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,
Fr. A. M. A. Prabakar,
Rector.