“MOTHER!  DID YOU FORGIVE THIS SINNER ALREADY?”

My name is Francesca Kim, from Inchon.  I have been making pilgrimages to Naju for the past ten years.  Today I would like to give testimony to the tremendous graces that my daughter has received. 

Everyone in my family is a Catholic.  But my oldest daughter lost her son when he was a sophomore in high school and, since then, stopped practicing the faith.  Day after day she was in grief and frustration.  Recently, I gave her a replica statue of Our Lady of Naju to be placed in her home.

One day I was informed that she was in an emergency room at a hospital and hurriedly went there.  She was diagnosed to have large gallstones in her side, ovary, and gall bladder.  The doctor said that the gallstone in her gall bladder had to be removed by surgery.  My daughter told the doctor that she would call him later about the date for surgery.  We came back to my daughter’s house.  I began praying the rosary before the Blessed Mother’s statue and told my daughter, “Now it is up to you.  Pray hard before the Blessed Mother of Naju.  Whether you live or die depends on you!”  I gave her a prayer book and the Bible and came home.  Later, she told me what happened afterwards.     

Because she had not prayed for so long, she did not know how to pray.  She did not even have a rosary.  So, she opened the prayer book and began reading the section that explained how to offer the Novena rosary prayer. 

While she was reading the book, she suddenly began smelling an intense fragrance.  Without knowing anything about the fragrance of roses from the Blessed Mother of Naju, she thought that someone must have dropped and broken a very expensive bottle of perfume.  She began searching for the broken bottle all over the house, but did not smell any fragrance in other rooms or outside the house.  When she came back to the room where the Blessed Mother’s statue was, she again smelled an extremely powerful fragrance.  At that moment, she understood and prostrated on the floor, saying, “Mother!  Did you forgive this sinner already?”  She cried for a long time.    

While she was still crying, her sister-in-law called, saying, “Why don’t you make haste to set the date for surgery?  You must not procrastinate like this!”  My daughter answered, “I know what I am doing.  Don’t bother me.”  But her sister-in-law insisted, calling her again and again, and finally persuaded my daughter to call the hospital.  They went to the hospital together.  After examination, the doctor asked my daughter, “Do you still have pains?”  She answered, “No, I do not have any pain.”  The doctor said, “You do not have any gallstones.  There is no need for surgery.” 

I believe that she received the grace of conversion and the grace of healing when she smelled the fragrance while reading the prayer book.  She is now leading a very happy life.  Thank you, Blessed Mother of Naju!

Francesca Kim
Life Mansion, Bldg. #5, #1106
27 7-ka Hang-dong
Inchon
July 7, 2002