THE LAST SONG ON OUR TITANIC








Though I have lived in Mumbai for over four decades, and though I am a Christian (a Catholic in that), I have never been to St Michael’s Church at Mahim on the day of the Mother Mary Novenas i.e. on a Wednesday. I have been there on other days when the church (shrine) is almost deserted… I have sat there alone, in the overpowering silence… tears rolling down my cheeks, but asking for nothing, saying nothing, seeing nothing, but feeling everything. I do not remember thinking of whom – Mother Mary, Jesus, St. Michael or God, the Father. I just do not know what that solitary moment called, what that presence you feel called… that sense of surrender… ‘Thy will be done’!


On this Monday, after my appointment with my doctor at the Hinduja Hospital, my wife and I decided to spend some quiet moments in the Mahim Church. As I said, only the side door was open… I could see only a couple of people inside (almost all of them seemed non-Christians). But, then, just like my wife and me, they, too, sat there in silence… and, they left. Outside, there was a small place for silent adoration/veneration (silent worship)… Only the Eucharist is placed in the Tabernacle. The adoration places are like your personal space with Lord… You hardly find a stool or two if you wish to sit… but, before the Lord, you carry yourself knowing who you are… your ego has melted… you are strikingly conscious of your sinfulness and unworthiness. So, at a place like that, you mostly place yourself on the barren floor… kneel down, bow down or just prostrate!


On this Monday morning, when my wife and I went inside the adoration room, I could see a young girl sitting in one corner with her eyes closed… another young girl sitting on the floor… a woman sitting in another corner reading something from the Bible… a Muslim woman prostrate on floor… and, they all said nothing… I do not know what had brought them there… who they prayed to.  All that they and we could understand, and trusted in, was the assurance written next to the Tabernacle: ‘Do not be afraid… I am with you.’


Moments like this are the spiritual moments, and we can experience them anywhere and anytime… a church, a temple, a mosque, a gurudwara, a synagogue, a monastery, even a graveyard! God is nearest when we become aware of our mortality… our helplessness, our sinfulness, our unworthiness. In a sinking boat, there cannot be an atheist…. And, when our Titanic goes down, we sing : “Nearer, my God, to thee/Nearer to thee/E'en though it be a cross/That raiseth me.”















I think, of all the shrines in the world, the closet to Him is our own heart… Yes, when it is stripped of all its arrogance. And, I think, of all the prayers in the world, the most effective one is the silence in which we can experience this!



GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Dr.StockPhoto.com

Videos: 1.Janie94 2. Andre Rieu  3. SE Samonte

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