The doctors wanted to do an X-ray of the abdomen, but it did not take place because the patient needs to be standing. Dad was given blood, but his stomach was still hard, and the intestines were not functioning. I did not lose hope and kept praying for him fervently. On the fourth day after the surgery, the doctor told me that my father’s state was serious and that he would be taken for examination to another hospital. However, it didn’t change anything — the doctors were helpless.

On the fifth day after the operation, on the Friday, at 3 p.m., I went to the hospital chapel with my brother. We prayed before the painting of Merciful Jesus and then returned to our dad’s room. My brother went in first, and I stopped to talk with some other patients. When I returned, I saw my dad sitting on the bed. My brother said that when he got there, our father had opened his eyes and said he wanted to sit up. Immediately he asked for the walker and began walking down the corridor, suprising us, the nurses and patients, and walking was not at all difficult for him. There had been an incredible improvement from that serious condition. Also dad’s intestines started working again. From day to day, dad got better and better, and he quickly returned to health. A few days later, he was discharged from the hospital.

During his illness, I experienced a true retreat: I fasted and mortified myself, and I prayed a lot. You often forget about God, and turn to Him, full of confidence in His mercy, only when experiencing suffering. It is then that you feel God’s closeness most deeply: I also felt His closeness during those days, which were so difficult for us.

This experience has taught me to participate in Mass in a special way. Before, I had gone to church out of habit and obligation. Now, Mass is for me a special meeting with God, and the Eucharist is our greatest gift from Jesus. I have also read the Diary of Sister Faustina, and I want to encourage all of you to read that book, where a lot is written about God’s mercy.

Beata

Source: https://loamagazine.org/archive/2016/2016-37/refuge-in-gods-mercy

The article was published with the permission from "Love One Another!" in September 2020.