There was a knock on my office door.
It was night. I was parish priest of the Annai Velanganni Shrine in Besant Nagar, Chennai, a popular Marian shrine where devotees of all faiths come to pray.
I had already closed the church and the shrine building.
I opened the door.
A group of men stood in front of me—not Catholics, apparently. Well-educated and refined persons, from the way they spoke.
“Father, sorry to disturb you at this late hour. Could you please open the Mother Mary Chapel? We want to pray to Mother Mary.”
When people use the term, “Mother Mary,” rather than Our Lady, it usually means they are not Catholics.
“Of course,” I told them. “No problem at all. Come.”
I got the keys and went with them, and opened the shrine.
They entered, behaved very devoutly, prayed for some time, thanked me, and left.
I did not think about this afterwards.
A week later, the postman brought us a cheque for Rs 100,000. We had never received such a big offering. Who was sending this donation? And why?
With the cheque was a letter.
They came from the men who had come to pray on the night I mentioned. They were directors of a large and very well-known corporate group, whose name I am not mentioning here, since they may not want it.
“Our company was going through a severe crisis,” the letter said. “As you know, we are Hindus. Some of our Hindu friends told us: Go to the Besant Nagar Church and pray to Mother Mary. Your problem will be solved. That is why we came.
“After praying to Mother Mary, we left. That very night, our problem was solved. Please accept this donation in thanksgiving.”
Weeks later, another cheque for the same amount came from the same people.
They became our friends.
They have supported some of the churches.
If you visit their institutions, you will find a statue of Our Lady of Velanganni in one of the floors.
I have been deeply edified by Marian devotion of people of other faiths. Several of them have come to our church to give witness to the wonder Our Lady has done in answer to their prayers. Here is just one instance.
It happened in Velanganni church, Nagapattinam.
An officer in the Chennai corporation had a child affected by polio who could not walk. The parents went on a pilgrimage to Velanganni, taking the little child with them. On reaching the shrine, they placed the child at the entrance to the church, on the floor. The wife waited near the child.
The distraught father walked to the statue of Our Lady and prayed. He wept. After five minutes, he looked back. He could hardly believe his eyes! Here was his little child, a polio patient, walking normally towards him.
He now likes to give witness to this grace. He and his wife have also done voluntary service for pilgrims in the Holy Land.
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Editor’s note:
In a paper presented at a Mariological conference in Rome, the well-known Indian theologian, Fr. Dominic Veliath SDB, pointed out this difference between Europe and India. In Europe, devotion to Mary was a point of division—between Catholics and Protestants. In India, devotion to Mary is a point of unity. People of all faiths come to pray in Marian Shrines. They come mostly to pray for health. Sick people, and relatives of sick people, flock to Marian Shrines. They really see Mary, the Mother of Jesus, as their own Mother, and pray with deep devotion. Many of us have seen the fervour with which these devotees of all faiths pray in such shrines.
– Fr Lawrence Raj, Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore
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