By Lissy Maruthanakuzhy
Panaji: When I was 12 years old, my cousin sister, a professed woman religious, came visiting us, during her five-day annual leave. I admired her beauty that was enhanced by her white habit. Naturally quiet that was, I spoke to her very little.
But I had something important to ask her. I waited for an opportunity when she would be left alone. “Why did they pour boiling water on her?” I asked her without blinking an eyelid, and she stood stupefied. Smile disappeared from her beautiful face. I am not sure, what she replied, but I did not ask any more questions, for fear of my parents and grandparents.
The incident I referred to her had taken place in one of the convents in Kerala, and I read about it in the newspapers. A nun died after someone poured boiling water on her inside the convent. The question “why” lingered in my mind for long. I never heard anyone talking about it either at home or in the school. All seemed to have taken it as “it happens. We are all human beings.”
As the years rolled by, we began to hear about even worse incidents in religious houses in various places in India. And another doubt echoed in my heart: “Will religious life go on?” As a young religious I remember blurting out, “It will continue. It has its origin in the Holy Spirit.”
My conviction remains firm even amid several such cases reported these days: Religious life will continue, perhaps in a different way, or not in large numbers.
Let us recall the words of Pope John Paul II, “We are witnessing the birth of new forms of consecration, particularly inside the ecclesial movements and associations, which seek to express in ways adapted to the present culture, religious life’s traditional tension between the contemplation of the mystery of God and the mission to our brothers and sisters” (Opening homily to the Synod on Vita Consecrata).
Religious life ought to return to the roots as “leaven” in the dough, from what is now — “large quantity of dough” — to “wake up the world.”
I recall the words of Sister Inigo, former superior general of St Anne’s congregation: “Religious people are men and women who can wake up the world” (In the book Ever-evolving Consecrated Life).
We are looking at a Religious life of “quality” and not of “quantity” in future.
This would mean the religious congregations should stop recruiting members, instead it should allow people to come searching for them, prompted by their inner call to glorify God by serving society.
In the early days of Christianity, people found the young noble women, who embraced austerity and renunciation, as the pointer to the ideal Christian life. Women like Saint Clare of Assisi who chose to remain hidden from the world, and lead a life of poverty became an inspiration to the people around them and a source of wisdom for society. People turned to them for direction in life; sought their prayers and counsel in good faith.
Pope Francis reminds us that consecrated life is prophecy. “God asks us to fly from our cozy nest and to be sent to the frontiers of the world. To make a preferential option for the poor, it is necessary to live with the poor. We have to look at things from the periphery. We have to go there if we really want to know the life of the people.”
We have several such women even today.
Sister Prasanna Devi, 84, who lived as a hermit in a forest for 40 years is one of them. Living among lions, panthers and other wild animals in a Gujarat jungle, she felt at home with the nature and the universe as she led a life devoted to God. She shared her Christian faith with thousands of people — Hindus. People flocked to her from far, seeking prayers and blessings. She was a spark of God’s fire of love among people.
However, such prophets are not plenty. Most congregations have now built-up multistoried schools and multispecialty hospitals under the pretext of educating the downtrodden and ignorant or serving the sick and abandoned poor. We have now little time to become “leaven” in society. We are immersed in the dough.
God did not call us to become administrators of schools, colleges or hospitals. Our presence has to be among the lonely and the needy. Let our collaborators, the laity, manage our institutions. We have over the years molded them to become experts and well-equipped to undertake such task. In fact, our collaborators have proved to be better than us to manage temporal matters. What we have to do is to withdraw from our managerial posts and spend time before the “Source of our life” and regain our role as the “leaven” in the dough.
To do this, we need people of quality not quantity. Only those with mature attitude and firm convictions can lead the religious life in future.
We do find such people who embrace Christ, seek Christ, speak daily with Christ, ‘leave everything to Christ, get out of comfort zones and those willing to reach out to others at all times.
Merlin Paul, who preferred a religious to a job in the prestigious Indian Space Research Organization, says: “It was enough to tell Jesus to be with me and help me in all my exams and in all my ventures, I was sure of good results.”
She joined the Congregation of Mother Carmel Sister after her M Tech in Signal Processing from the National Institute of Technology and took her first vows in 2019. She says she followed her inner call to follow Christ. Her choice shouts aloud that those who recognize the value of Religious life count their ‘successes in the world as waste. “My aim is to show the world our God is a living God,” Merlin says.
Another example is Sr Teresa V Jose, who chose to join the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, when she was 24. The congregation is engaged in health ministry and youth upliftment. They take care of the mentally ailing persons, sick and the poor. Sister Teresa joined them after her IT professional course and two years of work as system administrator and hardware administrator.
“I enjoyed my work and moved with the world. Yet I did not find satisfaction in my life,” she says. “I think my desire to live for Jesus was still there in my deepest self,” Sr Teresa recalls.
Even elderly sisters set examples.
Sister Rini Rose, a trained nurse, lost her ability to walk and serve patients. She lost her eyesight several times and regained it. Yet she reaches out to others through prayer. For this, she has created a “Rosary bank.” The 37-year old member of the Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament says many people request her for prayers.
Sister Lizzy Chakkalakkal launched the House Challenge campaign to provide houses to poor in the coastal areas of Kerala’s Kochi town, even when she was busy as the principal of a girls’ high school. The 47-year-old member of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary combines teaching and social activism. She visited her students’ houses to know their family situations. Disturbed to find girls living in one-room tenements with little privacy, Sister Lizzy decided to provide them a secure shelter. She says, “We have to translate our prayer into action. We have to move out of our comfort zones.”
Sister Anthonysami Alphonsa of Franciscan Sisters of St. Aloysius Gonzaga focuses on the marginalized and oppressed rather than on institutions and structure. She is a social activist among Dalits for 20 years. Her associates say they have not come across any nun who eats what the poor people eat, sleeps in their huts, and stays in villages that have no toilets or bath facilities. No one has equaled her in her uncompromising battle against casteism and untouchability in society.
Why do we worry about the future of religious life when we have such shining stars among us? Religious life will not die off. The light will shine in and through the religious congregations that do not forget to serve the poor and sick, marginalized and those living in the periphery.
It is only when the religious forget their call and become selfish do such incidents as the “boiling water” occur. However the present scandals involving Catholic nuns and priests should not dishearten the genuine religious. They should rather worry about how best they can reach out to the people of God.
Religious life is for those who have received the call from God. No one can stop or destroy that call.
“Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is…Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you,” Pope Francis.