Father Ubald comes from Rwanda. He was financed by our parish in Graz/Austria, where I am based, to train as a priest. For ten years Father Ubald was the priest in charge in the parish of Nyamasheke in Rwanda.

When genocide broke out in Rwanda in April 1994, he was taken out of the country by his bishop and found refuge with us in Graz in his partner parish. Father Ubald was a completely broken man. 84 relatives from his family had been brutally murdered. Even in his own parish, where he had tried for 10 years to bring the love of God to the people, they had tried to kill him too. He no longer wanted to be a priest because he could no longer pray the call to forgiveness contained in the prayer of the "Our Father".

A woman from our parish, Dr Kübler, then made it possible for him to travel to Lourdes in France. About 150 years ago, Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared in Lourdes to give people help for their faith. Since that time, amazing signs and miracles have been occurring in Lourdes, such as many healings of the soul, but also of the body.

When Father Ubald was in Lourdes, he prayed the Stations of the Cross at the apparition site. This is a meditation on the sufferings of Jesus, which he had taken upon himself to redeem humanity. At the point where it is described how Jesus had taken up the heavy cross, he suddenly heard Jesus' voice saying to him, "Ubald, take up your cross too!" At the same time, Ubald felt an incredibly great burden being lifted from him. He noticed how he was suddenly able to forgive out of the love of Christ, to forgive even those people who had killed his entire family.

He returned to Rwanda and began an incredible work of reconciliation there. He also forgave the mayor of his hometown who was mainly responsible for the murder of all the people there. This man was now in prison and at first could not accept Father Ubald's forgiveness, it did not seem honest to him. But when Father Ubald financed schooling for the two children of the mayor, who had been living in deep poverty with an aunt since the death of their mother, the murderer of his family was able to recognise and accept Father Ubald's forgiveness as sincere. Now they both began a joint work of reconciliation: Father Ubald made efforts to help the victims to forgive their perpetrators on the basis of their Christian faith. The former mayor, for his part, endeavoured to help the former perpetrators so that they would be able to repent of their actions wholeheartedly and ask for forgiveness.

Obviously in response to this willingness to forgive, Father Ubald was then given the gift of "inner vision" by God, and this was always the case when God planned to heal people around Father Ubald. When Father Ubald blessed people with the monstrance and the "Blessed Sacrament" in the course of the service, it always happened that he got a very clear inner picture of a physical ailment that God was going to heal. And so it actually happened. These healings can be witnessed not only in Rwanda, but also in other countries where Father Ubald worked as a priest.

I was also able to experience this gift of God in myself.

In June 1990, Father Ubald visited our parish Karlau in Graz. At that time our parish priest Karl Thaller asked him to stand in for him at the evening mass. This was very difficult for Father Ubald because he did not know German. He therefore celebrated the Holy Mass in French. There were only 7 people present.

At that time, I had been suffering from severe angina pectoris for many years, for which I was constantly treated by an internist. When I wanted to walk short distances, I always had to stop and rest before I could continue my way.

At that evening mass, I was again in severe pain, but I did not take my medicine, which I always carried with me. This medicine had a very unpleasant smell and I did not want to expose this smell to Jesus at communion.

While Traude Schrötter sang a Jesus song at the end of the mass, Father Ubald stepped in front of the altar and spoke in broken German: "Man here, here pain, Jesus heals!" As he did so, he pointed to the heart with his hand. I did not understand what Father Ubald had said. Later, outside the church door, Traude asked us present who among us had been healed of the heart today. Only then did I realise that my pain had disappeared. To my great surprise, the pain did not reappear in the next few days, so I realised that the healing had really been for me. The healing was later confirmed by my internist. Thirty years have passed since then and in all these years, despite much and hard work, I have never felt a pain in my chest again. I thank my God for that and praise HIM every day.

It was totally unexpected and surprising for me to experience the gift of spontaneous healing once again.

In August 2010, Fr. Ubald was invited by our parish Graz Karlau for a month to recuperate.  At that time, many people in Austria already knew that Fr Ubald had a special gift to lead people to reconciliation with each other and also with God. It was also already known that healings happened time and again during his church services, as I was able to experience myself. Various parishes in Styria had therefore asked Father Ubald to hold a day of reflection and a healing service in their parishes. This also happened in the parish of St. Andrä in Graz, where many people came and I also took part. At the beginning there was a talk about reconciliation and forgiveness, then people had the opportunity to tell God their transgressions and ask for forgiveness in the sacrament of confession. Then there was Holy Mass followed by Eucharistic Adoration and a prayer for healing by Fr Ubald. Finally Fr Ubald went through the church with the Blessed Sacrament and blessed all the people. Afterwards he said from the altar what pictures of illnesses and diseases were given to him, which God now wants to heal. To everyone's great joy, many people came forward and gave testimony of their healing.

Now about me:

I had been suffering for weeks from a heel spur, which is a very painful bone growth on the heel. Every step caused me agony. At the hospital in Graz, I was advised to wait and see how it would develop or to have an operation. As I did not want to have an operation at that time, I had no choice but to endure my pain.

P. Ubald said in addition to the other illnesses that God would heal, there was also someone present who had severe pain in his leg. He vividly showed on his own foot where someone feels this pain. At that moment I did not feel addressed because I had not yet prayed for healing.

At the end of the ceremony, I was standing in the pew with my legs bouncing from one foot to the other, lost in thought. Astonished, the doctor Dr. Georg Reiser, who was standing next to me, asked me what was wrong with my heel spur.  Only then did I realise that I no longer had any pain. And that's how it stayed, no more operations were necessary.

Note
Father Ubald died in the year 2021