My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

No 4: Easter message!

I have received many messages these days, explaining the importance of the Easter Sunday. Among many messages, I liked a short message which was sent to me by a Sister (also a psychologist), who was my class-mates in Rome. She writes, “our life is in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Easter Sunday becomes meaningful because there is a Good Friday, similarly Good Friday makes a huge impact because it is followed by the Easter Sunday. We need to accept both Good Fridays and Easter Sundays in our life. But we need to have faith like the women of the Gospel, who went to the tomb to meet Jesus. Knowing the fact that the tomb is covered with a huge stone, they went to meet Jesus. What a good example of faith!”

It is true that we can live in between Good Fridays and Easter Sundays of life if only we have Faith- Faith in God, Faith in others and Faith in ourselves.

 

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

 No 3: Good Friday at the hotel!

(As far as my memory goes (I suppose my memory does not betray me!) that I have never missed any Good Friday liturgy. Even, I had the opportunity to preside over Good Friday liturgies after my ordination. But today I am confined in a room. As I sit at one corner of the room, I tried to pray, reflect, meditate or being with the Lord. My dialogue with Jesus...)

Jesus: Yes, it is the day, marked as the ‘failure day’ in your life. You were defeated. You accepted the ugly human plots against you. You surrendered yourself to the wickedness of the fellow human beings. But God has not left you. God has raised you to life on the third day, the resurrection day.

Me/we: In life, failures are bound to take place. Sometimes we need to make ourselves ‘victim’ for the sake of others. We become prey of ugly plots, wickedness or dirty politics. But that is not the end...there is always third day!

Jesus: You carried the Cross. Your cross was the full of others’ sins. You fell three times while carrying the burden of others, but you went on...You did not want to become cross for others. You simply followed the instructions of the soldiers without any argument.

Me/we: In life, we need to carry our cross too. Our cross could be consisted of others faults, stupidity, weakness. But we need to carry the Cross. We should not become cross for others.

Prayer: Jesus help me to lead a life where I don’t become cross for others. Rather I may carry others’ cross.

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

No. 2: At the airport!

You were a God sent person to me! Thank you...

Today is the Maundy Thursday, a very special day for every Christian. I was obviously sad that I would miss all the liturgical ceremonies of this sacred time. I received many greetings of happy feast (it is also observed as priest day). While browsing through all the messages, I saw a message from Sajol. It reads, “Brother, you were a God sent person to me. Thank you ...”

I met Sajol at the airport, while travelling to Srilanka. While waiting to get boarding pass, a boy in his early twenties showed his passport and asked me, “Dada (brother) is my paper okay?” I had a quick look at the passport and told him, “everything is fine. You are going to have good time in abroad.” He gave a very innocent look. It was quite obvious that he was travelling for the first time. He informed me that he was going to Saudi Arabia along with nine more young men. Finally, I told him, “don’t worry Sajol. Come back to me if you need any help.” He gave a surprised look and asked me, “how do you know my name?” I smiled and said, “it is very simple. I saw your name in the passport.”

I got the boarding pass and was waiting for the check-in. Again Sajol came to me and asked for some information. I felt pity for him and took little interest to know about him. He spent a huge amount of money to get the visa to a broker. He was badly need of a job to sustain his family. I encouraged him and positively spoke of the possible bright future of his life. He also asked some questions about me and asked me to help him at the transit airport.

Our transit airport was in Doha. After coming out of the aeroplane, I gave him some instruction and I went to a less crowded place for a little rest. While I was trying to catch up with my friends over the phone, Sajol came to me and asked, if he could get lunch with his boarding pass. It seems the travel agent mentioned that he would get lunch as he had transit of more than twelve hours. I took him to a ‘help desk’ and spoke to the concern person on behalf of him. The kind lady of the ‘help desk’ informed me that he can take lunch at the specific restaurant. He was so happy when I told him about the lunch. I took him to the specific restaurant and helped him to order for food. He insisted that I should share meal with him. I politely declined and left him. Before I left, Sajol asked for my Facebook account name.

People like Sajol give meaning to my priestly life.

 

 

My “last” formal formation as a Jesuit!

(In this column, I hope to share with you my experiences of Tertianship in Srilanka. Tertianship or the second noviciate is considered as the last formal formation as Jesuit.)

No 1: The unexpected ‘Mission’ from the Provincial!

I was supposed to go for Tertianship in 2020. But the pandemic situation has changed the plan of my provincial. Instead, he missioned me to the formation cum retreat house as a residential staff. I began to enjoy every bit of my time there... In midst of other activities, I almost forgot about the Tertianship and began to immersed myself with other activities.

On January 29, I was going to make my annual retreat to another city. While travelling, I just happened to see a message from my provincial. It reads, “I gave your name for Tertianship which begins after Easter.” I just replied – “thanks” and waited for more instruction from the province curia.  

In middle of February, I had to send an official mail to the socius (assistant Provincial). While acknowledging my mail, he casually asked me, “have you got any news from Srilanka?” My immediate reply was “no” and I curiously asked him, “do I need to send any mail?” He suggested me to get in touch with the director.

Visa and the airport!

As an obedient Jesuit (?), I sent a mail to the director of Tertianship programme. There was a quick reply from him with the instruction to send my passport details. I sent him all the details and there was no reply from him. Suddenly on March 8, I received a mail from the director, asking me to send him my flight details and he asked me to book tickets for March 18. I booked the tickets and sent him the details. Again, there was no reply from him. I sent him a mail on March 15, just before cancelling my tickets as there was no sign of visa. He sent me reply immediately, asking me to do PCR test on March 16 as the visa will be sent to me on March 16. I did the test and the result came ‘negative’ but the visa arrived only on March 17 evening.

On March 18, I arrived at the airport. But I was barred to board as Ii didn’t have landing permission from the Srilankan’s Govt. I returned to the Jesuit community and began to collect all the documents. I rebooked the tickets for March 28, thinking that the ten days are good enough to collect all the necessary approvals. I obtained many approvals but could not obtain ‘Okay to board’ from the airways. However, I came to the airport on March 28 with certain amount of uncertainties. But everything went on very well at the airport...We began our journey (to be continued).

 

একটি জীবনের গল্প

পুজোর ছুটিতে চললাম ঘরপানে

কতযে স্বপ্ন রয়েছে মোর প্রাণে,

রেলপথ ছেড়ে চললাম মেঠোপথে

সহসা এক নারীর দেখা মেলে মাঝপথে।

দূর হতে দেখি নয়ন মেলে,

জীর্ণ বসনা এলোমেলো চুলে

কোনো এক পড়ন্ত যৌবনা পাগলিনী

খুব কাছে এসে চিনি, ও’যে রেশমী!

               তড়িঘড়ি ছুটি ঘর মুখে,

               জড়িয়ে ধরে আলো ভরা চোখে

               বাকরুদ্ধ হয়ে বলি, মা রেশমীর কি হলো ?¬ 

               জবাব দাও মা, ও কেন পাগলীনি হলো ?

মা কোন জবাব না দিয়ে থাকে নিরুত্তর, চুপচাপ

চোখে থেকে জল পড়ে টপ্ টপ্

              রেশমী আমাদের পরিজন নয়, প্রতিবেশি

              বয়সে আমার চেয়ে হবে না দু’য়ের বেশি

              কানামাছি, বৌ-বৌ কত করেছি খেলা,

              আনন্দে ভরা সেই শৈশব বেলা।

মোর বড় ভাই পবন ভালোবাসতো রেশমীকে

আমিও! তবে ভাবী হিসেবে দেখতাম তাকে!

              কি জানি কোন এক ঘটনায়, 

              হাসি-কান্নার সবকিছু ভরে দিল বেদনায়।

আমার ও রেশমীর বাবার হলো মতান্তর,

যেভাবেইে হোক রেশমীকে করতে হবে স্থানান্তর।

একদিন দেখি, সানাই বাজছে রেশমীদের দ্বারে,

বিয়ে পিড়িতে রেশমী’ জানলাম এক খবরে ।

রাঙাবধূকে দেখেছি অশ্রুমাখা নয়নে

পালকীতে চড়ে চলল স্বামীর ঘর পানে।

            রাগ অভিমানে ছাড়লাম বাড়ী এক সকালে,

            ইচ্ছে ছিল থাকব অজ্ঞাতবাসে

হঠাৎ বাড়ী থেকে পেলাম এক খবর

রেশমীর স্বামী নেই, বলল বড় ভাই।

            কলঙ্কের বোঝা মাথায় নিয়ে

           ফিরে এলো সে সিঁদুর হারিয়ে।

আমার ও দাদার ইচ্ছা ছিল, আনব ওকে ঘরে

রাজি নই’ বাবার উত্তর এলো মোদের তরে

সমাজ, সামাজিকতার ও ধর্মের দোহাই

ইচ্ছে ছিল ভেঙ্গে সবগুলোকে শোয়াই

           অতপর, বছরখানেক পর 

           রোজগারের ভার পড়ে রেশমীর উপর।

           গার্মেন্টসে চাকুরী হবে শহরে

           ছেড়ে যায় বাড়ী ঘর রেখে।

ছ’মাস নরকবাসে থেকে

চলো এলো পালিয়ে ঘরপানে

সবাই বলে, সে আজ ন্ষ্টা

সমাজের চোখে সে আজ ভ্রষ্টা।

ঠাঁই পেল না বাবা মার কোলেতে

এই দুঃখ সে পারল না সহিতে

সমাজে সে আজ পাগলিনী

কিন্তু কেন সে আজ পাগলিনী, হে মোর দেশজননী?

Being with the forgotten ones...

The ‘Rohingya issue’ does not occupy the headlines of printing media and breaking news of the electric media as it used to be three years ago. Many other burning issues of the world have engulfed the plight of Rohingyas. In addition, due to pandemic, many international NGOs workers/volunteers have returned to their respective countries. But the life has remained almost the same for more than one million refugees, who fled their country just to save their lives.

I have heard, read and watched a lot of documentaries, interviews, news items about the Rohingya refugees’ camps in Bangladesh. Recently, I was fortunate to visit the camps and have a first-hand experience of their plights. 

A sudden proposal

It did not take a moment to give my consent when I was asked to go to Rohingya refugees’ camps to conduct some training programmes for the volunteers, who work among the refugees. I was also told that some of the training programmes would be held in the camps itself.  I was eagerly waiting to have a first-hand experience of the life of camps.

The journey begins...

Initially, I was given two days to train 18 volunteers who are directly responsible to oversee the works at the camps. It was rather interactive sessions. I allowed the participants to share their experiences of the camps. Every participant had unique experiences to share. I learnt a lot from their sharing.  

On the first day at the camp

As our car entered into the camps, I could see the faces of thousands of people. The children, mostly half-naked were playing together. Many elderly people were sitting together. Many stared at us when they heard the horn of our car. Our car stopped in front of a centre. Some children gathered around us. Their innocent faces spoke a lot to me. I had no words. I just looked at them. I tried to feel their presence...

Conducting training for Rohingya volunteers

I had a translator who helped me to communicate. I began my session by asking the positive changes they notice in the camps. To my utter surprise, many have shared the positive aspects of the camps. They were quite happy with the material things that they receive from different organizations. Many have shared their aspirations and dreams for the future.

Sir when will the camps’ centre be opened?

As I proceeded from one camps to another with some officials, many children approached to us and asked, “when would be the centre reopened?” (These centres are constructed to facilitate informal education). I had no answer to give them.

Planting the trees

Keeping in mind the year of ‘laudato si’ we planted some saplings in all the centres. This was very symbolic gestures to build the future together.                                                              

The words of Pope Francis...

I have spent six full days at the camps. Apart from the training programmes, I took this opportunity to around. While walking alone, I was often reminded the words of Pope Francis.  Pope Francis on his maiden visit to Bangladesh, referred the word ‘Rohingya’ as the presence of God. This was perhaps my sentiments while I was in the camps. I could feel the presence of God...

 

“কোভিট- ১৯” হতে “কো-ভাদিস”

রোম শহরে “কো-ভাদিস” (Quo Vadis) নামে একটা গীর্জা আছে। কথিত আছে,  অত্যাচার সহ্য করতে না পেরে সাধু পিতর রোম শহর থেকে পালিয়ে যাচ্ছিলেন। পথিমধ্যে যীশুর সাথে তাঁর সাক্ষাৎ হয়। সাধু পিতর রোম শহর ছেড়ে যাচ্ছেন আর যীশু রোম শহরে প্রবেশ করতে যাচ্ছেন। মুখোমুখি তাঁরা দুজন।
যীশুকে দেখে হতভম্ব সাধু পিতর প্রশ্ন করেন, “প্রভু আপনি কোথায় যাচ্ছেন?”
যীশু বললেন, “আমি রোম শহরের যাচ্ছি ।”
সাধু পিতরের মুখটা বিষন্নতায় ভরে গেল যীশুর কথা শুনে । বুঝতে পারলেন কত বড় ভুল করতে যাচ্ছিলেন তিনি। হয়তোবা তাঁর মনে পড়ে গিয়েছিল যে একবার সে বড় মুখ করে তিন তিনবার যীশুকে বলেছিলেন, প্রভু আমি আপনাকে ভালোবাসি। আবার সে নিজেই কিছুদিন পর যীশুকে তিন তিনবার অস্বীকার করেছিলেন। যীশু জানতেন সাধু পিতরের মানবিক দূর্বলতার কথা। তাইতো, তাঁকে তিরস্কার না করে, তাঁরই হাতে দিয়েছিলেন মন্ডলীকে পরিচালনা করার দায়িত্বভার।

যীশুর সাথে সাক্ষাৎের পর সাধু পিতর আবার রোম শহরের ফিরে আসেন। আর সেখানে সে যীশুর জন্য,  প্রাণ উৎসর্গ করেছেন। তাঁরই কবরের উপর আজ দাঁড়িয়ে আছে সাধু পিতরের মহামন্দির।
আর যীশুরর সাথে সাক্ষাৎের স্থানে গড়ে উঠেছে একটা ছোট গীর্জা, যার নাম “কো-ভাদিস”। সেই গীর্জায় মধ্যে রয়েছে একটা পদচিহ্ন। অনেকে বলে থাকেন যে সেই পদচিহ্ন হলো যীশুর পদচিহ্ন । আজও অনেকে সেখানে যান এবং প্রার্থনা করে থাকেন।

“কোভিট- ১৯” শুরু হ্ওয়ার পর থেকে আমার বার বার মনে হচ্ছে আমরা কোথায় যেন হারিয়ে গিয়েছি। আমরা দূরে সরে গিয়েছি সুন্দর এবং পবিএ জীবন থেকে । ভুলে গিয়েছি সৃষ্টিকর্তাকে। ধর্ম থেকে কর্মই বেশি প্রাধান্য পেয়েছে আমাদের জীবনে।

আমরা শুধু যীশুর কাছ থেকেই দূরে সরে যাইনি। আমরা একে অন্যের কাছ থেকেও দূরে সরে গিয়েছি। নিজেদের মধ্যে একটা বিচ্ছন্নতা ভাব গড়ে উঠেছে। আমাদের মনোভাব হয়েছে, আমাকে আমার মতো করে বাঁচতে দাও। পারিবারিক দ্বন্দ্ব নিত্যদিনের ঘটনা। পিতা-মাতা ও সন্তানের মধ্যে বিশাল ব্যবধান। ভাইয়ে-ভাইয়ে ঝগড়া এখন আর নতুন কিছু না। পাড়া-প্রতিবেশিদের কথা না হয় বাদই দিলাম!

এমনকি আমরা বিচ্ছিন্ন হয়ে গিয়েছি আমাদের নিজেদের কাছ থেকে। আমরা কি সত্যিই নিজেদের ভালোবাসি!  নিজেদেরকে যদি সত্যিকার অর্থে ভালোবাসতাম তাহলে হয়তোবা কথায় কথায় আত্মহত্যার চিন্তা মাথায় আসতোনা। মৃত্যুর কারণ হতে পারে জেনেও, আমরা নেশায় ডুবে থাকতাম না।

হয়তোবা “কোভিট- ১৯” এর কঠিন সময় আমাদের খুঁজতে হবে আমার জীবনের “কো-ভাদিস” কোথায়? কোথায় গেলে আমি যীশুর সাক্ষাৎ পাব? কোথায় গেলে আমি আমার হারিয়ে যাওয়া মানবিকতা ফিরে পাবো?

আশার কথা হলো, যীশু আবারো আমাদের ডাকছেন তাঁর কাছে ফিরে আসার জন্য। তিনি আমাদের সান্নিধ্য লাভের আশার উন্মুখ হয়ে আছেন। আসুন সবাই চেষ্টা করি “কোভিট- ১৯” হতে আমাদের জীবনের “কো-ভাদিস”- এর সন্ধান লাভ করার জন্য...