Be a light unto the world said the scriptures. Select few renouncing the worldly entreaty set out on the arduos task of divine supplication to live by what the scripture had said. The men and women vowed devoutness to the Holy Trinity, celibacy to themselves and selfless service to mankind.
Fathers / priests and sisters / nuns were words which brought hope and succor to the innumerable many who harbor neglect, hate and despair. Beacons of purity, strongly entrenched, unshaken by the vagaries of time. Ubiquitous in their presence especially at hospitals, leprosy centres, orphanages, charities, educational institutions and churches, were ever willing to serve in humility. India had the gift of one such nun.
Mother Theresa, epitome of humility, served Indians with all the benevolence until her death. She and her institution of nuns owned the bare minimum and lived an amazingly simple life with absolutely few material things. Saw one like her in St Marthas Hospital, Bangalore, the old nun a foreigner by origin, ripe with age, she would have been almost 80 years, came every morning and evening to the hospital wards and stood at each of the beds and prayed for the patient irrespective of their religious tethers. She was solace and love manifested for the patients. My father who was in the hospital was all praises for her and even waited until evening to say good bye to her though he was to be discharged in the morning.
Has someone or something tarnished this pure human manifestation? In the media recently was news that one of the nuns is being held in a mental asylum for she had threatened to spill the beans on illicit relationship between priests and nuns. On the lighter sense, is this reference to a holy family?
The number of child abuse cases by the priests especially in Latin America is quite often in the news. The Vatican has also instituted a corpus to as compensation for child abuse cases. Priests having illicit relationships, running secret families are so much part of the media that people are no longer perturbed on reading them.
Is the institution becoming an easy place for people to enter, use and exit? I knew one of the priests from the seminary studying with us. Though ordained, was on hot pursuit behind a belle, talk about her all the time, get drunk thinking of her. He was being supported by the seminary. To filth went the money offered by the congregations, which went to the seminary for funding depraved characters such as him, to God it was offered.
On a cursory analysis, the conclusion is that many have taken up being priests or nuns because they have very low acceptability or self esteem in the society in terms of having good education, appearance or money. Once in to the institution, job and money are not a concern, funding is available. After having lived as a parasite, they just move on back to the lure of the material world. There is more filth in the form of cheating, taking bribes, carnal favours etc than that meets the eye.
Is the light emanating from this institution tainted by black light? Is there a day the light would resurrect to shine in its glory again?
