A DIVINE MERCY TESTIMONY
Alice, my late sister-in-law, was a very successful teacher in Singapore. She suffered from breast cancer and was estranged from her own family. Enduring her illness, she moved to live with her mother and a younger sister’s family for her cancer care.
As her illness progressed, she, being a baptised Protestant, asked to be accepted into the Catholic Church. So it fell upon my wife, her youngest sister, to make it happen.
As her condition worsened, she needed oxygen to aid breathing. We then sought out a priest for the acceptance rite. This also required her to have ‘Godparents’. Incidentally, we knew a couple from our Marriage Encounter weekend and Praise God, both Alice’s husband & the God-papa to be were colleagues.
On the day we took Rev Fr Arro for the acceptance rite, we also updated him on her condition and Fr Arro advised us to seek a hospice for Alice. He said, “Although Alice is comfortable now, the caregiver will eventually suffer from ‘caregiver fatigue’.” It was very prophetic.
‘Caregiver fatigue’ was an unknown term to us. Eventually, Alice was admitted to Assisi Hospice.
Our Lord’s infinite mercy
At the Assisi Hospice, her new Godparents took it upon themselves to visit every evening and say the Divine Mercy Chaplet. Whether it was 8pm or later, they would come without fail.
The Divine Mercy Chaplet was new to us. It seemed like a chant; draggy and seemingly boring. We didn’t know much about the Chaplet. However, we made it a point to attend whenever we could.
Against the odds, Alice began to feel better.
As time went by, with her improved condition, she said, “I am so happy because I’m not going to die.”
The prayerful godparents were also constant with their prayers, and Alice’s condition improved greatly.
Then one evening Alice said to me, “I’m so happy. Because today, I went out and had lunch with my daughter.”
Most patients at the hospice stay a short period before they pass on. The average stay is about a month. Alice eventually stayed for more than 3 months. Her prolonged stay was extraordinary.
The Miracle of Reconciliation
Eventually, Alice was fully reconciled with her husband and adult children, and she returned to live with them.
She passed away several months later.
Looking back, we realised that it was the “Divine Mercy” – the chants, the prayers, the graces and the mercy – that had brought wellness, peace and reconciliation.
“Jesus – I trust in you.”
A testimony by our CSM Parishioner. Alice is a pseudonym.