Greetings of joy, Peace and love from the Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health, Vailankanni. As the Rector of the Shrine Basilica, I am immensely happy to talk to you through this wonderful media. Indeed it is a privilege to me to speak to you over this media wherever you are. I thank God and our Blessed Mother of Health for bringing us together.
I hope that this website would fully quench the thirst of billions of devotees of the Mother of Vailankanni all over the world. I also thank all the devotees for expressing their valuable suggestion giving through this shrine website from all the corners of the globe.
I also hope that all the devotees of the mother of Vailankanni get the information and the activities of the shrine through this powerful media especially devotees living outside the country.
I am very much pleased to address about the Year of Mercy which the Holy Father inaugurated on 8th Dec, 2015, on the important feast of Immaculate Conception of Mary. Mercy is a key word that indicates God’s action towards us. He does not limit himself merely to affirming his love, but makes it visible and tangible. Love, after all, can never be just an abstraction. By its very nature, it indicates something concrete: intention, attitudes, and behaviours that are shown in daily living. The mercy of God is his loving concern for each one of us. He feels responsible; that is, he desires our well-being and he wants to see us happy, full of joy and peaceful as a mother does towards her children. This is the path which the merciful love of Christians must also travel. Just as God is merciful, so we are called to be merciful to each other.
We learn from the history, Our Lord told St. Faustina: “I demand from you the deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love of me. You are to show mercy to your neighbours always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse of absolve yourself from it. I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbour. The first one is by deed, the second, by word; and the third by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for me. God looks upon charity given to the poor as an act of charity to Him. “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers that you do unto me’ (Mt 25:4). Jesus said also in His Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy” (Mt 5:7).
During this Jubilee year of mercy, we are called to live in light of the Lord’s word: “Be Merciful like the Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). In the Holy Bible, We can feel how God the father is merciful towards His chosen people of Israel. Though the people had gone astray from the love of the Father, yet God showed his mercy by forgiving them and reinstate them in the Promised Land where honey and milk flow for their life. And we also find in the New Testament that Jesus himself has shown mercy towards the Samaritan woman, Mathew the tax-collector, Mary Magdalene more over to the prodigal son. Therefore the jubilee year of mercy is not only a call for us but also a challenge to show the mercy towards our brothers and sisters living around us. The Jubilee year of mercy challenge relies upon our spiritual and social concern on the neighbours. The spiritual works are, Counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish the sinner, comfort the afflicted, forgive offences, bear wrongs patiently, and pray for the living and the dead. This spiritual concern alone is not enough and we have to see the life situation in this digital world and do the following social works too: The corporal works are, feed the Hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned, and bury the dead.
Dear devotees, I promise that all your petitions are placed in the Prayer Services every day in the Shrine and during the Holy Mass. Believe that the ever gracious Mother will grant your wishes. There is nobody who is left empty who has sought the bounty of the ever compassionate Mother of Vailankanni.
Dear devotees, you are welcome to make your pilgrimage to the Shrine. Beside taking part in the Mass and Prayer Services in the Shrine and having fulfilled your vows if any to Our Mother, do not forget to spare your valuable time for Prayer before the Eucharistic Lord in the Adoration Chapel where the adoration is done round the clock. You can very well sit, pray and meditate for hours together in this chapel whether during day or night.
One Hour Adoration to the Blessed Sacrament started in the Main Shrine in view of the Golden Jubilee year of the shrine elevated to the Basilica status is still carried out for the benefit of the devotees. This Prayer Service is conducted for the entire congregation gathered here during this one hour. The whole congregation prays here as ‘One-Family’. Hence whenever you visit the Shrine, Kindly make use of this wonderful opportunity and join the praying-congregation and place all your needs in front of the Eucharistic Lord and You will find solace in His presence and attain success in your life. This hour 03.00-04.00 p.m. was chosen to recall the death of Our Lord on the Cross on Good Friday. Hence prayers during this hour are very effective to bring spiritual and temporal progress in your life and in the life of all people of your society, nation and world. You are requested to pray for all specially during, this Year of Mercy. Divine Mercy prayers and Rosary are recited every day during the adoration. May Our Lady of Good Health, Mother of Divine Mercy Bless you and your family with many more blessings.
Mother Mary is the model and forerunner for all of us. Because, She not only sang the song that “His Mercy is for those who fear from generation to generation” (Lk 1:50), but also, She extended her hands towards Elizabeth who was in need of help. The journey of Mother Mary for showing the Lord’s Mercy, started from there only and a huge number of people have experienced THE LORD’S MERCY through Her apparitions in various places. One among them is Vailankanni (The Lourdes of East), where Mother Mary appeared and showed the Lord’s Mercy to a milk boy, a butter milk vendor and the Portuguese sailors. Therefore, I wish and pray for the devotees of Arokia Madha to experience the Mercy of the Lord here and at homes.
I wish you once again, may the year of mercy be meaningful, fruitful to all of us. Let us extent our hands towards our neighbours as Mother Mary extended.
St. Mary Faustina, Pray for us.
Always praying for you,
Rev.Fr. C.Irudayaraj,
Rector.