Sharing Love Through Four-Leaf Clovers – Maria Choi

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They say a four-leaf clover brings good luck.Among the many common three-leaf clovers, stumbling upon a four-leaf one feels like a little miracle.

When that tiny treasure is carefully placed in a frame and given as a present, it carries with it something even greater — a heart full of love.

 

Maria Choi is an elderly woman who has never married and lives alone.But  she is not truly alone. She lovingly calls her neighbors her family and shares her heart with them. 

 

She shares love through handmade gifts of clovers and leaves,

offering them to her neighbors with a warm heart. 

 

Each day, on her gentle walks to and from church, she tries to find four-leaf clovers. What started as a quiet hobby of collecting four-leaf clovers grew into a way of sharing love — through handmade art frames given to her neighbors.

 

Because she is a faithful catholic, she lovingly gives her artworks on her neighbor’s  feast days of baptismal names, and sometimes shares prayer frames she has made by hand.

 

In her younger years, she worked on a U.S. military base and learned English, and now she joyfully teaches it to the children at her church.Her life has always been guided by one quiet but powerful word: sharing.

 

She doesn’t own a cellular phone, and she has no family to live with. So when she isn’t seen at church for a while, people at the church begin to worry.But she always assures them with a calm smile, “Don’t worry. The Lord is watching over me.”

 

Each frame she makes holds more than a clover’s luck — it holds a story, a prayer, and a love that asks for nothing in return.

 

With every clover she gives, may blessings return to Maria Choi — in quiet ways only grace can bring.

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네잎 클로버로 전하는 사랑, 최 마리아

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행운을 가져다 준다는 네잎클로버!

흔한 세잎클로버 사이에서 우연히 발견하는 네잎클로버!

그 네잎클로버로 나만을 위해 꾸며진 액자 선물은  정말 특별하고 그 정성과 사랑이 그대로 나에게 전해집니다.

결혼을 하지 않으셔서 가족이 없이 혼자 사시는 조 마리아 막달레나 할머니는 이웃을 가족으로 생각하며 그 사랑을 액자로 전해줍니다. 매일 성당을 다니시며 오가시는 산책길에서 틈틈히 네잎클로버를 찾아서 모으시는 것이 취미이시며 네잎클로버를 특별하게 나눠주고 싶은 마음에 시작된 것이 액자 선물이라고 하십니다.

 

성당을 다니기에 someone’s feast of baptismal name 떄 액자를 선물하시거나, prayer를 액자로 꾸며서 나누어 주시기도 하십니다.

또한 젊은 시절 미군부대에서 일해서 성당 아이들에게 영어를 가르쳐 주기도 하시고 늘 ‘나눔’을 마음에 새기고 생활하시는 분이십니다.

 

휴대전화도 가족도 없으셔서 성당에 안 보이실 때면 성당 교우분들이 걱정을 하실 때도 있지만,

늘 믿음으로 주님께서 지켜주실 거라 걱정하지 말라고 하십니다.

 

네잎클로버의 행운이 조 마리아 막달레나 할머니께도 전해지길 바랍니다.