On November, 22, 2024, you would be celebrating your earthly100th birthday at your heavenly abode amidst a choir of angels. Although you left us physically on January 9, 2007, we feel that you still guide all of us spiritually. As an enduring young Catholic mother of five sons and one daughter, you together with our beloved Thaththa nourished us spiritually and physically in a truly Catholic background amidst economic and other hardship. Your beloved mother (Our grandmother ‘Ammamma’) who too was a devoted Catholic was staying with us and was a tower of strength to assist you in managing our large and fledgling Family. Many a time, your only sister (Our Podi Mamma) also a devout Catholic extended a vital helping hand to you. All of you and Thaththa, who reposed utmost faith in God Almighty, always submitted to God’s will and nurtured us in a religious background to make us god fearing, disciplined citizens who would set a Christian example to society.
We cannot forget those childhood days, when you woke us up early morning to attend Holy Mass daily; reminded us to recite the evening ‘Angelus’ and gathered us thereafter in front of the consecrated picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to recite the Holy Rosary and other prayers as a family, before partaking dinner. As a devout Catholic who strongly believed in reaching Jesus Christ through the intercession of his Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary, you were particular in seeing us wearing a ‘Miraculous Medal’. You and Thaththa fostered peace and unity in our family by ensuring that we always enjoyed our meals together around one table.
You never failed to visit the church daily with your prayer books. We are what we are today in answer to your prayers and the example you set. As such our own prayers were mostly confined to praising and thanking the Good Lord through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Whenever we had a family occasion that merited celebration with Holy Mass, we depended on you to prepare the ‘Prayers of the faithful’.
Whenever, we as boys entered into scuffles or misunderstandings with our schoolmates, you never blamed the other party but found fault with us, as you and Thaththa always believed that parents should first correct their own children before trying to correct others. You made it a point to visit our class teachers to inquire about our progress at school. When it came to sports and extra-curricular activities we received all the encouragement from you and Thaththa.
You also ensured that we carry a copy of the ‘Prayer of the Holy Crib’’ with us, as a spiritual guide. It was one of your hobbies to neatly fold and seal copies of this powerful prayer in polythene and distribute them freely among known people in the area. You also enriched us with knowledge of the affairs of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and overseas by arranging to buy the Catholic Weekly- ‘Gnanartha Pradeepaya’ while distributing copies to people in the neighborhood as a member of the Sacred Heart Society. As an active parishioner you helped several needy persons in the parish with a generous heart and by your prayers on their behalf.
Even after we got married and started life on our own, you continued to render that spiritual guidance to make us have good Christian families. Among several other matters, never did you fail to remind us about important days in the Catholic calendar. It was you who refreshed our memory on socially recognised days such as birthdays and wedding anniversaries of our kith and kin. More importantly, you were persistent in seeing us attend funerals of relatives and those known to us.
We praise and thank our heavenly Father for rewarding you and Thaththa with the rare privilege and joy of becoming parents of a Catholic Priest of the Blessed Sacrament Congregation in 1975 and who was later ordained as the Bishop of Badulla in 1997, reaching the climax of your reward for the dedicated religious upbringing at home and the education that both of you gave us at St. Sebastian’s College and Our Lady of Victories Convent in Moratuwa.
For us, you were the epitome of common sense, simplicity, humility, calmness and Christian devotion. By such an exemplary life, you imbued similar qualities in us to a great extent. Your pleasant smile and helpful attitude made you a symbol of a loving Catholic mother looked upon with awe and respect by your neighbours, relatives and parishioners alike. I cannot resist mentioning that on several occasions, I used your courteous smile and home-grown, common sense solutions when dealing with Human Resources Management at office level.
Nevertheless, many were the occasions that we could neither fulfill your expectations nor meet the high standards set by you. Pardon us kindly and intercede with God to give us the necessary strength and courage to rectify those short-comings and reach up to your expectations and standards.
We know that you will not come back to us physically. But, the spiritual nourishment that you and Thaththa together, infused into our hearts and souls will remain with us and our families during our life time, as our greatest gift from God received through your example and your prayers with the intercession of the Mother of Jesus.
Heavenly Father, keep our beloved Amma, Thaththa and Ammamma couched in the peace of your loving kindness in your Kingdom till they are raised by the arms of Jesus.
“I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me even though he dies he shall live” (John- 11: 25).
– Bernard Fernando
Moratuwa
