Beyond the Clouds by Fr. Jacob Nampudakam, S.A.C. | Page 84

necessary documents to make her life happy and secure. She asked me even to
bless her room with holy water, which I joyfully did.
After Mass, she took me for a good meal and we visited the Sisters of Mother
Teresa. She goes to their convent daily for the Eucharistic celebration, and
helps the sisters and inmates. Finally, she took me around the city, and
dropped me off safely at home, even asking if I wished to see the fireworks at
night! Still jet-lagged, I had enough for the day, and hence politely declined.
Nevertheless, the moral of the story is this: initially, I found myself perplexed
and annoyed when I found out that I- as Rector General- would have to be
accompanied by an unknown, young African woman to meet with a person as
distinguished as the Apostolic Nuncio. I don’t think that such a thing would
ever happen anywhere else in the Society. Yet as I came to know this person, I
found out she was a precious being of tremendous faith in God and Our Lady.
She was not beautiful only in appearance, but also in her soul. Saying Mass for
just one person- somewhere in the corner of an apartment- turned out to be a
most profound moment of faith sharing. She needed God in her life for the
daily bread, and even for her very survival in a highly sophisticated city like
Hong Kong. She was loved by God. It was a meeting like that of Jesus with the
Samaritan woman.
Continuing, then, with our story of St. Therese of Lisieux, “very often,
without our knowing it, the graces and lights that we receive are due to a
hidden soul… in Heaven, we shall not meet with indifferent glances, because
all the elect will discover that they owe to each other the graces that merited
the crown for them.”
The humility of this beloved candle I will never forget, because I was about to
enter into the Bermuda Triangle. My pride and consciousness of my Office
would have prevented me from this small moment of great charity. It was then
that God revealed to me the true meaning of my call and mission.
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