Treasures of the Catholic Church

In 2011, my family used to take me for mass occasionally but in the months of November&December, they used to take me every Saturday. Along with my Paul-mobile (Stretcher-like-wheel-chair), I was placed right in front of where the Blessed Sacrament was kept. At that time, I had no idea what was going on at Mass. It was just an ordinary outing for me where I happened to feel lighter every time I left. However, in those months of November & December, as I was placed directly before the Blessed Sacrament, I used to look at that direction and I felt a sense of conflict as something was going on in me, and it was all coming from that direction, where the Blessed Sacrament was kept, right below a statue of Jesus. As the weeks went by, this feeling or sense intensified and became even more unexplainable. I kept it all to myself and just brushed it off.

The rays of Christ healing was at work. Firstly, whatever that was going on, coming forth from the direction of the Blessed Sacrament, it started healing and releasing my heart in a sense that I was gradually getting less agitated, less restless and less stubborn. Well, you can’t blame a 13-year-old bedridden boy (who was getting worse physically and not long ago was on the brink of death) for having all of these traits but I just started to be less bitter and I could not explain why at that time. I guess, my arrogant anger towards God for taking away my grandmother in October that very year was also, slowly subsiding. In hindsight, it was the work of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

Initially, when my parents, sister and cousin sister were trying to convince me to join in a caroling group for a fund-raising event, I said no without a single speck of doubt. I just did not have the mood. But then and again, over the weeks, I guess the healing rays of Christ was at work, as mentioned above, and eventually I said yes. At the fund raising event, I was carried onto the stage alongside my Paul-mobile and I performed with the caroling group.

Apart from, that I also got the inspiration to pick up playing the guitar! At the start of December, I set a goal to be able to play two songs – Jingle Bells and Silent Night. On the very first day of me trying to learn to play, I asked my dad for four things – the guitar, pick, cellophane tape and chordbook. Without further ado, I got down to work. The cellophane tape was to stick the guitar pick onto my right thumb since my right hand was clawed and my other fingers could not open at all. If I did try, my whole body would go into spasms. Once my thumb and pick were taped together, I hugged the guitar on my bed, reclined at 45degrees, and I attempted holding the basic chords. With the guidance of my dad, the chordbook and of course, divine inspiration in and through the Blessed Sacrament, by time Christmas came, I could play Jingle Bells and Silent Night.

Things were getting better at least until I went for my appointment with the professors in Singapore which was right before Christmas. There and then, my family and I were told that I would have to settle with life on the Paul-mobile and they advised me to work towards getting some sort of IT-based job. I was heart-broken and devastated. So was my family. Come Christmas Eve, we were scheduled to go back to my hometown as my whole family was supposed to sing with the Christmas Eve Mass choir. However, my family was contemplating just spending Christmas in Singapore. The ultimate decision was to go back home as I guess that would have been the ideal place for me to emo. We got back, we sat with the choir and sang at the mass where Christ’s presence was made real regardless of me not having a clue.

7 days later, I returned to my original position during mass, just before the Blessed Sacrament. I felt hopeless, dejected and sad at this point. It was New Year’s Eve and the professors told me a week earlier to settle with life on the wheels. Right in front of the Blessed Sacrament, I somewhat decided that I had nothing to lose by surrendering all my messed up feelings of giving up and so I did. Meanwhile, my mother(later admitted) that she made a heartfelt prayer during Mass which goes as follows “Lord we do not have the strength or means to go on like this, heal Paul or grant us the grace to carry this cross”.

After Mass, after leaving the real physical presence of our Lord and Savior and consuming of His body, blood, soul and divinity (yet at that time, I had little clue), we headed back to the car and as my dad carried me into the car, one parishner claimed that 2012 would be the year I started walking again while another parishner was in tears as He saw me being carried into the car. The former’s words did not fall flat to the ground and the latter’s tears were not in vain! The very next day, at 3.05pm, God broke through and healed me physically in and through a vision where I saw my late grandmother, in the presence of the divine light of Christ. The work which Christ began through the passing of my grandma, her heavenly intercessions and in His physical presence in the Blessed Sacrament , he brought about a wondrous work of inner healing and eventually physical healing.

It did not stop there; in fact I only connected all those dots in and through spending time before the Blessed Sacrament after I started walking. Initially, I always looked forward to Eucharistic Adoration which was conducted every first Friday in my home parish and an occasional Saturday Morning Eucharistic Adoration at a neighboring parish. It was a great time to just be in his calming presence and to adore Him for who He is. Today, I grab every opportunity I can get to be before the Blessed Sacrament, be it in the context of a prayer meeting, service, novena or simply, in the quiet of a chapel/church. Being before the Blessed Sacrament, looking at my Savior, Redeemer and all in all really does rejuvenate and empower the whole being.

But greater still the awareness and assurance that long before I recognized Him in the Sacrament, long before I could love him and adore Him, He was already loving, adoring, affirming, healing, anointing and empowering me. He is present and He is at work whether or not we realize it. Jesus thirsts for the salvation of our souls and He longs for a relationship with us. He is calling out for you and me! He wants us to keep drawing closer to Him and also, to bring others closer to Him. The love which we encounter in the person of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and through His body, blood, soul and divinity which we consume at the Holy Mass is supposedly uncontainable! We, Catholics, have a great duty to make known the message of the Gospel, the fact that God wants a covenant relationship with us and wants us to experience Him fully and wholly in and through the richness and various Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Go forth, He validates you!