Memoirs of Some Fantastic and Amazing Events and 'Miracles' That Happened During My Pilgrimages and Missions from 1995-2012
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Memoirs of some fantastic and amazing events and 'miracles' that happened during my pilgrimages and missions from 1995-2012 I asked, and He opened my eyes to see the many wonders of, and in the bible. Please read these nine unusual to miraculous observations beyond scientific explanations but which happened. These are accounts of some extraordinary nine sightings, or happenings, or miracles seen on our pilgrimages or missions. 1. First Holy Land Pilgrimage 18 February to 10 March 1995. Three unusual things happened. Story below. (a)The transfiguration Six months after my baptism on the Feast day of the Assumption of our Lady on 15 August 1994, some of us newly baptized gathered together , and discussed which part of the world which we have not been and which we would like to go . We felt that that the Holy Land was an interesting place for our Faith, and I was asked to make inquiries of tours which go there. Thompson Tours under Alfred offered to take us there together with my mum, who was in a wheel chair. Meanwhile we all prayed at our first get together with Fr. Jim Wallace CsSR from Novena Church .About two weeks before departure, the Palestians blew up a bus with passengers in Jerusalem, .We were so frightened that we wanted to cancel our pilgrimage. Then at a Catholic bookshop, I came across a video of "Walking in the footsteps with Jesus in the Holy Land " by Fr. Frank Doyle. After seeing this and together with cousin Kenneth Kwan, we decided to go. We were spiritually charged . (a) Our pilgrimage had its ups and down, but at the foot hill of the Mountain of the Transfiguration of our Lord (Matthew 17,1-13), we saw a familiar figure ,looking like Fr. Frank Doyle. Photo: Fr. Frank Doyle ,OFM( central figure) , with American pilgrims and our group , with the invalids, Fr. Jim Wallace ( seated on right) , and Amelia. We are waiting for special taxi transport to take us up to the Church of the transfiguration. I asked cousin , "Is that person standing over there, Fr. Frank Doyle of the video tape "Jesus the prophet"? He replied in Cantonese "Ho chee( Looks like ). I said "Let us go and ask him. " Excuse me Father. We are Catholic Pilgrims from Singapore on our first visit. We were not going come after the car bomb in Jerusalem a few days ago, but after seeing "Walk in the footsteps of Jesus, we decided to come. Father , were you the narrator? Fr. Frank Doyle then said Yes, and that he was the person who narrated the Jesus story . I told him what happened, and that we were so fearful of coming to the Holy land until we saw his tape He said that he was from Cincinnati and had been to the Holy land 50 times and this time with 80 pilgrims from USA . We asked him to give us a blessing, and he prayed over Kenneth and me. It was quite a long blessing , and he spoke in strange words. While waiting at the bottom of the hill, and looking up, I wondered ."Where did Jesus stand for the transfiguration, and which path did Jesus and his disciples take to come down. Photo: foot hill view of the Church of the Transfiguration of Jesus, at Mount Tabor, Tiberius marker show the site of the church. As the church was full , we had an outdoor Mass on the archaeological relics of the old church Photo: Outdoor Mass at the Church of the Transfiguration of our Lord at Mount Tabor .Magdalene reading the first reading and Father (seated) the Gospel of Matthew (17, 1-13). In his homily, Fr Wallace reminded us that this day was a special one for the Lord had brought us to the place of the transfiguration, and it was not by chance that we had met Fr. Frank Doyle, who had made us come here by his narration , but God . Many years , later, I would be minded of these words. Indeed it was a transformation of our hearts to be as often to the Holy land , the birth place of our Faith. Photo: Taking Holy Communion for the first time in the Holy Land at the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus, and my own transformation. Trevor Chong serving After the Mass was over , Father waved a farewell to us as he stood outside the church. Photo: Farewell from Fr. Frank Doyle OFM, outside the entrance to the Church of the transfiguration. We then entered the beautiful chapel of the church and saw its many beautiful glass and wall murals Photo: Mass at the Church of the transfiguration. Jesus' in white with his out stretched and raised arms in the roof alcove. In front of the altar, and first bench(before the seated pilgrims) , is the wooden trap door.his was the place of the transfiguration where Jesus stood. Photo: granite stone where Jesus was alleged to have stood. Top left is the picture of Jesus, in white garments with upheld arms. Below on the stone ,looks like the etched picture of Jesus like the picture on the alcove roof. (b) Granite picture of Jesus. This picture was first seen by Susie, and confirmed on my video camera, but not in the other pilgrims cameras. It was never seen again. In 1996, we could not go up before road repairs. Thereafter on eight further occasions, it was covered with coins or some trash! (c) Tomb of Jesus. The third unusual thing happened. When we arrived at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, it was like returning home. With awe and excitement , we managed to squeeze ourselves into the narrow Tomb of Jesus. I tried to take a picture with my Canon camera, but it won't click. I then took the video camera, and it also did not start. But cousin Kenneth took a picture of me praying inside the Tomb and it came out. Photo: The first time inside the Tomb of My Lord Jesus Christ, in the Holy Sepulcher Church, Jerusalem . 10 March 1995.Picture taken by cousin Kenneth. The tomb was very small and could hold at the maximum four persons. On a slab of marble measuring not more than 5 feet was the tomb. Above it was the altar. A iconic painting of our Lady Photo: Our Lady, Mother of God at the tomb of Jesus.(1995). In 2009 , when we visited the Tomb, the beautiful figure of Mother Mary was badly defaced. Question: Were these unusual events , a miracle and a gift from God , meant for my transfiguration? 2. The 'burning bush ' at Thyatira , Greece baptism site of Lydia, the first woman Christian in Europe Can a bush fire start spontaneously after rainfall during Mass? This was our first pilgrimage following the footsteps of St. Paul to Greece with Fr. Paul Pang. On the 18 February 1997, we arrived at Thyatira in Philippi, Greece . At this site, which was a Roman colony in St. Paul's time was a woman called Lydia who dealt in purple cloth ( Acts. 16, 11-15), nd she had invited St. Paul to her home and there she and her family were baptized. We had two non Christians with us. They were Nancy Tan SRN, my staff nurse and Judy Hew ,SRN. As we sat on the banks of the brook on a wet and sunny day, the grounds were wet from an earlier rain. It was cold. As Mass was beginning , we saw on the opposite bank a small bush fire. We were worried it may get bigger and interfere with the Mass. But once the Mass was over the fire went out. We felt warm with that fire. Photo: Outdoor Mass at Thyatira, Philippi, Greece on 28 February 1997 Photo : Blessing of Judy Hew SRN, who a year later was baptized. In the background ( black arrow) is the smoke of the bush fire across the bridge. The warmth of the fire kept us warm. Photo: Blessing of Nancy Tan SRN by Fr. Paul Pang, attended by her future God Mother Ms Elizabeth Soh. In the background on the opposite bank are the smoke of two bush fires ( arrowed). 3. Finding of the evidence of Jesus the Christ existed, was crucified, and rose on the third day. Did Christ ,outside of the bible and Christian history exist? Was there another source to authenticate that he really existed, taught, was crucified, died and came back on the third day? Although I was baptized in 1995, I tried hard to find evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ outside of the Bible . This was because the atheists, and Christians and our Medical specialists , were curious and wanted proof of his existence. Just before I led the second pilgrimage to the Holy land in March 1996, I said in silence , a prayer " Lord, help, me to find the evidence of the birth of your son Jesus, that he came, he taught, died and came back from the dead" Arriving on the 25 March 1996, at Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found, there was a book shop, and browsing through it, I came across the book of Flavius Josephus, the first century Jewish and Roman historian , who had written about the Jewish Antiquities and the Essential Writings. He said " In AD 30, there was a wise man , called Jesus the Christ, the son of a carpenter in Nazareth, who was held to be the Messiah, was executed by crucifixion by the Romans under Roman law by Pontus Pilate.