This little Flute of a Reed
On this great day, we the jubilarians, thank our Mother Society, our Province, and all of you. We thankfully remember 60 diamond years of Fr Josephraj Savarimuthu; fifty golden years of priestly ministry by Fr Xavier Rajan; and five decades of Jesuit life by three of us Frs Devasagayam, Devadhas, and myself. Apart from vocation to the same Society of Jesus, what is academically common among us is that we all have been science students: Frs Xavier Rajan, Josephraj and Devasagayam did Maths, and later Fr Josephraj moved over to theology and counseling, Fr Xavier chose the line of music and media, while Fr Devasagayam continued to stay on in Maths. Fr Devadhas started with Chemistry and later moved over to English to teach in the school. I stayed on with Physics. Today we all have moved over to administration or spiritual ministry. But the same spirit of service and enthusiasm continue.
Jesuit life is always intriguing and surprising. The first Jesuits were university roommates, especially Ignatius, Peter Faber, and Francis Xavier. In my case, Devasagayam and I were desk mates in St Mary’s, Dindigul. In fact, on the first evening when I joined the boarding, I did not have anything to read as I did not bring along anything for the school. During the study time, I asked Devasagayam for a book to read to while away the time; and he offered me a book and it was in English. I turned to the other desk mate to get a book in Tamil and Devasagayam told me that he was also from English medium. There was one other boarding mate and that is Br M Joseph. We three became study hall monitors and I think that was the hook God used to catch us for the Society.
We were 25 in the Pre-Noviciate and today we are about 17 – a few have volunteered to Andhra Province and now I could say, some have remained in Madurai Province. A few of our batch mates found their mission in the world, and a couple of them have gone to the Lord. Our batch, though an intellectual one and though we had healthy competition in academic matters, jealousy and personal dislikes never crept in. Ours is a caring and friendly batch – Practically every year we meet and often we invite our former companions as well for the get together. This meeting energizes and envisions us and we are able to feel more and more solidarity and synchronization in our life of mission. For me, still this batch meetings serve as a source of strength, guidance, and inspiration.
All these graces we have received from the bountiful God through the generosity of our Mother Society. When we think of these graces we are filled with the thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore as expressed in Gitanjali:
“This frail vessel you empty again and again,
And fill it ever with fresh life.
This little flute of a reed,
You have carried over hills and dales,
And you have breathed through it melodies eternally new…
Your infinite gifts come to me only on these very small hands of mine.
Ages pass, and still you pour, and still there is room to fill”.
We are the little flutes of reed but we have been instrumental for God’s music.
Though we have become senior citizens we still feel young. We feel that we have still to learn more. For example, we are aware of The Top Five Regrets of the Dying as indicated by Bronnie Ware (2021) in her book with the same title:
- I wish I’d the courage (to say what I was convinced);
- I wish I hadn’t worked so hard;
- I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings (of love and affection);
- I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends; and
- I wish I had let myself be happier.
We try to spend quality time with friends and well-wishers and also meaningful time in prayer for the good of all who have touched our lives and who make life useful for others. We take all efforts to be happier as the Society makes sure that we stay healthy and blessed. We have realized that courage and honesty were always rewarded. And confidence and innovation were the motivating and propelling dynamism in our life and mission.
When we look back the long and winding road of God’s grace, we could see and feel successes and failures, challenges and opportunities, strength and weakness, jubilation and depression; but all through we have felt the hand of God holding us through and keeping vigil over us. We thank the Lord for our achievements and we are grateful to the Lord for our failures too as they showed us better way to go forth in life and mission. Whenever we met with obstacles in mission or experienced betrayal in friendship, we realized that it was time to move on solely trusting in the Lord who called us. We are convinced that ultimately it is only memory that remains and to make our memories happy or bitter depends on our attitude to events and persons. But we also have experienced unconditional love and support as well when we needed most and we are blessed with friends, both in the Society and outside, who understand us, accept us, and accompany us.
We are grateful to you all for walking with us and for permitting us to accompany you, especially the younger members. We are thankful for all you have done to us and for all you have been and are now to us. Remember us and whisper a little prayer whenever you think of us – And be assured of ours as well. May the Lord who called all of us to this religious life; and may the Society who had missioned us to work in various parts of the great vineyard of the Lord; and may all of you and our family members, friends, and benefactors be blessed today and ever.
And finally we thank the Province for this celebration, the Loyola Community for organizing the event, and all of you for coming together to wish and bless us. May the Lord walk with us today, tomorrow, and every day of our lives, however much or little time is left over. Thank you.
Francis P Xavier SJ
30Apr2022