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The Church needs holy, healthy and humble priests, and that requires careful selection and training of candidates. In fact, the Church considers the formation of future priests, both diocesan and religious, as one of her most important and demanding tasks. In December 2016, the Vatican brought out a new set of guidelines for the formation of seminarians, entitled The Gift of the Priestly Vocation. The salient features of this document are given below. Although the document is directly about the formation of priests, most of the guidelines are valid for any person doing ministry in the church, such as religious and lay leaders. (The numbers in brackets refer to the paragraph numbers in the document.)

INITIAL FORMATION

The period of initial formation begins when a candidate enters the seminary and it goes on till he is ordained a priest. The new document visualises initial formation as a journey in four stages: 1) the Propaedeutic or Preparatory Stage; 2) the Discipleship Stage (the period of philosophical studies); 3) the Configuration Stage (the period of theological studies); and 4) the Pastoral Stage (the period of vocational synthesis).

• The Preparatory (Propaedeutic) Stage

The present document makes the propaedeutic or preparatory stage mandatory for all those who wish to enter seminaries. In India it has already been the practice for many decades and it is often referred to as the “minor seminary” stage. It gives the aspirant a chance to acquire an initial and overall familiarity with Christian doctrine. It is a time of serious vocational discernment and growth in spiritual life. It is to be lived in a community, distinct from the major seminary, with its own programme and its own team of formators.

• The Stage of Discipleship (philosophical studies)

The disciple is one whom the Lord has called to “stay with Him” (Mk 3:14), to learn the secrets of the Kingdom of God, and to live in a deep relationship with Him. In this stage, special attention is given to the human dimension of formation, emphasising systematic work on the personality of the seminarian (62). The lack of a well-structured and balanced personality would be a serious hindrance to the continuation of formation for the priesthood (63). This is the stage to work towards a solid physical, psycho-affective and social maturity required of a priest.

•  The Stage of Configuration to Christ (Theological Studies)

Here the focus is on the configuration of the seminarian to Christ. It demands that the seminarian enter profoundly into the contemplation of the person of Jesus Christ, making the relationship with Christ more intimate and personal (68). This stage allows the gradual grounding of the seminarian in the likeness of the Good Shepherd, who knows his sheep, gives his life for them, and seeks out the ones that have wandered from the fold.

• The Stage of Vocational Synthesis (Pastoral Stage)

This stage begins with the Order of Diaconate. At this stage, the seminarian leaves the seminary and launches his pastoral life. During this stage, the candidate is asked to declare freely, consciously and definitively his intention to be a priest, having received diaconal ordination (74). This stage will normally take place outside the seminary, at least for a significant period.

 DIMENSIONS OF FORMATION

In each of the above four stages, the process of formation has four dimensions, namely: Human Dimension, Spiritual Dimension, Intellectual Dimension and Pastoral Dimension.

Human Formation

The objective of human formation is to help seminarians become humanly balanced, serene and stable. Only in this way will it be possible to have priests with friendly traits, who are authentic, loyal, interiorly free, affectively stable, capable of weaving together peaceful interpersonal relationships and living the evangelical counsels without rigidity, hypocrisy or loopholes.

Human formation is the foundation of all priestly formation, and it promotes the integral growth of the person. Psychologically, it focuses on acquiring a stable personality, characterized by emotional balance, self-control and a well-integrated sexuality. Developing an aesthetic sense (sense of beauty) is also part of human formation.

A sign of the harmonious development of the personality is a mature capacity for relations with men and women of various ages and social conditions.

Spiritual Formation

Spiritual formation is all about establishing a deep personal relationship with God. It is nourished by prolonged and silent prayer (102). Some practical steps that the document proposes for nurturing spiritual life are: the practice of Lectio Divina, which consists in a prayerful reading and profound meditation on the Word of God (103), a living faith in the Eucharist and daily participation in it (104), the Liturgy of the Hours, frequent and regular celebration of the sacrament of Penance (106), the practice of asceticism and interior discipline, and spiritual direction, which is a privileged means for the integral growth of the person (107).

The evangelical counsels too have an important role in the spirituality of the priest. Following the Master with faith and freedom of heart, the seminarian learns to make a gift of his own will by obedience to the service of God and their fellow men (109).

Those who prepare for priesthood in the Latin Church ought to recognise and welcome celibacy as a special gift of God (110). It would be gravely imprudent to admit to the sacrament of Orders a seminarian who does not enjoy free and serene affective maturity (110).

Seminarians should cultivate the spirit of poverty in practical ways (111). They should be formed to imitate Christ, who “became poor although he was rich” in order to enrich us. They should have a special place in their hearts for the poorest and weakest. They ought to be witnesses to poverty through simplicity and austerity of life, so as to become sincere and credible promoters of true social justice. (111).

Intellectual Formation

Intellectual formation is aimed at achieving a solid competence in philosophy and theology, along with a general educational preparation, enough to allow them to proclaim the Gospel message to the people of our own day in a way that is credible and can be understood. It seeks to enable them to enter into fruitful dialogue with the contemporary world. As Vatican II stated, the knowledge of philosophy and theology helps us to hear, distinguish and interpret the many voices of our age, and to judge them in the light of divine word, so that revealed truth can always be more deeply penetrated, better understood and set forth to great advantage (116).

Pastoral Formation

Priestly formation must always be permeated by a pastoral spirit. Formation should make future priests experts in the art of pastoral discernment, that is, the ability to listen deeply to real situations and capable of good judgement in making choices and decisions (120). The gaze of the Good Shepherd who seeks out, walks alongside and leads his sheep, will form a serene, prudent and compassionate outlook in him. Priestly ministry means, as Pope Francis says, being shepherds ‘with the smell of the sheep,’ who live in their midst to bring the mercy of God to them.

Special attention must also be given to preparing seminarians for the particular requirement and methods of pastoral accompaniment for children, young people, the sick, the elderly, the disabled, those who live in situations of isolation or poverty. The pastoral care of families should receive special attention (124).

Special attention is to be given to the homily, since it is the touchstone for judging a pastor’s closeness and ability to communicate to his people (177).

ONGOING FORMATION

The Ongoing Formation begins from the time one is ordained a priest and goes on till the end of his life. It is intended to ensure fidelity to the priestly ministry in a continuing journey of conversion, in order to rekindle the gift received at ordination (81). The priest himself is primarily responsible for his own ongoing formation. It is the bishop’s responsibility to ensure that newly ordained priests are not immersed in excessively burdensome or delicate situations. It is good to set up a system of personal accompaniment of young priests to promote and maintain the quality of their ministry and to help them to meet their first pastoral challenges with joy and enthusiasm.

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Fr Anil enjoys chatting with friends on Messenger, Skype and IMO till late in the night. Sr Meena usually goes to bed on time, but as soon as she wakes up, she compulsively checks FaceBook and WhatsApp on her mobile for new messages, photos and videos. Jason and Ivy, college students, check messages on their phones every few minutes. They are more in touch with their Facebook and Twitter contacts than with their parents.

We are familiar with such scenes. How can we learn to use this powerful tool wisely?

Technology helps us to contact people around the world, update ourselves and have access to a vast amount of information. This enables us become more efficient and prompt in managing many tasks. Digital devices permit us with minimal effort to organise a conference call, deal with online correspondence and communicate with persons on other continents, also cut down on the use of paper.

At the same time, social media also leads users to cross certain boundaries that are there for a good reason.

Some of the situations that could arise are:

• contacting persons beyond set time limits
• access of inappropriate content
•  neglect of regular responsibilities
•  unauthorised sharing of information, documents or media
•  development of inordinate relationships
•  compromising confidentiality of the institute

These dangers/risks are real for all, whatever our age or setting. Technology has a fascination all its own. Given that access to these media is easy, affordable and can often be done anonymously, they become a powerful, but dangerous tool.

Young people are habituated to the regular use of social media. Thus, candidates to religious orders are familiar with them even before they begin their formation. Some of them find it almost a need, and a few use smart phones without authorization. We need to face such situation, and train people to an honest and responsible use of social media.

Senior and middle-aged persons—whether lay persons or religious or priests—often shy away from using digital devices and social media, because of certain preconceived notions, or because they are not savvy. However, they will do well to learn to use digital devices and social media, and see how to use them for doing good.

Religious, priests and lay persons can make good use of social media to broaden their reach and improve their effectivity in various areas, some of which are mentioned here. Creating or forwarding attractive media posts and message are an effective means of evangelising and diffusing values, especially among the young. Social media is a good tool for spreading institutional propaganda, enhancing public relations and can even be useful for vocation promotion.  Consecrated persons can use the internet for updating their knowledge, obtaining resources, and also share their own digital resources (documents, images, music, videos, presentations, etc.) through social media or media sharing services.

In his message for World Communications Day 2013, Pope Benedict XVI urged consecrated persons to play a role in assuring the balanced use of social networks. How? By:

• fostering dialogue, debate and critical thinking on social media forums;
• inculcating respect for privacy and concern for each person;
• encouraging honesty in the dissemination of news by verifying their authenticity;
• promoting harmony between persons and groups;

Pope Francis adds that the Church’s concern is to use these new forms and expressions in communicating Christ to the ‘digital continent’. His own presence in social media is well-known, with a gigantic outreach.

How do you see these media? How do you use them? Technology, like any tool, can be used for good or evil. May we master its use, and use them for making our world a better-connected and more caring human family.

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Here is one of those women whom all the women and men can be proud of! What she has done for her country in a little more than eleven years seems too good to be true. I am talking of the woman who has been the President of Liberia from 2005 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Liberia is the oldest republic in Africa. It was founded in the 19^th century by African slaves who were freed from the U.S.

If you read world history carefully, you’d see that behind much of the destruction and damage caused by human beings – behind wars, conflicts, killings and rapes – is the enmity between two groups. What separates the two groups may be race or ethnicity, religion, language or caste. In Liberia   it is the enmity between the descendents of the freed slaves and the indigenous people.

Ellen is of native Liberian descent. Her mother was a teacher, and her father, an attorney. Her parents understood the value of education, and got her well-educated. When everyone thought she would pursue higher studies, the seventeen-year old Ellen fell in love with James Sirleaf, a young agronomist with an American degree, and married him. Four sons were born in rapid succession, which made her a full time home maker. When the government offered her husband the opportunity to pursue graduate studies in the U.S., they decided to leave their children in the care of grandparents and travelled to America together. While he studied agriculture, Ellen studied accounting. When they returned to Liberia, he resumed work in the Agriculture Department, while she joined the Ministry of Finance.

Sadly, Sirleaf, her husband, soon became violent and abusive and Ellen had to appeal for a legal divorce. When she got it, she continued her education in the U.S., earning degrees in economics and public administration. She went back to Liberia to become the Assistant Finance Minister. But soon, unable to support the policies of President William Tolbert, she had the courage to publicly criticize him.  When she was forced to resign, she went to Washington to work for the World Bank. She returned in 1977 and served as Deputy Finance Minister and then the Finance Minister – the first woman to hold this position in Liberia. As Finance Minister, she attempted a much-needed reform of the country’s finances. But a coup staged by Sergeant Samuel Doe and the violence that followed made her flee and work in the World Bank for a while and then Citicorp in Nairobi. When she returned to Liberia to run for the Vice President, she was arrested for criticizing Doe’s corrupt regime and put in jail. Liberia descended into a horrendous civil war. International pressure led to her release and in 1992 Ellen became the first woman to become the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. Later President Charles Taylor’s corrupt and brutal regime brought unprecedented horrors. Even children were forced to fight and commit atrocities, like killing their own mothers.

Thank God, in 2005 the country’s first truly free elections took place and on 16 January 2006 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in as Liberia’s 24th President – the first elected female head of state in African history. In 2011 she was re-elected. In these eleven years she has done all she could to undo the damage caused by twenty-five years of violence and misrule. She has made universal elementary education free and compulsory. She has enforced equal rights for women. Her administration has built over 800 miles of roads, attracting substantial foreign investment.  In 2010, Newsweek magazine listed her as one of the “Ten Best Leaders in the World.” Now a grandmother of eight, she has become a popular symbol of democracy and women’s rights. In 2011, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace, along with two other women’s rights campaigners.

Ellen Johnson’s achievements should make us face the bitter fact: Our country and our Church have a long, long way to go to be able to benefit from the gifts and abilities of women.

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Crystal

One of the things I love about the Catholic faith is our appreciation for saints.  Most of us have our favorite saints who we turn to for intercession or inspiration. Saint Anthony of Padua is a good example. “Tony, Tony, look around; something’s lost that must be found.”  This may seem childish until I lose something that I really want to find. Then suddenly he is my best friend.  Many of us turn to saints in our need when we face situations that are out of our control.  Desperate for help, we turn in trust to those who have gone before us and often are blessed with their intercession and relief.

At the same time, most of us have a favorite saint based on something about his or her life that resonates with our own personality or needs. One of my favorites is St. Teresa of Avila, a woman who had a great sense of humor, loved being with people and who embroidered linen.  Clearly these were not the virtues that earned her sainthood, but they help me relate to her as a friend since I admire those qualities.

 The problem is that once we read more about their lives, we learn that they were heroic in some way that we can’t imagine ourselves ever to be. For example, I read about St. Lawrence and that as he was being burned on a grill, he quipped “Turn me over, I think I am done on this side.”  Really? The thought of suffering horribly and enduring torture is enough to turn most of us away from sainthood. May God allow me the grace of another path to sainthood!

In spite of this, it is important for us to remember that those who have become saints did so not because of the so-called great deeds they performed, but because of the love of God and neighbor that drove them. My spiritual director told me not to become discouraged because I felt incapable of imitating the saints I admire so much, but instead to imitate their zeal and love for God and others. This helped me to see that sainthood is not only possible but enticing. I have a real desire to love better. As St. Teresa puts it, “The important thing is not to think much but to love much; do, then, whatever most stirs you to love.” This gives me great hope and encouragement.

We need to talk about becoming a saint with a lowercase s—one of the countless billions of unknown men and women who loved God with all their minds, souls and hearts and who now reside in heaven. These are the people who recognized that each day presents us opportunities to love, and putting their love into practice earned them a place in the heavenly kingdom.

I don’t have far to look to recognize such a saint in my own life.  My mom is my St. Isolde, saint of joyful love.  As a wife and homemaker, she did nothing that the world would call special. She worked hard to make a comfortable home for our family, with very little money available to her. But on the spiritual dimension, she was a superstar. She loved God and trusted Him completely. Throughout most of her life, she was dedicated to attending daily Mass and praying the rosary. Her faith led her to serve others. Whether it was baking a meal for a sick friend, crafting a toy for a neighborhood child, or watering the garden at the church, she lived a life of service.  She was always there for her husband, daughters and sons-in-law, and grandchildren, saying the kind and understanding word, offering help when needed and knowing when to be silent. When she was 74, she suffered a stroke that left her diminished for the last three years of her life.  Throughout it all, she always tried to be faithful to God and her family, loving all those around her, even when towards the end all she could offer was a smile. At her funeral, so many people said of her the most important thing one can say, “She was such a loving woman.”

Kevin

I doubt Crystal’s mom ever thought about becoming a saint, but I believe that she is one. She was what I would call a “joy spreader”.  The Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that so many of our human efforts to seek comfort and pleasure are “vanity and a chasing after the wind.” We have a higher calling. We all need to recognize our call to holiness and  rather than deeming ourselves unworthy, fortify ourselves with the armor of prayer and the conviction that we are called to be “joy spreaders”.  We need to look at the obstacles that we face in our lives and see them for what they are…..opportunities. There are certainly enough moments of frustration, enough suffering, and enough hardship that we all can endure with grace that will one day entitle us to belong to the sacred company of the saints. We have opportunities to evangelize in our homes as well as in the workforce. We have opportunities to share love with the least among us, allowing us to serve Christ in the hidden form of others. Any parent will experience countless opportunities to serve our sons and daughters, often with the added “opportunity” of being unappreciated.  The gift that we have as married couples is that we have a spouse who is committed to be at our side throughout life and help us become the holy man or woman that God created us to be.

What can married couples do to help our spouse achieve sainthood?  As it turns out, quite a bit! Each of us should be working on improving ourselves, while seeking opportunities to help our spouse become a holy person. For example, anytime that we have an opportunity to encourage our spouse to behave in a more loving way, without nagging, we should jump on it. Perhaps this might be a gentle nudge to forgive someone who has hurt them, or to spend a little more time with a child who is in trouble. Sometimes we might need to challenge our spouses by helping them see a situation from a different perspective.  Even if we have to tell them something they do not want to hear, out of love we are called to speak the truth, but always with kindness and humility.  (I heard once that holiness is not a competitive sport…. We don’t want to be attempting to perfect our spouse in such a way that implies we have all the answers. This is a big danger for all those who are earnestly striving for perfection themselves.)

I suppose the bottom line is that if our vocation is making us kinder, more patient, more giving, and more loving, we can assume we are on the right path. Of course, we have to always remember that at the end of the day, all of this is possible only by relying on the grace of God (and the intercession of the saints) to help us achieve the virtues we seek to emulate.

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Forgiveness can be hard. It stems from strength, not weakness. Understood rightly, it is wise, healing and beautiful.

Do you have trouble forgiving—really reaching out to those who have hurt you, or being nice to those who have been nasty?

Do you find it hard to seek forgiveness?

Are you confused about its meaning, or about how to practise it? Is it always a good option? What about the fight for justice?

If you struggle with any of these issues, read on. There is much all of us can learn—not from unrealistic theories, but from the example of those who were injured beyond words and yet chose to forgive—and are happy they did.

Precious lessons from the best human beings around. We can summarize them under ten “sutras.”

1. FORGIVING IS NOT THE SAME AS FORGETTING

Sister Rani Maria FCC was a young Catholic nun who worked for the poor in Central India with courage and deep love. She took up their cause, struggled to get them their rights, and travelled around to help. During one of these travels, as most of us in India know, she was stabbed to death in broad day light—a steep price to pay for her love for the poor and her commitment to justice.

Her murderer was caught and condemned to imprisonment.

While the murder of this innocent nun outraged many good people, what happened next was even more unexpected.

Her family—her mother and siblings—decided to forgive the man who had killed her. They visited him in jail. They told him things he could hardly believe—that they did not hate him, that they forgave him. As a mark of their acceptance of him, Rani Maria’s sister tied a ribbon around his wrist—a gesture that any Indian will understand. It is done by young women on their brother’s hand, as a sign of affection. She was now accepting her sister’s murderer as her own brother.

He would later say: “Only you Christians can do this.”

Rani Maria’s family will certainly never forget what was done to her. How can they? But they went beyond their pain and anger and reached out to the murderer in loving forgiveness.

We often confuse issues, saying, “I cannot forgive and forget.” We are asked to forgive; we are not asked to forget, or to pretend that nothing painful or unjust happened.

In fact, as the South African experience after the era of Apartheid showed—see the book review—we need to face the truth, not hide it. Healing requires that the atrocities committed and the emotions of the people affected need to be admitted and acknowledged.

Forgiving is not a sweet way of pretending that everything was fine, nor denying accountability.

Neither Gladys Staines—whose husband and sons were burnt alive by fanatics—nor Sr Rani Maria’s family “forgot” what happened. How can you ever forget such atrocities? We are talking about a heroic decision to go beyond your pain and reach out in forgiveness to those whose deeds were incredibly cruel.

2. ACTIONS MATTER MORE THAN EMOTIONS. 

A Protestant pastor in Tamilnadu learnt a moving lesson on forgiveness from an illiterate woman.

Nithya was a landless labourer, whose family had suffered much under the village landlord. In a final act of cruelty, his henchmen had killed her son.

Later, the rich man’s son fell seriously ill, and needed blood transfusion. Among those who volunteered to donate blood for the boy was Nithya. Her pastor, who had baptized her, asked her, “Do you know for whom you are giving blood?” Yes, she knew. “Do you know what that family did to your family?” Yes, she knew that, too. “And yet, you are willing to donate blood for him?” Nithya’s simple and powerful answer: “Reverend, you taught us that this is what it means to be Christian.”

Forgiveness is not about how we feel. It is about what we do.

We will all have warmer feelings towards those who are nice to us. We will find it easier to help those we like, and those who are good to us. But forgiving means precisely that I choose to be good to the one who was nasty to me, not just to the ones I love. It is a tough and demanding decision. I may not feel like doing it at all. In fact, my feelings may even push me in the direction of revenge. If feelings dictated our decisions, we would be wonderfully nice to those we like, and nasty towards others who made us suffer. How would we then construct a better, more humane world?

3. FORGIVENESS REQUIRES PERSPECTIVE

Arnold, a young seminarian, came to me to complain about one of his professors. I told him, “We can talk about your hurt, if you think that is useful, or we can look at it differently.” “Differently? How?” “This way. You will spend some eight years here in the seminary, right?” “Right.” In these eight years, how many formators and professors will you meet?” “Some forty or fifty, or more.” “Right. Is it reasonable to expect that every single one of them is sweet and nice to you?” “You have a point. It is not.” “Not just that, Arnold. Would it be good for your growth if everyone around is easy on you? Isn’t it good for you that you also get some hard knocks?” “I agree,” Arnold said.

This is perspective. A hurt must be seen against the vast horizon of good we experience. On any given day, we experience much more kindness than unkindness. Most people are nice and good to us. Most of the time we are not suffering, physically or emotionally.

If we forget all this, and complain about the occasional hurt or perceived injustice, it shows lack of perspective. It is not a realistic way of looking at life.

We are not martyrs. We are not being ill-treated most of the time.

May we learn to count our blessings, thank the many people who are good to us, and situate the occasional hard experience in the midst of so much goodness.

So, too, for our growth and inner strength, it is good that we face hardships—material, emotional, financial. An easy life is neither the best, nor the most fruitful.

Another aspect of perspective is that we all need forgiveness. We have caused suffering. We have not always been thoughtful or kind or just.

4. FORGIVENESS HEALS AND PRESERVES US

Rachel, a Jewish woman interned in a concentration camp during World War II, witnessed inhuman cruelty—beatings, starvation, mass extermination of human beings. She had seen, for instance, newly born babies drowned in cold water, and adults sent to the gas chamber.

After the war, she was walking one day with other Jewish women in a German city, when they saw a woman pushing a baby carriage with a child in it. They recognized the woman: She had been a guard in their concentration camp, and a very cruel one. Urged by instinct, some of the women rushed to the woman, determined to harm her child. Rachel ran to them and told them, “We must not hurt this child. Otherwise, we will be like them.” A priest who was passing that way, wondered what the commotion was, and asked about it. Rachel told him. He turned to her in admiration and asked her: “How did you manage to preserve so much love in the midst of so much hatred?” Rachel’s moving reply: “It is not that I have preserved love; the truth is that love has preserved me.”

So true. Forgiveness heals and preserves us.

Bitterness, anger and thoughts of revenge poison our own lives and damage us. As the Buddha wisely observed, “Keeping anger is like carrying a burning coal in your hand and expecting the others to get hurt.”

James Herriott, a columnist of The Tablet of London, wrote about the death of a priest he knew.  As he lay dying, this priest invited the young seminarians around to drink to his death! “I have lived a very happy life,” he told them, “I would like you to drink to a very happy death.” Herriott adds: “But, then, he had spent a life time forgiving those who had hurt him.”

Isn’t this the wisest and best way of living and dying? What is clever about filling our minds with angry thoughts, poison our heart with hatred, and living or dying in bitterness? Aren’t Rachel and the priest celebrating his death much better models?

5. ORDINARY “ANGELS” CAN CHALLENGE US

Dominic was eight years old when this happened. I heard this true story from his sister.

The evening prayers at home were over. The family was about to sit down for supper. Dominic did not get up to join them. His father turned to him and asked, “Son, aren’t you coming for supper?”

What happened next changed their family history.

Dominic told his dad, “Dad, you taught me the Our Father. We recite it every day. This evening, too. In it we are asking God to forgive us as we forgive those who have hurt us. But, I have heard that you and your older brother are not on talking terms for the past seventeen years.”

A stunned silence followed. Dominic’s parents sat up the whole night talking about their child’s comment.

The next day, they woke him up early, and told him, “Get up, get ready. You are coming with us.” The parents went, together with Dominic, to the house of the estranged brother whose house they had not stepped into for seventeen years.

The parents told Dominic to tell his uncle why they were there.

The two estranged brothers hugged each other, and wept.

Seventeen years of separation were healed that day.

God spoke through the mouth of an innocent child.

God may use any angel to invite or challenge me. I need to listen. I should not be defensive or angry when someone points out my areas of bitterness, or my broken relationships. We have much to gain, and very little to lose in taking the first step. Often, the injured person is waiting for the other to take the first step. If both simply wait, nothing good will happen. The distance will only increase.

May we listen to the Dominics God uses to push us towards reconciliation.

6. FAITH PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE

In 1996, a group of French Trappist monks who lived in a monastery in Algeria, and served the local people in simple medical matters, were murdered my Islamic militants. The family of the abbot, Fr Christian de Chergé, released to the public a letter he had written in 1993. In this very moving and beautiful letter, Fr Christian shows he knows the danger in staying on in Algeria. He knows he may become a victim of violence. And he prays for the person who may murder him, calling him a brother, a fellow sinner, whom one day he hopes to meet in paradise. Here are excerpts from his letter:

Facing a GOODBYE …
If it should happen one day—and it could be today—that I become a victim of terrorism… I would like my community, my Church and my family to remember that my life was GIVEN to God and to this country…
I ask them to associate this death with so many other equally violent ones which are forgotten…. My life has no more value than any other…In any case, it has not the innocence of childhood…
I should like, when the time comes, to have a moment of spiritual clarity which would allow me to beg forgiveness of God and of my fellow human beings, and at the same time forgive with all my heart the one who would strike me down…
And also you, my last-minute friend, who will not have known what you were doing:
Yes, I want this THANK YOU and this GOODBYE to be a “GOD BLESS” for you, too, because in God’s face I see yours.
May we meet again as happy thieves in Paradise, if it please God, the Father of us both.
AMEN! INSHALLAH!
What a way of facing danger and death! What a large heart filled with forgiveness! (There is a film based on this true story, which moved viewers to tears, “Of Gods and Men.” Read the whole text of Fr Christian’s letter on the Net.)

Even more heart-rending is the witness of a South African woman whose husband and son had been murdered under the infamous apartheid regime of South Africa.

In the court room, she came face to face with Inspector Van Breik, the police officer responsible for her husband’s inhumanly human death—he was burnt alive—and her son’s murder. The judge asked her, “Now that you know the facts, tell us: What is it you want?”

Her answer is beyond heroic.

“I want three things,” she said.

The first was to gather some mud from the river bank where her husband was burnt to death, and this way to give his remains a funeral.

The second: “Since I have no son now, I want Mr Van Breik to come to my house once a month, so that I can shower on him all the motherly love I have.”

Thirdly, she said, if someone can hold my hand and help me cross this room, I want to reach where Mr Van Breik is standing. I want to hug him, and tell him that, because of my faith in Jesus, I forgive him.

The police officer fainted.

Human beings are capable of incredible cruelty and meanness. We are also capable—as this South African woman or Fr Christian de Chergé show us—of heroic acts of forgiveness.

7. PRAYER IS A HUGE SUPPORT

Such heroism does not suddenly rise from nothing. A faith-fuelled vision is the result of careful cultivation. Prayer is what keeps it alive.

Here is what I learnt from a Salesian priest I have known for years.

When he was rector of a large seminary, he took a decision which some seminarians did not like. In anger, they calumniated him, thus spoiling his name. To spite him further, they put ink on his photo on the wall.

We found him very serene. He did not demand that they be punished or sent away. Asked about the reason for his calm demeanour, he said, “When someone speaks ill of me, I pray extra for that person. So, I have never lost my peace of mind.”

It is a salutary practice to pray for those who have hurt us, and for those we find it hard to love. They, too, play a providential role in our lives. They, too, are a part of God’s wise and loving plans for us.

Once a young man in Don Bosco’s care was extremely upset at the lack of respect someone had shown the saint. He repeatedly told Don Bosco, “That is not the way he should treat you. You must confront him. You should put him in his place.”

When the well-meaning but agitated young man went on insisting on punishment, Don Bosco told him, “Come, we shall go and punish him.” The young fellow was thrilled to hear this, and went with Don Bosco, expecting a humiliating show-down for the offender.

Don Bosco, instead, led his young friend to the chapel, and told him, “This is how we shall take revenge. Let us kneel down and say a prayer for him.”

Is this how we deal with our hurts?

8.FORGIVENESS HEALS GROUPS AND NATIONS

Forgiveness is not only a personal need or an interpersonal matter. Groups, institutions and nations need healing, just as individuals do.

It is easy to provoke violence or turn one group against another. It takes far greater skill and wisdom to bring people together, to turn warring factions into friends.

What the great Nelson Mandela did in South Africa is a model for this. He himself suffered much under the inhuman laws of apartheid. How would you react if you are arrested as a young man, imprisoned for decades and come out of jail in old age?

When his party won the elections, bringing down the apartheid regime of racial injustice, many Whites feared a violent backlash—a real bloodbath. Mandela, instead, convinced his supporters that what the nation needed was not revenge, but healing. So they set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, under the leadership of Archbishop Desmond Tutu—to face the truth and bring about reconciliation, not revenge. (See more in the BOOK REVIEW.)

This model was so inspiring and so effective that, during the violence in Northern Ireland, The Boston Globe published an editorial with the title, “What the Irish Can Learn from South Africa.”

Heads of institutions can set a healing tone through the way they face criticism and personal attacks. When an outgoing student of a well-known junior college in Turin, Italy, criticised the Salesians in pubic, the whole audience wondered how the rector would react. The rector, Fr Cimatti SDB—now a Servant of God—went up to the stage, hugged the boy, and told him, “Bravo! Well done! If you have the courage to speak up for your convictions, you will do lots of good.” The boy was so won over by Fr Cimatti’s response that he became a devout Catholic and a capable lawyer who defended the church in court.

9. FORGIVENESS REQUIRES ACTION FOR JUSTICE

Some see forgiveness as a weak option, or as a sign of cowardice. Far from it!

As Mahatma Gandhi insisted, it is better any day to defend one’s dear ones or country violently than to run away in fear. Violence is a better option than cowardice. In fact, he believed—something that many of us do not seem to know—that a violent person is more likely to turn to ahimsa (non-violence) than a coward.

All talk of forgiveness without a concern for justice is not only one-sided. It is dangerous. It will perpetuate the evil.

Whether between persons or between groups or among nations, justice must be guaranteed and promoted. Merely asking  victims to forgive and keep quiet amounts to perpetuating violence and injustice.

Thus, in South Africa, the unjust apartheid regime had to be overthrown, and better structures put in place.

Or think of Martin Luther King’s unrelenting struggle for racial justice. He did not want handouts. He demanded the right to vote. Through the ballot, people would change unjust structures.

This goes for all forms of injustice—economic, racial or gender-based. While not giving in to revenge and violence, we need to take a stand for justice and bring about structural changes that ensure justice.

10.STEPS ON THE JOURNEY OF FORGIVENESS

Here are the steps on the journey of forgiveness.

• Admit your hurt. There is no need to feel bad about being angry. Thus, the victim of childhood sexual abuse may feel bad about one’s anger towards the parent who committed the crime, or about confronting the person. No, admit the hurt. No need to deny it. It happened. It is part of your history.
• Have perspective: See it against the background of the love you have received. Don’t exaggerate your suffering. Pain or rejection is not the only experience you have had, nor even the main part of your history. So, too, we should not blame (or hate) a whole group for the misdeeds of one or a few persons.
• Talk it over: With whom? First, share it with a person you trust, in confidence. Look at the best ways of handling your hurt. If need be—if, for instance, you have been emotionally damaged—you may need counselling and therapy.
• Should you talk it over with the person who hurt you? Do it, if it is possible and advisable. Or else, get someone else to confront that person. Narcissistic persons, for instance, will hardly ever admit their misdeeds. They need to be confronted—by a strong and confident person. Same with cruel people in authority, or deeply corrupt systems.
• Learn from those who have forgiven much. This is not just for edification. Such persons—like the ones I have quoted in this article—show us our inner resources and our own capacity to move from anger to healing.
• Pray: Take everything to God in prayer. There is nothing God cannot heal. In prayer, we receive light and strength—light to see our situation more objectively and strength to take the steps we need to take
• Justice issues? If there are justice issues—violation of one’s rights, or larger damage to a group, etc.—we need to take remedial measures. Thus, when the young barrister Mohandas Gandhi was thrown out of the first class compartment of a train in South Africa, one issue was the personal insult. The other is the larger issue of racial injustice, which needed to be tackled.

Conclusion

• Forgiveness is not easy. It can be hard, and, in some cases, even look impossible.
• It is possible—as people who have suffered much show us. Look at the true stories you have just read.
• It is necessary—for ourselves and for the world. Without it, we will destroy ourselves, as individuals, as families, as nations, as humankind.
• It leads to deep peace and healing.
• We need to act for justice, not for revenge.
• Without forgiveness and action for justice, there is no peace or happiness, no way to survive as human beings. Without it, there is no hope for the world. Bereft of the healing path of forgiveness, we poison our own life, and let hated enemies fill our inner space—not a wise way of living.
• When we refuse to forgive, we destroy the bridge we ourselves have to pass over. We all need forgiveness.

So, let go! Celebrate life! There is much more goodness and love than evil and hurts. As for the minor part played by those who hurt us, these wounds, too, can be healed, and turned into areas of strength and beauty.  Learn the lessons, and move on. *

* For personal use and for talks or seminars, I warmly recommend the videos on forgiveness available on YouTube. There are moving true stories to be found there.

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– Fr. Joe Mannath SDB is the National Secretary of CRI and the editor of this magazine

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Many of us will be making a retreat in April or May. Here are tips on making a retreat—based on my experience of making, preaching and directing retreats. Your experience will teach you more.

WHAT IS A RETREAT?

If you hold this page too lose to your face, you will not be able to read it. You cannot read it also if it is too far. To read correctly, you need the right distance.

Contemplation, or silence (or a retreat) happens when we look at our life from the right distance—to see how we live. All human beings need this. Otherwise, we simply carry on making the same mistakes. We do not grow up. We may also do much harm—to ourselves and to others.

There is no rule on how long a retreat should be, nor what type. An activist in a slum can be more contemplative and self-sacrificing than a lazy monk in a silent monastery. A mother of six active kids can have a deeper sense of God than a nun making a thirty-day retreat. It all depends on how genuine, and sincere, and loving we are, and how intensely we pursue paths of growth.

TYPES OF RETREATS

Preached: A preacher gives talks to the group. The group can be ten or ten thousand. Preached retreats can reach large groups. If the preacher is effective, the talks can enlighten, inspire and move people to improvement. Main danger: The retreatant may put the responsibility on the preacher, or think: I have heard the talks; I have made my retreat.

Charismatic retreats are one type of preached retreats.

Directed: The “real” director is the Holy Spirit. The retreatant spends time in prayer, especially with the Bible. S/he meets the director (possibly every day), especially to talk over the prayer experiences (and other personal matters). To be effective, the group must be small, and the director must be a good spiritual director.

Solitary: I can take time off, and make a retreat by myself. I do not need a group or a human guide. I may also meet someone for spiritual direction or confession.

TYPES OF RETREATANTS

The tone and contents of a retreat depend on the group. Seniors and teenagers have different needs. A parish group needs more talks than a group of priests or religious. A final profession group needs good spiritual direction and help with discernment.

HOW TO MAKE A RETREAT

Take responsibility for your inner journey. No one else can push you into a relationship with God, or make you good or happy. Or solve your personal problems for you. Know, too, that others are not really interested in your growth or happiness. If you want to be happy, and grow up, grab the chances you get, work at it, get help, change! A retreat is one such opportunity.

PRACTICAL TIPS

Keep silence. Read and mark your personal copy of the Bible. Spend at least four hours a day in personal prayer. Write what strikes you. Talk these points over with someone you trust and esteem. Make a meaningful confession, deciding to correct your major areas of sin, especially what does harm to others. Decide on at least one step that will help you to be a happier and more loving person.

CHECK THE FRUITS

Nothing produces results magically—neither our meals, nor our retreats. Check the fruits: “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness.” (Galatians 5:22).

Our goal is not simply making more retreats or even joining religious orders or prayer groups. All these are only means. Our aim is to become persons of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness. Our model is Jesus—and, secondly, anyone else who lives as He taught.

A retreat I get into with my heart and mind is one way of moving towards this goal.

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– Fr. Joe Mannath SDB is the National Secretary of CRI and the editor of this magazine

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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.

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– Fr Lawrence Raj, Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore

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Here are more answers to our questionnaire among college students. We are giving you the exact words of the students in response to:

“God is my daddy, who keeps me safe in His arms. I don’t fear anything in this world.”
“An eternal power who would not love to make anyone sad, but who wants that all be happy and joyful.”
“Lover, friend, forgiver, protector, helper, believer and trustworthy person. I have blind faith in Him.”
“Any positive or powerful vibes which take us to the right path, and help us in maintaining distance from wrong.”
“Everything happens for a reason.”
“God is my creator. I want to follow Jesus all my life.”
“Peace.”
“Only God is permanent. All other things are temporary.”
“For me, God is in each person. He is the one who helps me in all situations.”
“A person who is with me all the time, to help me, to guide me.”
“God is my father, who plans for me better.”
“He leads me and corrects my path.”
“God is a way of love, trust and peacefulness.”
“The one I can rely on when no one is with me.”
“Love—abundant, unconditional love.”
“Love, my spiritual father.”
“He is my saviour. He saves from anything negative.”
“Power.”
“My parents, and the love they shower on me.”
“Everything. My family, my love. Everything we have because of Him.”
“Someone who saves us from danger, and provides 24×7 service.”
“The one who is always listening to all our wishes.”
“My friend, with whom I can share everything.”
“A ?”
“The one who is always with me.”
“Everything. He is my life.”
“The light that guides each and every one of us and who takes away the darkness from our life.”
“A light that reflects the truth.”
“Everything. I know He loves me, and will never leave me in distress or unhappy.”
“Someone who is there for me always, whose love is unconditional.”

May be, these college students, and all of us, can learn from what others, with a strong of God’s closeness, have said:
“Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely.” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf)

“You are not what others think you are. You are what God knows you are.” (Shannon L. Alder)

“Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.” (Tullian Tchividjian)

And these convictions, matured in the midst of struggle, can be a beacon light for us:

“God sometimes takes us into troubled waters, not to drown us, but to cleanse us.”
“If I have time to worry, I have time to pray.”
“God did not bring you this far to abandon you.”
“Worry ends when faith in God begins.”
“God’s plans are always greater and more beautiful than your disappointments.”
“Sometimes God lets you hit rock bottom, to let you see that He is the rock at the bottom.”
“When God says No, it is not rejection; it is re-direction.”

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This young wife and mother of three small children finds that a lot of talk about balance in a marriage is totally unrealistic. What she finds more meaningful is something else. 

I’ve found myself thinking about balance a lot lately.  What it is, how to achieve it, and why I should want to achieve it.  Among women, and mothers in particular, balance is a sort of holy grail.  Just read any interview of any successful woman, basically ever, and you’ll see the following question, “How do you do it all? How do you achieve (dun dun dun…) balance?” Normally, the answer will be some kind of vague murmuring about making the time for things that are important to you and letting go of the rest (as if laundry can be let go forever), or maybe something about self-care (which usually means going to get a pedicure once a month or something). But there’s a big problem, for me, when it comes to balance. Namely, that’s it unachievable.

Life Balance Is a Myth

Listen, if someone tells you to stand on one foot, those who are coordinated can do it for a while.  Those who are coordinated and in great physical shape can do it for longer.  Someone who is coordinated, in great shape, and practices meditation could do it for a pretty long time. But not forever.  No one, no matter how organized or spiritual or manicured they are, can stay balanced.  It’s not possible.  Something’s always going to come along like a strong gust of wind and knock you off-kilter. That’s just life. Balance that lasts is a myth.

So what’s the alternative?  Weeble-wobbling around the world like a sugar-high toddler, alternating between giggle-fit highs and sobbing, tantrum-inducing lows?  Well, I’ve been there, and it’s not so great.  No, I think that the alternative to buying into the idea of being perfectly balanced is attempting to become centered.

A Better Way

Think about it. Balance suggests that I move to accommodate the forces all around me, pulling me this way and that.  It suggests that the same amount of play and work, when placed on each of my shoulders, will keep me more or less with both feet on the ground.  But being centered?  Being strong at my core?  That means that when one burden becomes heavier (even dramatically, frightfully so), I won’t topple.

To put it another way: when people discuss balance, they almost always talk about how a person spends their time.  Balancing work life with family life.  Balancing service to others with care for oneself.  In theory, finding the magic formula in which I can spend just the right amount of time for each of these things would be fantastic.  But it holds a pretty serious problem for those of us who are trying to follow Jesus—He doesn’t always call us to balance.  Sometimes he needs us to spend almost all of our time caring for our special-needs child.  Sometimes he calls us to die to self a little bit (ok a lot) and put our spouse’s needs before our own.  Sometimes he’s going to need us to pour ourselves into our work, even to the temporary detriment of family time.  Haven’t I seen this to be true over and over again in my life?  And then when I look to “balance” as the ideal, I often feel like a big. fat. failure.

But being centered is different.  It’s not about how I spend my time, for the most part.  It’s about where my soul finds rest in all the things I do.  When I am centered, all of the things I do in my day matter a whole lot less than who I am in God. It’s about finding my worldview, really giving thought to why I’m here, why my life matters, and who I’m accountable to.  That is my center.  I need to challenge myself in this—ask  the tough why’s and how’s of what I believe.  It’s hard soul work, but when I start coming out on the other side of those questions with a new understanding of myself and my God, that is where I’ll find my center.  In this scenario, self-care isn’t so much about spending time doing refreshing things to balance out the hard work of life, but more about caring for my real self, spending more time in soul-quiet so that God can tell me about what he wants for me and help me to form a heart for living centered in Him.

And here is what I’ve found: Once you’ve found your center, you’ll find it surprisingly easy to let that inform everything you do.  You’ll be able to make decisions about how you spend your time based on meaningful beliefs, instead of just doing a certain amount of each thing to attempt to even out the scale or make it look good on the outside. Because the truth is that once you find center, questions of balance become, if not obsolete, at least less pressing.  Not only will finding your center help you to balance your priorities naturally, without thinking so much about it, but it will also motivate you to do the things that you are called to do.  So often I am distracted and pulled in different directions that I worry that my true calling might go unnoticed because I’m not paying attention.  If I’m acting from a place of centered-ness, I don’t have to worry about that as much.

Balance suggests that if the externals of my life are in the right proportion, I’ll have peace on the inside.  But I’m guessing that we all know that that doesn’t pan out for most people.  Peace starts in our deepest center and radiates out.  When we ground that center in something bigger than ourselves, that’s when we’ll be able to let go of the burden of balance and stand firm amidst the challenges and joys of a decidedly un-balanced life.

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– Christina is a wife and mother of three living in the Chicago area. When she’s not changing a deaper or cooking dinner, she blogs at www.agentlemother.com about faith, motherhood, and the stuff that makes life good.

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Interview with Sr Clara Animoottil SJC (Sisters of St Jospeh of Chambery) who looks after homeless children at Itarsi railway station

Before we come to the interview, a few questions to our readers:

What would YOU do if you came across any of the following situations?

The stories are all true. The names have been channged.

Pramod, a seven-year-old boy, is so frustrated and hopeless that he has cut his hand with a blade.

Fourteen-year-old Deva brought his two younger siblings, aged 9 and 7, to Itarsi, where they stay under the railway bridge. Their mother had died. Their father sent them to the forest to look after goats. When one one goat was missing, the father chased the boys from the house. Now, Deva is weeping bitterly, because his seven-year-old younger brother is shivering with fever.

A boy is fainting after sniffing chemicals.

Ten-year-old Sneha screams and throws stones if a man approaches her. She refuses to eat or drink. Reason: She was sexually abused when still younger, and is terrified of men.

Two children, aged five and eight, are cleaning the floor of the train, one with a broom the other with his shirt. A passenger kicks them and chases them away.

Twelve-year-old Remya was trafficked from a mela, and is now with a sadhu at the railway station.

Ten-year-old Salman sleeps under the water tank. One leg is full of sores, and his body crawling with lice.

 These are some of the children Sr Clara has befriended and helped. Here are her replies to our questions.

WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT MINISTRY?

Rescue and rehabilitation of children found at railway stations and on the streets.

Some twenty-five to thirty children come to Itarsi railway station every month, mostly from other districts of Madhya Pradesh. They do any work they can get. Some are also taught to sell drugs.

What we are trying to do is to provide a safe home for them that provides food, clothing, shelter and some basic training. We teach them life skills, and try to get them reunited with their families.

We have 35 boys and 30 girls in our homes today.

WHAT IS THE CONDITION OF THESE CHILDREN WHEN YOU MEET THEM?

Children never took bath for months, since the station has no facility to change clothes. So, body lice make holes on their legs, head, behind the ear. These become festering wounds. Several have scabies. When deeply frustrated, some of them cut themselves with blades. Since the first one to enter a train can grab the empty water bottles for resale, they rush in, and some of them fall down and get seriously injured. Almost every child is sexually abused. They are afraid to go for treatment, since doctors will ask them questions which they do not know how to answer. Some get beaten up by the police. If there is any theft at the station, these children are often blamed. Their own gangs often force them to drink alcohol, or take drugs.

DO THEIR FAMILIES TAKE THEM BACK?

Yes, in most cases. When a child disappears from home, some parents search frantically, and ask God’s help. When we trace the family, and go there with their child, they tell us: “You are God to us. We had been praying to get our child back.”

In some cases, the child recognizes the parents, but the parents do not recognize their son or daughter, since they have grown up and changed. Then the child “proves” the truth, by telling them the names of the school, of teachers, landmarks, etc. If the child’s family does not take back their child, we keep them in our home.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS? WHO OR WHAT INSPIRED YOU?

My love for Jesus and to serve Him as a missionary motivated me to be a religious. The example of our founder, Fr. John Peter Medaille, challenged me deeply to reach out to the marginalized.

One day, when I was on Itarsi railway platform, I was moved with the miserable plight of children. Back in the convent, I came across the following Scripture verses: “When Jesus saw this large crowd, his heart was filled with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” These quotes touched me.

Other experiences that influenced me: A paper I wrote for my MSW on the psycho-social development of railway platform children; the year I spent at the shelter home run by the Salesians at Wadala, Mumbai; the motivation provided by Fr Xavier Devdass SDB, who took me to Dadar Station and gave me valuable guidance; the month I spent with Fr Anthony SDB in Uttam Nagar, Delhi. He had started in a small rented room, and his passionate love for the poor inspired me. These persons were my spiritual guides in his ministry.

WHAT MINISTRIES DID YOU DO BEFORE THIS?

Mission experiences in Bihar, teaching deaf and dumb children in Bhopal, mission work with Koruku tribal people in Khandwa, teaching in a school, two years of village work in Jhabua, one year as assistant director of the Indore Diocesan Social Service Society.

HOW IS YOUR EXPERIENCE OF DEALING WITH THE GOVERNMENT AND THE RAILWAYS?

In 1999 I started working at Itarsi Railway station, just sitting at different platforms and surroundings, moving along with children for a month or so. The work started at the platform without money, without space, but trust and confidence in God, the creator of these children.

The Railway Mazdoor Union Officer gave me their room to be used free of cost during the day. Thereafter the Railway was a great support and was very appreciative of the work with the children.  The General Manager and the Divisional Railway Manager found it a very good welfare activity and even promoted the same to Jabalpur and Katni stations with our help.

The Nagarpalika Collector, the SDM and the Education Department also cooperated in getting admission for the children in school.

 After the Implementation of Juvenile Justice Act in Madhya Pradesh 2012, the government approach changed. They offered us the Government grant to run the homes but when applied they asked for 20% as commission, which we were not able to give them without a receipt. They filed an FIR against me. This case has now been dismissed.

TELL US SOME TOUCHING EXPERIENCES IN THIS MINISTRY

God is infinitely good; is very much concerned about me. God’s providence and co-incidences are my touching experiences round the clock.   The Railway Mazdoor Union, Itarsi, gave their office to be utilised as a day care centre. About 80 to 90 children visited this centre and availed the facilities of food, shelter, recreation, medical care etc.

Some experiences may sound strange to you.

A small boy wanted to save ten Rupees. He dug a pit in the ground and hid it. The next morning he went to take this money and got only a small piece of it. Rats had eaten the rest.

Now, children have their bank accounts. Some have savings of over Rs. 20,000/-.

I have experienced the love and support of good people—Sisters who help in this work, couples that have got involved, our Mother General who visited us, and told me she sees our charism being lived here.

WHAT HELPS YOU TO KEEP UP YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND TO GO ON?

I begin the day with the Eucharist. Jesus made Himself the bread of life to give us life.  end the day with the examination of consciousness. All the children too evaluate the whole day.  I don’t think that I could do this work if I didn’t have God-experience and union with Him.

Jesus has very clearly said in the gospel. “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.”  Again, Jesus has said “Come, blessed of my Father, take the seat in the kingdom prepared for you, because I was hungry you gave me food, I was thirsty you have me drink, I was naked you clothed me, I was homeless you took me home and I was sick you visited me.”

And I am just doing that. I do it for Jesus and Jesus alone. When you do that, there is joy, unity and love.

Secondly, the children have taught me to be more patient, kind, forgiving and loving. Their joy gives me energy to go head.

WHO ELSE IS INVOLVED IN THIS, WITH YOU?

Two Junior Sisters (Sr. Carmela and Sr. Anima) and a team of 20 to 25 committed lay workers. Six religious brothers from KPRP Seminary, Bhopal come on Saturday and Sunday as volunteers. The Railway Police, GRP, Ticket Examiners, porters, vendors—so many collaborate so actively. We partner with Railway Children, Miracle Foundation and Butterfield.

WHAT PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES DO YOU FACE?

In doing the will of God, there is no disappointment as such. Nevertheless, sustainability of the organisation is quite a concern. As a contemplative in action I trust that He will sustain us all through. I have entrusted my life to Jesus. The work I do is important, but what matters is not the person doing that job. I do this through Jesus and for Jesus and that is why I love it. I am not able to do everything. I always pray for all who are in need and miserable. I count on the Providence of God and somehow during difficult times He takes care.

TELL US ONE OR TWO “SUCCESS STORIES.”

Here is just one.

As a small boy, Raj loved to go to school, but his mother forced him to beg in the temples. One day Raj and his younger brother ran away from home. They were 10 and 8 at that time. He got into a train, and, before he could find out where the train was going, it started.

The train reached Itarsi station. Someone made him sell tobacco at the station. A good man who knew Jeevodaya, met the boys and took them there. They thrived. Raj later completed his ITI, got a job as a mechanic, and married. Today, he is a responsible married man and father.

YOUR SUGGESTIONS TO RELIGIOUS, PRIESTS, SEMINARIANS AND COMMITTED LAY PERSONS

• Be happy in whatever you do. Suffering and difficulties well accepted will produce fruit.
• Take calculated risks, trusting in the Lord.
• The ultimate source of happiness is not money and power, but warm-heartedness.
• A simple word of love, a warm hug, a beautiful smile can bring a difference in a person’s life.
• Do not be afraid to walk alone.
• Get out of the charity mode and empower the poor through education and life skills.
• Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly (Micah 6:8)
• Let us get out of our comfort zone of four walls and reach out to the poor and the needy on the streets and in the slums.

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– Sr Clara Animoottil SJC works for the distitute children she befriends at Itarsi Railway Station

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