30/03/2021
I was at Usri mission centre in Jabalpur diocese in Narsinghpur district of Madhya Pradesh, India. I had been in this village mission station of CMI St. Paul Province Bhopal from 2000 to 2017. We were focussing mainly on social work activities for the betterment of the rural folks mostly belonging to Gond tribes of Central India. We were working actively in about 30 villages. Mostly we were intervening in the field of awareness generation, agricultural and economic activities of the villagers. We supported the villagers to have seed, motor pumps for irrigation, clearing the land for better cultivation, small village ponds, Self Help Groups(SHG) etc mainly aimed at enhancing their means for livelihood.
Later in 2002 when we had the decennial of the mission centre, we had an evaluation on the mission with the all the fathers and sisters involved in the mission from the very beginning of the mission in 1992. We also had a meeting with the leaders of the villages to get their feedback on the works we were undertaking in the villages for their wellbeing. In these meetings it was suggested that a school would help better empower the tribal people to face the challenges of a dignified life as the quality of the education in the govt. schools was not very good.
Though we tried to enhance the quality of the govt. schools in these villages by conducting Bal Mela – A day of arts and sports competitions for the children -, seminars and workshop for the teachers, small box libraries in the govt. schools etc, we could to enhance the quality of the schools to a desired level. So, after discussing it in two Provincial Chapters, the Province decided to open a formal school in the village of Usri for the people of the villages. Thus, in 2005 a school – Sanjeevani Vidhyapeeth- was opened. Now the school has reached class tenth and over 500 students read in this village English Medium school. Over 50% of the students belong to the Gond tribes, about 35% to OBC- Other Backward Castes- 10% SC- Scheduled Castes-, 1% to General Category and the rest to other categories.
I was the principal from 2012 to 2017 and was busy with social work and running the school. I enjoyed the job as I found it to be a very good means to mould the minds of the students to be the future leaders for the society.
In 2013, one evening we had gone to visit a family in Jetlapur village eight kms away from Usri. It was the home of the animator of the village creche centre run by the OSF Sisters working in Usri, who had lost the younger brother of her father those days. After the visit while we were coming away, the animator told us that if we had time it would be nice to visit one of the neighbouring families where an old lady was sick. So, we visited this family. On reaching the family we found the grandmother of the family was very sick. She was about 70 years old and had severe fever. She could not move her tongue and so could not speak, eat or even drink water. The family thought she would not live long. Then I felt like praying for this lady. The fact was that I was in this area for 13 year and used to visit the villages and families extensively, but we never prayed in the village or in their families or took the name of Jesus. We were always very sacred as the Sangh Parivar was very much active in Usri and surrounding villages and was always on the lookout if we were doing anything to propagate Christian faith or convert people to it. So, we did not want to invite trouble and thought this would even deprive us of the chance now we have to serve people in the name of Jesus Christ.
But on that evening in this family I felt an inner urge to pray for this old lady and I told the Sisters that we should pray for her. The Sisters were surprised that I wanted to pray for her, which we had not at all done for all these years. But they gladly agreed and I asked the people - there were about 15 people - to keep quiet. I prayed for this old lady. After this we came away from the village. We did not forget to tell the family to take her to the hospital if situation would become serious.
On reaching back I started having a strong feeling to pray to the Lord for this lady. I felt that the family might have some hope in our prayer, so, I told Lord Jesus to heal her. Even in the middle of the night when woke up, I prayed for her. Next day during the Holy Mass we prayed for her. By about 10 am the next day, the family brought her to the clinic run by the Sisters in a bullock cart. What had happened was that she was alright after one hour or so of our departure. She could speak, eat, drink and fever left her. But she had trouble in passing urine and she and the family wanted to get prayed for and get treatment. The Sisters called me from the school and I came and prayed for her. The Sisters administered drip and medicines on her and by evening she was alright and they went home.
With this small event I started thinking that I am called not just to be a social worker or give education to the people but was primarily called to give Jesus and his message of love, mercy and compassion to the people. I started reflecting on it and thinking how I could
bring the message of Jesus Christ to this people. Those days I was reading a book by Fr. Cyril Kuttiyanickal CMI from our province on the Kristha Bhaktas of Martri Dham Ashram, Varanasi. From their Satsangh, I got the idea why not we too start Friday adoration in our church and invite the sick and suffering to come and pray and prayed for by the Catholics. I put this idea to the Sisters and our Catholics who were about 35 at that time, came from other places to work in our school and in other activities. All of them agreed to this idea and we started Friday Adoration in our small church. We instructed our village animator who is a Hindu from Usri village itself to tell the villagers that if there was anybody who was sick for long, they could bring them to the church to be prayed for. Somehow he was very enthusiastic about it and informed the villagers of this and some people started coming for Friday Adoration in ones and twos. There were no great miracles or healings but people felt better.
During this time, I decided to visit the families of our students. So, every evening I used to visit four or five families. I used to have chat with them regarding the study of their children, if the interpersonal relationship at home and with the neighbhours was fine, etc. I used to conclude the visit with a prayer. One day I had been to Usri village to visit one of the families of our students. There I found that the grandmother at home was very sick. She had severe joint pain and was unable to move around and was totally confined to her bed. Though she was taking treatment from the hospital, she had no relief from the pain. So, I offered to pray over her. They welcomed me to pray for her. Then I told her son who is an active RSS member to bring her for our Friday adoration and the entire Catholic group would pray for her. He said that he would bring her to the church for prayer. Next Friday they brought her to the church on their bike. She found it very difficult to sit in the church but some- how she spent one hour in the church. We all prayed for her. But on that evening in this family I felt an inner urge to pray for this old lady and I told the Sisters that we should pray for her. The Sisters were surprised that I wanted to pray for her, which we had not at all done for all these years. But they gladly agreed and I asked the people - there were about 15 people - to keep quiet. I prayed for this old lady. After this we came away from the village. We did not forget to tell the family to take her to the hospital if situation would become serious.
On reaching back I started having a strong feeling to pray to the Lord for this lady. I felt that the family might have some hope in our prayer, so, I told Lord Jesus to heal her. Even in the middle of the night when woke up, I prayed for her. Next day during the Holy Mass we prayed for her. By about 10 am the next day, the family brought her to the clinic run by the Sisters in a bullock cart. What had happened was that she was alright after one hour or so of our departure. She could speak, eat, drink and fever left her. But she had trouble in passing urine and she and the family wanted to get prayed for and get treatment. The Sisters called me from the school and I came and prayed for her. The Sisters administered drip and medicines on her and by evening she was alright and they went home.
With this small event I started thinking that I am called not just to be a social worker or give education to the people but was primarily called to give Jesus and his message of love, mercy and compassion to the people. I started reflecting on it and thinking how I could
bring the message of Jesus Christ to this people. Those days I was reading a book by Fr. Cyril Kuttiyanickal CMI from our province on the Kristha Bhaktas of Martri Dham Ashram, Varanasi. From their Satsangh, I got the idea why not we too start Friday adoration in our church and invite the sick and suffering to come and pray and prayed for by the Catholics. I put this idea to the Sisters and our Catholics who were about 35 at that time, came from other places to work in our school and in other activities. All of them agreed to this idea and we started Friday Adoration in our small church. We instructed our village animator who is a Hindu from Usri village itself to tell the villagers that if there was anybody who was sick for long, they could bring them to the church to be prayed for. Somehow he was very enthusiastic about it and informed the villagers of this and some people started coming for Friday Adoration in ones and twos. There were no great miracles or healings but people felt better.
During this time, I decided to visit the families of our students. So, every evening I used to visit four or five families. I used to have chat with them regarding the study of their children, if the interpersonal relationship at home and with the neighbhours was fine, etc. I used to conclude the visit with a prayer. One day I had been to Usri village to visit one of the families of our students. There I found that the grandmother at home was very sick. She had severe joint pain and was unable to move around and was totally confined to her bed. Though she was taking treatment from the hospital, she had no relief from the pain. So, I offered to pray over her. They welcomed me to pray for her. Then I told her son who is an active RSS member to bring her for our Friday adoration and the entire Catholic group would pray for her. He said that he would bring her to the church for prayer. Next Friday they brought her to the church on their bike. She found it very difficult to sit in the church but some- how she spent one hour in the church. We all prayed for her. At the end of the adoration I asked her how she felt. She said that she felt better but she still had severe pain. So, we suggested her to come for prayer on the following day as well. She came again on the following day with the help of her son. After a few days she was alright and she could walk around and started visiting her friends in the village. She told one of the parishioners that she was alright due to our prayer for her. Slowly this news spread in the village. This helped more people to seek prayer from us. We took a group of 23 faithful from different CMI parishes in the province for a five-day training programme at Suvarta Kendra - a centre for evangelisation under CBCI - at Pachmari in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh in December 2015. There were six people from Usri Mission. The training was on the theme ‘Laity for Evangelization’. It was a very good programme and the participants were very much enriched by this training and they were enthusiastic about sharing the message of Jesus Christ with the people of other faiths.
Once Mr. Natram from Jetlapur village came to my office in the school. He was told by our animator that if anyone was sick at home for long, they might go to the church and the Christians would pray for them. He told me that his wife was very sick and bed ridden due to severe join pain. He had taken her to many doctors and hospitals but she did not have any relief. So, he asked me what to do. I suggested to him to take her to primary health centre at Singhpur where Dr. Banaria gives very good treatment and care to all the patients. I told him that I knew that doctor personally and that he might tell the doctor that he was sent by me. He agreed to my suggestion and went home. After a month or so he came back to me to the school and told me that he had taken her to Dr. Banaria but did not have any relief at all. Then I told him to bring her to Friday adoration in our church. And it was a Friday and, in the evening, he brought her to our church for the adoration. During the adoration we had special prayers for her. After the adoration I asked her how she felt. She told that she was good but still had a lot of pain. I asked her to come Friday also. They came the Friday too. We prayed for her in a special way. After the adoration I asked her how she was. She said that she felt better but still had pain. Then we suggested that we should go to her village and pray for her at her home. They were very happy about it as they were coming the village eight kms away from Usri.
I encouraged the parishioners to join us to go the village to pray for the sick lady. After the training programme at Pachmari, they were very enthusiastic and ten of them including two Sisters came along to the village. As we reached, we told our animator, who had come along with us to announce in the whole village that Father, Sisters and Christians from Usri have come to the village and those who want to have prayer for them may come to Mr. Natram’s house. About 60 people gathered at Mr. Natram’s house that day. We had singing Bhajan, praise and worship, proclamation of the Gospel, reflection, intercessory prayers by the parishioners and I prayed over five sick people who especially sought prayer including the wife of Mr. Natram. The prayer service lasted for one and half an hour. After the prayer I asked them how they felt about it. Most of them told it was very good and that we should come to their village again to pray for the sick. It was the first time that we had a prayer service and proclamation of the Gospel in any village in our area. We were very happy that we got a chance to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ openly to the villagers that evening for the first time.
We usually had bimonthly parent teacher meet in our school- Sanjeevani Vidhyapeeth those days. During these meetings we analyse the results of the students of the current month compared to the previous month. Discuss about various aspects about the progress of the students and the school etc. Then the Principal addresses the parent teacher meet in which usually 300-400 parents participate. Once I took Bible quotations on rearing the children and parenting to explain them to the parents. In fact, I had received it from CMC Sisters who had brought out a small booklet with Bible quotations on different themes, for the Silver Jubilee Celebration of their school at Amlai in Shadol district of Madhya Pradesh. I got them typed out and printouts were made available to all the parents and I explained them during my address to the parents telling them plainly that those were from the Bible but it would help them to help their children grow better. Though there were many among the parents who were active members of the Sangh Parivar none of them had any objection to me explaining to them from the Bible on good parenting. In fact, after the meet when I went to my office some of the parents came to me and told me that it was very good and I would have done much better if I had given it earlier.
Earlier we used to have Way of the Cross on Good Friday from the Mission Centre to our school which is by the other side of the village and there were no houses between our mission centre and the school. We did this because we were sacred to take out the way of the cross through the village. But later we started to make the way of the cross on Good Friday through the village to the last end of the village. We used public address system to sing and say the prayers. During this way of the cross on Good Friday through the village, I gave the message at three centres in the village where more people were available to listen to the message about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. People were not only not against us but served us with cold water and cool drinks in front of their houses. Many venerated the Holy Cross carried at fore of the way of cross. Our fear was misplaced and people really had no objection to our having the way of the Cross through the village. Often times we assume that people may feel bad and oppose some of our religious rituals and practices if they are carried out in the public. It may be true in some places and but in many places it may just be our fear or apprehension.
We used to invite all the Dalit families who were considered untouchables in the village Easter Meal. Our Catholic community used to prepare the meal and share the meal with all the members of the families of the Dalits in the village. There used to be about 80-100 participants in this celebration. The idea was to give them the message that they are not untouchables for us and Jesus Christ had taught us that all are children same God. In the subsequent years we started inviting the village Panchayath president and the ward members for this fellowship meal on the Easter Sunday. But they would always promise to come but never came as they still felt it too liberal to share the meal with the Dalits. So, we thought next time around that we should not call only the village of the same Panchayath president and the ward members but one from every household in the village in which the entire family members of the Dalit families were invited. So, at the following Easter Meal there were about 400 people to participate. The meal was prepared under the supervision of the village leaders and they actively involved in preparing the meal. Before the meal we had a gathering in which I spoke about Easter, Good Friday and gave the message. . Our fathers and Sisters from the neighbouring houses also participated in it. After the message one of the participants - he was Revenue Inspector at Narsinghpur- told me that they had heard that Jesus Christ had died on Good Friday. But they never knew that he had resurrected on the third day. He said, “Father you never told this to us.” Quite often we were reluctant to speak about Jesus and his message, sacred of the trouble it would invite. So, we found it secure to keep quiet and leave the witnessing to Jesus to our life and activities alone. After the meals there was Satsangh in which some of the parishioners gave message of Easter and had bhajans and songs. The villagers also sang their folk songs and bhajans till midnight.
The next year during the Easter Meal we invited all the members of all the households in Usri village. There were about 800 participants for the Easter Meal that year. This year too the Easter Meal was prepared under the supervision and active involvement of the local leaders. We had meeting with the village leaders twice in this regard and everything was fixed up as per their suggestions and opinion. Before the meal we had a gathering in which we showed some clippings from the film ‘Passion of Christ’. Many people were moved by it and were found crying. We also used this occasion to explain to them the message of the death of Jesus on the cross. After the meals there was some thing called Fag Mukabula – a sort of competition between two renowned folk song poets / singers based on the stories of Mahabharat, singing for the whole night. This kind of Fag Mukabula is very much appreciated and popular in the area and people sing them every year during and after the festival of Holi. This Fag Mukabula after the Easter Meal was totally sponsored by us, though booking the poets and singers etc were done by the villagers themselves. There over 700 people for this programme and the programme began with screening of some scenes Khristayan a Hindi film on the life of Jesus Christ. We found it a good way to give the message of Jesus Christ to the people.
