Eternal Life Greater than a Noble Lineage
 
Ani George

St Paul, who experienced Jesus and then cast away everything he had like dung and lived and died for him, tells us what is the basis of faith in Christ: "Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ-whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.Then those also who have died in Christ have perished." (1Cor 15:12-18). Faith in Jesus is founded on the fact that all who are in Christ Jesus will rise again just as Christ rose from the dead. St Paul says that those who build their life on this foundation are the blessed ones of this earth.

"If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied"(1 Cor 15:19). Fortunate are those who live in this world with the everlasting eternal life as their aim and goal.

May I share in this article the mercies the Lord gave me to build up my life founded on the hope of eternal life hereafter.

I was born in a Hindu family. My ancestors laid claim to a noble lineage and tradition. By the time I was born my family had lost all its wealth. We were taught that every sorrow in the family was due to God's curse. My childhood was tainted with thoughts about God who cursed and punished man.

The wounds and scars occasioned by a lack of love were inflicted on me right from my younger days. At the same time the over-strict orientation towards spiritual realities set me on a path of search-search for God. Unknown to all the world, there sprouted within me a deep desire to know and find the true God who loved me and revealed himself to me.

The God who makes himself known to those who do not search for him and allows those who do not seek him to find him, was slowly revealing himself to me But I was not aware of it.

My schooling became a means of knowing Jesus through the books I read. During my college years I was able to visit a Christian Church. In 1980 my father got an official transfer to the Indian Embassy in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. All my family members except I went to Egypt.Life seemed empty and monotonous in the morass of youthful foibles. In 1981 I joined my family in Cairo. The disgust I experienced in a life of worldly grandeur and its transitoriness made me decide to return to India. But, as if it were God's plan, I joined a college to learn Arabic,the language of the Muslim country of Egypt. There were three Italians studying Arabic in my class.They were preparing for the priesthood and were put up at the presbytery of a Christian church in Cairo. Their companionship was instrumental in my being able to attend daily Mass, to pray, procure a Bible and spend time for spiritual matters. This association with the Church kept me in Egypt.

In 1984 at the expiry of the tenure of my father's job, my family returned to India. Since I had obtained a job, I stayed on in Cairo. On the first Sunday of December 1955, a big miracle that led me to conversion took place in the Church in Egypt. In the process of my search for God, there was a sincere question that I put to Jesus. If I must acknowledge that Jesus is a God who loves me, believe in him and follow him, I shall have to forgo my ancestry, my traditional beliefs, my parents, brothers and sisters, my country and my home. If Jesus would work a miracle or show me a sign that warranted the renunciation of all I held dear in life, I would follow him-so I decided. I expected Jesus would appear before me! He would speak to me! Call me by name! Give me some sign from the cross! There were many such hopes that I entertained. But nothing happened. That day after Mass I sat alone, looked at the face of Jesus and said sincerely, "Since I have not received any sign from you till now, I am renouncing you forever!"At this time , the Lord, who answers every prayer, gave me in the depths of my heart a conviction and a reply. "What sign are you asking me for, when I have revealed to you the great sign that I have given and still give in every Mass, that you may believe in me?" I reflected and realised the significance of the great sign that stands revealed at every Mass- a piece of bread is raised up with the words, "This is my body. Take and eat. You will have life." A little wine is held up with the words, "This is my blood. Take and drink. You will have life." With my human reasoning I told myself: I cannot give up all I have and follow Jesus before this sign.

That whole night I was restless. The tormenting thought that years of search did not bring its reward left me sleepless. I took up the Bible and began reading all the signs that Jesus worked for people to believe in him. I saw several miracles. I thought to myself-raising the dead Lazarus was the greatest of them all. But when I came to the gospel of John, chapter 6,the Holy Spirit revealed to me the divine secret of the sign Jesus worked that we might believe in him. My search was over. After Jesus had fed the 5000 with five loaves he went across the river.But the next morning he saw a big crowd waiting for him. He who reads the hearts of men, asks them: Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. for it is on him that God the Father has set his seal" (Jn 6:26-27). When the people heard this they said, "How can we eat the flesh and drink the blood of this man who is the son of a carpenter? " and left him. They never again went with Jesus. Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" Peter, who grasped the truth of the mystery of eternal life through the power of the Holy Spirit, exclaimed: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! "(Jn 6:68). They were ready to follow Jesus. That night when I too understood the mysterious truth of eternal life through the Holy Spirit, I said, "Where shall I go? You have the words of eternal life!" I decided to discard all I had as if it were dung and to follow Jesus. That was the occasion when I realised the worth of my life. My life is not like that of an animal to live here for some time, eating and drinking and then to die and let the body decay in the dust. There is a soul within me. It was for the salvation of this soul that I made up my mind to follow Jesus.

I informed the Church authorities in Egypt the fact that I had found Jesus and that I was ready to receive Baptism. Since it was a Muslim country with strict regulations regarding Baptism, there was hardly any possibility of administering Baptism to me. But the One who is powerful enough to accomplish things impossible to man, worked in me. I soon received the notification that I could receive Baptism in the Church on December 2nd 1985. Several people tried to dissuade me. But by God's mercy on December 22nd 1985, I, Sivadas, became Ani George through Baptism which made me a new creation. That day I was fortunate to receive the body and blood of Jesus. And in that Eucharist I experienced the fulfilment of my desires, the fruit of my search, and the love and mercy, leading to salvation and eternal life, of my Lord Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The same body and blood of the Lord given even today so that "everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16).

In April 1986 I received the Sacrament of Confirmation while still in Egypt. God's promise that those who follow Jesus would be led through the furnace of affliction was beginning to be fulfilled in me. Persecution and tribulations galore! But they helped me to remain steadfast in my faith- so that the genuineness of my faith-"being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Pet1:7).

When suffering increased in internsity, like the Israelites of old, who entreated God to be delivered from the slavery of Egypt, I too cried out. The God who hears the cry of the suffering man, saw to it that I left Egypt and reached home on January 8th 1987-in a miraculous manner.

An intolerable state followed. I was wanted neither at home nor in my native place. Somehow I got a job and reached Trichur. Till 1992 I went on with the job all the while proclaiming the Gospel. In 1992 I decided to resign my job and work full time for the Lord. The diocese of Trichur was the venue of my apostolate until 1994. In June of the same year, the Lord guided my steps to Divine Retreat Centre. From that day onwards I have been fully engaged in the work of evangelisation. I am married and blessed with three little daughters. The Lord helps me to shoulder the responsibilities of my family and at the same time work for the kingdom of God."And everyone who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundred fold, and will inherit eternal life"(Mt19:29). I firmly believe in this promise and spend my life in the service of the Lord.