" Come Blessed of my Father..."

Dear Ancy, Sr Sal Maria, Shobha, Kochurani and Maji,

Let me express my sincere condolence and closeness to you all during these moments of pain and loss. I am unable to be with you all as you bid adieu to your loving father. I assure you tomorrow, on his burial day , my Mass will be for the repose of his soul that he might enjoy Peace and Rest with God. You can be sure you have another inteccessor in heaven.

When I was reading the Gospel of today, the Hymn of Mary, I was thinking of your parents, when I read the words, “ He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and raised up the lowly.” When I met Mathew Chetan for the firsts time he was making photo frames in a little shop, and I met your mother in a small thatched house, a short, weak ,lowly ,humble figure.  There were no trappings of greatness or wealth  about them both and yet  God has done through them what even the mighty and the rich would not dare to do.

The Rosaries and the prayers of all the sick, the old, the abandoned and handy-capped inmates of Mariyalayam will not go in vain.  No tears will be in vain, no prayers will go unanswered. Surely, Mathew Chetan , will be hearing the voice of a just judge  saying, “ Come Blessed of my Father, for  I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….Enter into the joy of your Master.”

It is the Christmas season and  you may be hesitating to make your Christmas ‘Merry’ and the new year ’Happy’.  I am sure what your parents  want you to do at this Christmas  is to  Praise God, with all the inmates of Mariyalayam, for the marvels done through them  to so many  people and to join  in their  own  joy of heaven. The theme of Christmas is also how God has raised up Mary, a lowly servant,  to be the Mother of God, and a lowly child in the manger to be the Savior of the world.

Let me also express my deep appreciation for the way Kochurani and Shaji looked after him all these years when he was sick and bed ridden. So often the old and sick are considered a burden to the children. But to you all he was a loving dad and not a burden. God has promised that he will not forget to reward the one who gives even a cup of cold water, so how many cups of water and plates of food, you will have given!  You will not loose your reward.

I will be joining you all spiritually as you walk in procession to the church to bid farewell to a great noble soul.  Let us praise God for the great things done by the Almighty  through him.

Yours sincerely,

Fr T.V. George sdb

Nepal