On the afternoon of July 25th 2014, a group of parishioners of the Divine Mercy Apostolate of St. Peter’s Church in Kuching visited CDM after their pilgrimage trip to St. Anne’s in Bukit Mertajam. The members of the Divine Mercy (DM) prayer group was on hand to welcome them. The visitors were given a brief account of the history of the church from the beginning of the gift of land from H. R. Watts until its establishment as a parish in September last year.
At 3 pm the visitors led the DM chaplet in church and then adjourned to Faustina Hall for fellowship. The tour leader, Michael Hii explained that this visit was initiated by a member of our parish , Auntie Helen, who visited St. Peter’s Church last year. In his testimony he gave an account of how the DM devotion was started at St. Peter’s. He related how he received a message from the Divine Mercy when listening in silence for God to speak to him during his visit to the Divine Mercy Church in Singapore. He was spending 40 days in the Republic to attend to the needs of his wife who was undergoing medical treatment for cancer. In this message, he was told that he should not enter heaven alone. He needed to bring others with him. In order to do this he had to live his life as a reflection of God’s mercy and compassion.
He then explained how he initiated the daily recitation of the 3 pm DM chaplet in St. Peter’s Church. Even though about 30 people attend the daily devotion all 365 days of the year they had never missed a single day of prayer even through the public and festive holidays. This was possible when one is Christ centered and not self-centered in our service to the church. He said that his wife never complained or blamed God for her sickness. Instead of saying, “Why me?” she said, “Why not me?”. She in turn told God that since she has been given so many things in life including this health affliction then He has to give her the strength to overcome it.This strength of faith has even made her siblings convert to Catholicism.
At the end of his testimony, Micheal explained the many leaflets and CDs that he had brought with him. They were all to be given free of charge to all present. Even though they were done at considerable cost, he was able to source sponsors in order to spread the word of God.
The parishioners of the CDM who were present were most touched and appreciative of his sharing. Some individuals even received the gift of the DM decade rosary. This visit from our friends from East Malaysia who showed such strong community bonding, was an eye-opener of power of God’s love and compassion. We felt blessed by their visit and encouraged to continue more diligently our devotion to the Divine Mercy. We are hopeful that eventually we will begin to recite the 3 pm DM chaplet daily at CDM and be the fourth parish to currently do so in Malaysia.
Written by
Ivan Filmer
2nd August, 2014.