Haus Jakob

Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice; and you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

Holy Gospel according to St. John 16:20

July 15, 2024: As I kneeled in the church of St. Bernard Novitiate in Iloilo, Philippines, praying, the voice of our Lady came to me, saying: “Write down the penance you were commanded to make for the Church in Australia. Write it down.” I had kept silence on that miraculous event years ago, because on the one hand, I as always, do not wish to boast about the good works that I have done. On the other hand, I do not wish to be regarded as a miracle worker or seer or anything more than I actually am—an unworthy servant of the almighty God.

Days later, during the Benediction on the feast of St. Frederick (July 18), as soon as the Blessed Sacrament was placed in the monstrance, I heard the voice of our Lord saying: “Write it down,” and I heard the same words once again, when I was blessed by the Sacrament. I heard these words of our Lord the third time one week later, during the Benediction on the feast of St. James (July 25). I came to understand that the only reason why our Lord had commanded me thus was to glorify God with this written demonstration of the power of penance and the most holy Rosary of His Mother over health-firstism, socialism and atheism in essence.

Australia under Lockdown: A Spiritual Battlefield

The year was 2021. Since June 26, churches in the entire Greater Sydney had been closed to the public, by the order of the government, due to the presence of Covid-19 which would later be proven to be not much more severe a disease than the common cold. Sydneysiders were only allowed to leave their houses for activities considered to be essential by their secular government (e.g. exercise, shopping for food), and worshipping the one true God in front of His tabernacle in His churches was certainly not among them. The situation was not much different in other regions of Australia, without one single Roman Catholic bishop lifting a finger against the infidelity and atheism of Australian government. The vast majority of Catholic priests closed their parishes, some in compliance with government orders, some out of the genuine fears for their physical health.

The Rosary Warfare

It was August 1, 2021—a Lord’s day. I thought to myself that since we were still permitted to exercise outside, why wouldn’t I go out and exercise not my physical body but my soul? It then came to my mind that I should pray 5 decades of the Rosary in public, on the campus of my university. Without any hesitation, I took my Rosary beads and came to a peaceful lakeside lawn on the campus. As I was praying, I saw heaven opened. A man appeared in bright light, whom I soon recognised to be St. Joseph. Following him, I saw a woman carrying an Infant Child in light even brighter, whom I recognised to be our Lady and our beloved Lord. It seemed that the Members of the most Holy Family were on their flight into Egypt, and I immediately understood that the Holy Mother Church was in peril. The Infant commanded St. Joseph to speak, and St. Joseph spoke to me: “You must do penance for the clergy in Australia, who have offended God with their love of worldly things.”

After this, a complete rubric of how such penance was to be made came to my mind, not gradually planned in my head like some kind of human plan, but bestowed upon me all at once, perfect from the very beginning. I knew that I would need to do the following during the next 6 days before next Sunday:

1. Praying 15 decades of the Rosary everyday
2. Fasting: Having only a small breakfast and a lunch everyday, no dinner or snacks between meals
3. Abstaining from flesh meat (including that of fish), milk, egg and their products
4. Observing grand silence all day: Using my voice only for praying, using electronic devices only for reading e-books, listening to sermons and checking maps (more details below)
5. Reading and meditating on the book On Loving God by St. Bernard of Clairvaux
6. Making pilgrimages to the six parish churches and chapels near my residence, according to the following schedule:
   • Monday (August 2): St. Anthony, Marsfield
   • Tuesday (August 3): St. Charles Borromeo, Ryde-Gladesville
   • Wednesday (August 4): Our Lady Help of Christians, Epping & Carlingford
   • Thursday (August 5): Holy Spirit, North Ryde
   • Friday (August 6): Our Lady of Dolours, Chatswood
   • Saturday (August 7): Arnold Janssen Chapel, Society of the Divine Word, Marsfield

The supernatural vision had then stopped, but the miracle had just begun. During the course of the next 6 days, I would have some bread and tea (without milk) for breakfast, after rising up in each morning. Afterwards, I would pray 5 decades of the Rosary at home, before going on a pilgrimage to the church or chapel. On the way, I would keep my head bowed and look at nothing but the road in front of me. On arrival, I would pray another 5 decades of the Rosary in front of the then closed church or chapel, while meditating upon the Real Presence of our Lord in His tabernacle. After the prayers, I would go home, silently read passages from On Loving God and meditate on the reading until lunchtime. For lunch, I would have pasta with tomato paste, and I would pray the rest 5 decades of the Rosary after lunch. In the afternoon, I would listen to some sermons of Archbishop Venerable Fulton J. Sheen and check the maps in preparation for the pilgrimage next day. Finally, my day would be concluded with the Compline.

On Tuesday, when I was to make the pilgrimage to St. Charles Borromeo parish church, I thought it would be nice, if I could take a bus, since the site was far from my residence. In that part of Australia, you could not easily catch a bus without carefully planning your trip in accordance with its timetable, as the intervals between buses could be long. However on that day, even though I did not check the timetable beforehand nor plan my time of departure accordingly, there happened to be a bus to the parish parking at the nearest stop to my residence as soon as I arrived, so I could take the bus to my destination seamlessly. The same happened also on my way back, as if the buses were “sent” to me. On Wednesday and Thursday, although I was not familiar with the locations of the churches and the routes to them, I managed to reach the parishes only after checking the maps briefly in the evening before. I was “led” to those parishes, as the children of Israel were led by the pillar of cloud or fire in the wilderness (cfr. Exodus 13:20-22).

Meanwhile, God allowed my corporeal body to suffer. Perhaps because of the sudden change of diet and the time spent in the bush between my residence and the churches and chapels, I suffered from a severe case of allergic rhinitis or hay fever during those days. Illnesses such as this were not life-threatening, but annoyingly distractive, whenever I tried to concentrate on praying, reading and meditating. Eventually, I managed to make this 6-day penance as I was commanded.

Victory!

Although the outcome of my penance was not immediately visible, the experience had indeed renewed my outlook on the evil and suffering in this world, which would allow us to “say with truth, ‘My soul refuseth comfort’” and “[take] comfort in the thought of God” at the end of our days (St. Bernard, On Loving God). Thus it had prepared me for the challenges to be met while living as a Catholic missionary to China.

From late 2021 to early 2022, Australia had gradually lifted its lockdown measures which were once among the worst in the Western world. Both the media and my acquaintances in Australia would testify that the life in Australia had come back to normal, with no lingering effects of the lockdown. I would not claim my prayers and works were the sole spiritual factor behind the eradication of the lockdown and its long-term effects in Australia, but our merciful Lord had most certainly allowed me to join my prayers and works to those made by countless others, which had delivered Australia out of the evil grasp of atheism.

However, the lockdown was like a cross that I had voluntarily carried from Australia all the way to China. By early 2022, China began to enforce the most inhumane and inefficient lockdown measures known to human beings, which irreversibly altered the cultural and political landscape of that country for the absolute worst. Meanwhile, I never laid my eyes once again on the post-lockdown Australia, as on August 29, 2021, I left Australia, the land and her people I so fervently prayed for.