In a beautiful village, a happy little family lived there. John and Melan were Katarina's parents. Katarina was now in elementary school. How happy John and Melan were to see their only daughter grow. They did not expect that their child was already in the 5th grade.
The three of them were people who obeyed God's teachings. In every journey, they would carry Jesus in their hearts. Everyone knew them as a hard-working, diligent, generous, and pious family. They had a habit that they always do. Every Sunday, they went to church together. At night, before going to bed, they read the holy book together and prayed together.
One day on Sunday, Katarina was getting ready to go to church, and suddenly, she heard shouting from outside Katarina's house. Katarina, who felt that the sound was familiar to her ears, immediately ran towards the sound. And it turned out that Katarina's guess was correct. The scream was from her mother, Melan. When she arrived outside the house, Katarina saw her mother crying while stroking someone who was lying limp on the ground. Katarina, curious, immediately walked towards her mother. While holding her mother's shoulder, Katarina asked, "Mother, why are you crying? Then who is the person you stroked?" In a weak voice, her mother answered, "Hi my daughter, I know you are a strong child. Don't be sad when you find out who the person I stroked is." Katarina was confused. She couldn't recognize the person because the person's entire body was covered in blood that kept coming out. "Hey my little girl, look at this person's eyes," said her mother, Katarina, who heard her mother's orders, immediately looked at the person's eyes, how weak Katarina was after seeing the person's eyes. "DAD!" shouted Katarina. Katarina's eyes immediately burst into tears. Without further ado, Katarina immediately hugged her father's body. With her body still weak, her mother ran to a neighbor's house to seek help. So many neighbors came to help John, who was stiff in his daughter's arms. They took Jhon to the nearest hospital. Everyone came to pray for Jhon to be given a chance to live.
While praying, Katarina, her mother, and several neighbors waited for John before the surgery door. After several hours, the doctor came out of the room crying. Melan immediately ran towards the doctor, "How is my husband, Doc?" asked Melan. "Mother, be patient. God loves Mr. John so much that he took John back into his lap." Melan, who heard the doctor's answer, immediately fainted. Everyone there immediately took Melan to the emergency room. One hour passed. Katarina was still faithfully waiting for her mother to wake up while taking care of her father's burial. After a few minutes Melan finally woke up. Katarina immediately ran to find a nurse to check her mother's condition. After being examined, the nurse allowed Katarina to enter the room because her mother was continuing to look for Katarina. "Katarina, mother knows you are a strong child, live happily, don't be sad, mother will always look after you and will always love you." After delivering the message to her daughter, Melan followed her husband. Doctors flocked into the room to check Melan's condition. The nurse pulled Katarina out of the room and accompanied Katarina until the doctor confirmed her mother's condition.
Several hours passed, and one of the doctors came out with teary eyes, the doctor's name was Doctor Riani. Doctor Riani immediately hugged Katarina while crying. "Katarina, how sad your life is. You are strong, daughter, your mother and father will look after you from up there, your father is no longer sick, and your mother will no longer be sad." Hearing the doctor's words, Katarina's eyes could no longer hold back the tears wanting to fall. Katarina slowly headed towards the room where her mother was lying limp. Katarina held her mother's pale face, "Mother, it's a pity that your beautiful face has to become pale like this, be happy with father there. I will become a strong woman like you said earlier, before you go leaving me alone here." Everyone there couldn't help but cry when they heard the elementary school child's truly mature words. "Katarina, your mother and father will definitely be very proud of you, stay alive, God will always guide you," said Doctor Riani while hugging Katarina. "Thank you for fighting to help my mother and father, I will always remember your service," said Katarina.
The next day, came a day that would be the saddest. Katarina would never see the faces of her mother and father in person again. Yes, it was true that the day for Katarina's mother and father to be buried had arrived. All of Melan and John’s family gathered to pray for them. Not only family, but neighbors, and friends of Katarina's parents also came to take part in the burial process. After John and Melan's burial procession, people began to say goodbye until Katarina was left alone. Katarina still couldn't leave the graves of the two people she loved. "Mother, didn't we make cakes together yesterday, and now you leave me alone? Come on, get up, let's make cake with Katarina," said Katarina while stroking her mother's grave. "Dad, didn't you promise that you would take Katarina to school when Katarina entered school and was in grade 5? Dad you broke your promise. Wake up dad. Don't break your promise, dad," Katarina said while stroking her father's grave. Katarina cried again in front of her parents' graves.
After Katarina felt no energy to cry, she said goodbye to her parents and went home. Instead of going home, Katarina went to church to pray and pour out her heart. "Good evening, Lord, Katarina has come to talk to you," said Katarina at the front door of the church. Katarina stepped forward to sit in front of the altar. "Lord, you know I'm still a child. But, why are you giving me trials like this, Lord? Katarina can't stand all this, it feels like I don't have the energy to carry out my days on my own." Katarina confided in tears again. Before going home, Katarina prayed for the two people she loved and herself. "God, I am still not that strong. So help me in every path of my life. Support my body so that I can walk towards a beautiful future." Katarina said and then she went home. When she arrived at her house, instead of resting, Katarina cried again, looking at everything her parents had left behind.
As the days continued, Katarina was now in high school. To this day, Katarina still remembered her parents. Whenever she came home from school, Katarina went to her parents' graves to tell stories. Her truly sad fate did not make Katarina weak in her achievements. At her school, Katarina was one of the children full of achievements. She always won first place in every competition and was the child who always got first place in her class. Doctor Riani became a figure of encouragement in Katarina's life so that she could become an outstanding child. For Katarina, Doctor Riani was the second idol after her mother and father. She wanted to be a doctor like Doctor Riani and a strong woman like her mother. Katarina also wanted to obey God like her father. "Lord, thank you for giving me the encouragement to live so that I can survive until now. Thank you for supporting me until now, Lord. I have felt so many of your miracles. I don't know how I should repay you for all your actions for me, Lord. I can only say thank you very much, abundantly in you Lord." Katrina prayed at church, where Katarina visited whenever she felt weak and sad.
Three years later, Katarina entered a well-known university in Indonesia. Because of her dream, she entered the medical department exactly as Doctor Riani recommended. She passed his college years very easily. There were times when Katarina would go to her parents' graves to talk about her daily life and cry while hugging her parents' graves. After that, she would go to church to pray and go home. When Katarina arrived home, Katarina asked her adopted sister, "Sis Riani, can I cry because I miss my parents?" "Hi my sweet sister. Crying is a natural thing for humans. Every human has the right to cry. Crying also doesn't mean we are weak, but our hearts are no longer able to endure the pain. Iit is very natural. No one forbids you from crying. By crying, you will also feel relieved. Come here, cry in my arms," answered Doctor Riani while hugging her sister. "Every time you feel want to crying, look for your sister. I will hug you until you feel relieved. I will always support and look after you, Katarina." Doctor Riani continued as she slowly let go of his hug.
Fifteen years later, Katarina succeeded in becoming a doctor. Katarina was known as a doctor who was generous and quick to carry out her duties. She was one of the favorite doctors of all patients. Even though she was successful, she still often visited his parents' graves after work. Every Sunday, she would invite her adopted sister to go to church with her. Doctor Riani always said that she was very proud of Katarina. "God, thank you for supporting my little sister's body until she is successful. How proud I am of my little sister. You gave her such big obstacles in life but she dared to overcome them alone, Mrs. Melan and Mr. Jhon. I know you are very proud of Katarina. She is a strong child and is not afraid to face problems even alone. Don't worry, I will always look after Katarina until the end of my life," prayed Doctor Riani when she went to church with Katarina. Katarina lived her days enthusiastically because she believed that God and her parents would always support and protect her on every path she took. She also believed that Doctor Riani or her adopted sister would continue to support her.
Editor: Fr. Aris Mada, SVD
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