From Potta to Britain
 
Fr Augustine Mundackatt VC
 

The river Thames that flows through the heart of the great metropolis of London! The one time nerve centre of the British empire. It was from here that adventurers, soldiers and sailors set forth to conquer nations and countries. The Tower Bridge standing erect across the Thames river. It reminded me of the Venduruthi bridge in Kochi. It rises towards both sides as the ships sail across and is still steady and strong even after centuries. A little further on the shores of the Thames, where history lies buried is the Parliament house and adjacent to it is Westminster Abbey.

A few paces forward-and we see Buckingham Palace with its balconies and turrets. What I studied and taught in the history class rushed to my mind. Once upon a time it was from here that the British royal family ruled the world. The Great British empire on which it was expected the sun would never set, has now been much reduced. All the same, eminent edifices and ancient manors and royal streets are still in existence. The scenes from Gandhiji’s experiences at the Round Table Conference at Buckumgham Palace down to the funeral procession of Princess Diana’s cortege, passed through my mind like a series of scenes on the silver screen.

April 1st 1999- that was Holy Thursday. I had not set out sight seeing. I was going for an interview on our Evangelisation Ministry at 4.20 at the Premier Christian Radio, London. There were hundreds of people loitering on the precincts of Buckingham Palace- tourists, picnic parties, pleasure-seekers, lovers, youngsters and children. I noticed one thing. On the faces of most people there was no trace of joy. No smile of contentment. Lives tossed about in the great ocean of a consumeristic culture! Is today Maundy Thursday, my mind murmured. Is this not a Christian country? Do not these people have any church service or the ceremony of the washing of the feet, or the sharing of unleavened bread? My Kerala mentality which allowed such a train of thought, while standing on the threshold of western culture, would have been termed as outdated by the people! However, there were many people who were devout and deeply rooted in prayer and faith. Once they are convinced, they are prepared to do anything for Jesus.

In England and Wales together, we conducted around eighteen services in the name of Jesus in a month’s time. A nun from Andhra Pradesh, who had heard of the Bible convention I had led in Vizag years ago, had returned to Wales after her vacation in India. She shared her ideas with a Welsh lady who had a keen desire for the word of God and made arrangements for services there. "Many Samaritans from the city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done’"(Jn 4:39).

With me was Dr Rohan Sequiera from Mumbai. When the young Doctor Rohan shared his experiences of Jesus, waves of spiritual renewal were created in the hearts of many English people. In a country where many young people could not find any meaning in spirituality but gave priority to sex, wealth and pleasure, Dr Rohan’s life testimony led several youth and professionals to Jesus. Rohan, who is a fine musician, led the choir during the prayer services.

Except for the three evening programmes conducted for the Keralites in the Eastham Church in London, all the services were for the English people. But the Keralites of England were in the forefront to arrange for the other retreats, to organise the people and to offer their time and talents for the service of God. They still remember with appreciation Frs Michael Panachickal and Kuriakose Punnolil, who, in yester years had preached the word of God in England.

We had landed in Heathrow International Airport on March 11th and were welcomed by a British couple and taken to St Ives parish near Cambridge. We stayed with them while we conducted the five days retreat at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. This couple, who had participated in our retreat at Singapore, were with me during our first Korean mission . From that day onwards they had been engaged in intercessory prayer and preparations for organising similar retreats in England. No one who has had the experience of Jesus can remain quiet. They are transformed into evangelists. Peter’s mother-in-law who was healed by Jesus, got up at once and served them (cf Mk 1:31). After the retreat at Cambridge we were at Cardiff for the following five days. At the morning and evening services, each day saw a bigger number of people participating. Several received the anointing of the Spirit and the fullness of peace. When they heard the testimonies of those who received miraculous healing, they said: "It is ever so long since we personally witnessed miraculous healings during the charismatic retreats."

On Sunday March 21st, during the homily at the Eucharistic celebration at St Peter’s church at Cardiff, a lady lawyer, who had sustained serious injuries on her knee and neck and could not walk easily, received healing miraculously. Her testimony drew many more to the service. "In the beginning I was dead against such a retreat programme. But I came myself and participated in it and saw for myself the change brought about in the parishioners. Now I feel it should have been conducted long ago." This was the reaction of Fr Neal Murphy, a priest of St Peter’s Church. It was with great warmth that Archbishop Ward of the Archdiocese of Cardiff received us.

On our return to London, we conducted a three-day service at Cor Lumen Christ Community in Surrey. Through it several were led to deep spiritual experience and evident miraculous healings of physical ailments. The deaf could hear; the blind were able to see. Such instances took place during the Holy Hour, the Holy Mass and the preaching of the word of God. Besides the British, there were people from India, Sri Lanka, Italy, the Philippines, the West Indies, Malta and Albania.

After the retreat at Surrey we stayed in Eastern London and conducted services in the Churches in the neighbourhood. The last one was on April 6th on the compound of Providence convent in Palmer’s Green. Though scheduled to be held within the Church, the services were conducted on the meadow outside because of the big number of people. The acute cold and the slight drizzle were not very pleasing to the British. But they listened to the word of God, which is a two-edged sword and penetrated to the bone and the marrow, giving healing and consolation to soul and body. The people participated in the services from morning till evening unmindful of hunger and thirst.

On the first day of the retreat held near Cambridge there were only about fifteen people. As the days went by, the participants brought more of their friends and the sick even from far distances. At the end of the retreat there was only one question to ask. "When will you come again?" The people listened with wonder at the Potta and Muringoor phenomenon where thousands gather together to pray, listen to the word of God and receive healing of mind and body. Some were planning to come to Divine for a retreat. Those who have had the experience of spiritual renewal are waiting with prayer and repentance for a new Pentecost.

At one time England was the seat of Christian faith and worship. Today several places of worship are vacant. Renowned churches are like museums. Faith formation, which is on the wane, is struggling to escape the tentacles of post-modernism and the changing interpretations of theology.

When personal ambitions and vested interests began to control Christian faith, the Church remained as a skeleton that had lost its spirituality. Mansions and castles are memorials today. At one time only a road separated the British Parliament House from the Westminster Abbey. At that time Abbots of monasteries led the king to Parliament House. When the Vicar of Christ refused to be party to the vested interests of King Henry VIII, faith became divided. The parliament summoned by Henry VIII in November 1529 for the renewal of religion, in eight sessions lasting seven years, separated the Church from the sovereignty of the Pope. Through the laws enacted then, radical changes were implemented in the British governmental set-up, in society and in the relationship of the state with the Church. Towards the end of the rule of Henry VIII, the King became the head of the English church and many of the monasteries were destroyed.

Today several Anglican believers and priests are entering the Catholic Church. "I always have believed that the Pope is the head of the Church and that the Catholic Church is the true church," Said Fr Peter Edwards, a married Anglican priest and father of three children at an interview given for Vachanolsavam at Cambridge. Fr Edwards is the copy editor of "Bible Alive" and Asst Vicar of the St Philip Howard Catholic Parish.

There are prayer fellowship groups who keep waiting for the second coming of Jesus through fasting, recitation of the rosary and intercessory prayer and worship. England and Europe need a new Pentecost experience. At one time missionaries came to Asia and Africa from Europe. Let us, during these days when vocations to the priesthood and religious life are on the decline, pray for the European countries. Sending missionaries there is our spiritual duty.