Sr Marianne Adayadil, Hyderabad

“THE JOY OF BEING A BEACON TO THOSE IN DARKNESS”

  1. “Love speaking in silence is the way to enter into another's grief – corner”. While pondering on this quotation I had been recalling to my mind, the great plan of God in my life. My heart overwhelms with joy and gratitude for the innumerable opportunities which God had given me in the past to enter into the lives of many young girls who had been studying nursing course in our schools and colleges of nursing, where I could bring a ray of hope in their lives.
  2. I had many opportunities empathetically to listen to their problems and this simple gesture of listening helped me to gain their confidence and thus to enter into the dark corners of their lives and help them with emotional support to come out of their state of depression.
  3. The lives of my late parents were a great inspiration to me as they were exceptionally generous and ever ready to help the poor and needy around them with great love and concern. I often think that I have inherited a gene of compassion perhaps from my father or mother – both of them were very compassionate. My school education in the institutions run by the Carmelite sisters and my close association with my maternal uncle who was a missionary priest – listening to the stories of his missionary works in the remote villages of Andhra Pradesh- all these helped to create in me an earnest desire to become a religious and a missionary. After having entered the Society in 1957 as an aspirant I had the opportunity to witness the various works the sisters were doing such as educating the poor children, looking after the sick in the hospitals and going out doing social service among the poor and downtrodden in the villages. In the early stages of my religious life, I had a few role models among the sisters such as Mother Aldegodis, Mother Ferdinando, Sr. Francisca etc., who were all good mentors for me. I am wonderstruck at the immense preferential privileges God has showered on me in providing me with conducive environment in which I could nourish my desire to help those in need from all eternity to this day and I acknowledge all these with deep sense of gratitude.
  4. The guidance of my Novice mistress Sr. Aldegondis and assisted by Sr. Josepha Rachamalla helped me to strengthen my Divine call and to know about the spirit of our founder. Knowing the cost of discipleship, I surrendered myself totally to render my service with love and dedication. My companions were united and we decided to accept and take up life challenges joyfully. No trouble could make us feel less capable. I always remember the decision we took together “Let us try to be as pleasing as a rose, as exciting as a jasmine, as inviting as a dawn, as sparking as a diamond and as comforting as a breeze, only then we can be glad”.
  5. With great reverence and immense gratitude I thank the Eternal Father for calling me to the religious life in this congregation of the JMJ sisters, whose Founder is Rev. Fr. Mathias Wolf, SJ. I call him a GREAT MAN as his greatness consists in his adopting a charism which is “Ever adaptable apostolic availability” that is “ever relevant and ever new” for the congregation which he founded. His idea of being “ever ready for souls” and “carrying the four corners of the world in one’s heart” are all pregnant with apostolic zeal. It is my earnest wish and heartfelt prayer that the Almighty in His goodness give us the grace to include this “GREAT MAN'S” mane in the list of God’s holy people. The life and works of our beloved Founder is an inspirational motivation for everyone who is a member of the congregation of JMJ which is flowing into every cell in the body of his followers.
  6. In the past fifty years of my life as a Nurse-Educator, I could train a good number of nurses who were motivated to care not only for the physical but also the spiritual, emotional and social needs of the patients they served. With great from satisfaction, I recall the opportunities I had in identifying some members suffering from bereavement and I could support them with my mite. Some others I could direct them to some other sources where people are ready to offer some financial assistance to them. I could provide to the best of my ability some reassurance which helped tide over their grief and depression. It was indeed a satisfying experience for me and I thank God for it.
  7. Although we do not have any organized “Bethany Bereavement support” group in our parish or in our institution, I had the opportunity for identifying some members suffering from bereavement and I could support them with my mite and also by directing the bereaved to others who are in a position to help them. We also train our nurses to give the necessary emotional support to the bereaved members of the family at the loss of a beloved person from their family. Nurses are taught how to be empathetic with the bereaved families and how to console them in their sorrows. In giving the “last care” or “death care” for the patients, the nurses are motivated to take special care of the bereaved relatives and close friends of the dead patient. In our hospitals as we give the last care to our patients after death, we do give to some extent the “Bereavement Support” care. But it is done only in a very few isolated cases and not in an organized way.