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The Way of Love for the Lord
Chapter 33. The Crown of Thorns (during Lent in April of 1982) One day, we began our family evening prayer at 9:00 p.m. as we had always done every morning and every evening. At that time, our eldest child was twelve years old, the second was ten, the third was six, and the youngest was four. The Bible was read by my husband and hymns were sung together. And prayers were freely said by turns. When my turn came and I was about to offer a prayer, the Crown of Thorns suddenly appeared in front of the crucifix in our home. As soon as I saw it, I asked the Lord, “O my Lord! Let me wear the very Crown of Thorns that You wore. Through my pain, let many souls truly repent of their sins without being fettered by laws, so that they may become children who are pleasing to You.” Even before my prayer ended, the Crown of Thorns was pressed onto my head. At that moment, many thorns simultaneously pierced my head, some even penetrating my skull, causing me agonizing pain. I cried out, “O Lord! Thank You. Thank You for allowing me to suffer pain.” Weeping loudly and writhing in pain, I offered a prayer of gratitude. Sweat flowed like rain from my forehead. Wiping the sweat with my hands and offering up the extreme pain, I kept giving thanks to the Lord. Then the Lord spoke to me. “Is it such a great joy to you?” “Yes, Lord. If sinners can repent through my pain, I will suffer more pain.” “Yes, yes! Will you suffer greater pain? “Of course, I will, Lord!” As soon as I finished speaking, I fell to the floor, followed by the Stigmata, the pain from the Crown of Thorns, and the debilitating pain of my heart bursting, which came from my participation in the pain of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. While writhing and rolling around in pain, I uttered nothing but this, “O Lord, thank You. Lord, thank You. Praise and glory to You.” The pain was excruciating beyond description but I had never felt happier, for I knew that the Lord would use my pain for the conversion of sinners. After a while, I came to my senses and saw my children crying. My husband was also watching me with apprehensive eyes. He then asked me with a look showing that he could not possibly understand me. “Honey! How could you keep saying ‘Thank You’ while suffering that much pain?” “I cannot help but thank the Lord.” I replied, but he was curious yet anxious to know why I was thankful, what I was grateful for, and how much I thanked the Lord. “Our Lord is the Lord of love who has more joy over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons. I am unworthy, but if only one sinner could repent through my sufferings, how could I not thank the Lord?” “Amazing! Incredible! If I were you, I would not be able to suffer the pain saying ‘Thank You’.” He said slapping his lap. “Why do you think the Lord saved me, a sinner, from death? I think that the Lord saved me in order to use me as His instrument despite my unworthiness. I will do my best to lay down all of myself for His sake. Therefore, you should not be worried about whatever pain I may suffer from now on, but thank the Lord, should you not?” I said this to my husband as if asking him for an oath, but in fact I also had no idea what kind of pain I would receive in the future. He replied, “Yes, I will.” It was 11:35 p.m. when we ended our evening prayer. At that time, I heard the voice of the Lord. “My lovely baby who rejoices in suffering pain for the conversion of sinners! I will work miracles of love by using you as My instrument.”
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