Mother love
Heavy with child, they stumble up a small hill with hopes held high and wishes for a safe delivery.
Hope and prayer for a safe delivery. Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
It is not only expectant mothers, in different stages of pregnancy, some showing tell-tale signs of how close to delivery they are through swollen ankles, who flock to the Church of the Holy Mother of Expectation at Eldeniya, just beyond Kadawatha, but also many couples who long for the miracle of parenthood.
Then there are families who come in their numbers, holding close tiny babies dressed in bright blue or pink, with caps taking the shape of lovable nursery rhyme characters, mainly bears or hares.
All have come either bearing a secret wish or to fulfil a vow after their dearest yearning has borne fruit.
Here in this church, they feel a close bond with the Holy Mother, a woman just like any other, who understands their plight, for she has experienced all these emotions and more.
With a humble but history-changing birth 2,015 years ago being celebrated in thousands of churches across Sri Lanka as well as the world this Christmas too, there is a special poignancy at Eldeniya.
Those who kneel in prayer before the numerous statues of the Holy Mother or take part with devotion in the mass, keep coming back long after their wishes have been fulfilled.
For, the Holy Mother was just like them — Mary engaged to Joseph, going about her work, until an angel delivers the divine intent that she is “blessed” amongst women and chosen to bring forth Jesus Christ.
Aptly this is the momentous event depicted in the stained-glass panel above the altar at Eldeniya.
Life does not become any easier for Mary, only tougher and it is alone, under the gentle care of Joseph and the tender gaze of the sheep and cattle that she delivers her Baby in a manger in Bethlehem, wraps Him in swaddling clothes on that wintry night and places Him in a rough cradle.
Her very first visitors are shepherds who walk in from the surrounding plains to pay homage to Jesus.
Just before the bell tolls at Eldeniya, calling the faithful scattered in the garden to prayer, hands together bowing low before the magnificent picture of the glorious Mother of Perpetual Succour are grandmother, mother and son.
“Three times I miscarried,” sighs Inoka Athukorale from Kadawatha. It was then that someone urged her, a Buddhist, to visit this church and she did. Now she has a 3¼-year-old son.
Pleading for the joys of parenthood. At top left is the original lost-and-found statue
Inoka who lives abroad with her husband and son never fails to visit this shrine whenever she is home on holiday and this time she has come to plead with the Holy Mother to give her the joy of motherhood again, may be a daughter.
“I have much faith that it will be granted to me,” she says with absolute trust, as her own mother nods vigorously.
For Gayathri Samaradivakara from Biyagama, her horoscope strongly indicated that she was meant to be childless. She underwent a course of treatment but to no avail.
“Deva meniyange pihita labuna,” says Gayathri with emotion, as her mother Sepali relives how they fell at the feet of the statue of Mother Mary, lighting candles and making vows. Five years ago, Gayathri and her husband were blessed with a daughter.
They kept coming to this shrine and Gayathri conceived once again, but the pregnancy was troubled and the doctors held out no hope. Seven weeks into the pregnancy, she was very ill, having severe bouts of vomiting.
It was then that the doctors thought the pregnancy would end in a miscarriage but the family held onto their hope and trust in Mother Mary.
“Api Deva Meniyanta kannalauw kara,” sighs Sepali, explaining that they petitioned Mother Mary and left everything in her beautiful hands.
The day we meet them, Gayathri’s fast asleep three-month-old son is being placed gently in the cradle below Mother Mary’s picture, in thanksgiving.
Back in Biyagama, the family is building their own home with a special niche from where the benevolent gaze of Mother Mary will look down upon them.
“This Church of the Holy Mother of Expectation is associated with miracles by many people who are regulars,” says Parish Priest Fr. Benedict Joseph just before he conducts Holy Mass that crowded first Saturday of the month.
Flags of blue and white, the colours linked to the Holy Mother surround the church, as preparations were underway to celebrate her feast on December 13 – the Feast of the Immaculate Concpetion.
Walking down the corridors of time, Fr. Joseph says that the first church, a cadjan-thatched structure, had been set up at a location slightly away from the present premises way back in 1929, with the Holy Mother’s statue being installed there.
However, the environment was not too conducive and after a while, the statue had been stolen and the faithful compelled to move to Eldeniya its current site, putting up the new church in stages.
It was in 1937 that the small building was completed, catering to the spiritual needs of about 25 Roman Catholic families.
Much later, in 2003, the zeal of the parishioners caught the attention of Catholics in Colombo who lent a helping hand to build up the church, with the fame of favours being granted by the Holy Mother spreading far and wide, swelling the number of devotees.
“Today, the name and power of the church have been established and people in distress from different walks of life and religions to seek succour here,” says Fr. Joseph, adding that at least five miracles have been linked to this place of worship.
The magnetism of the church is obvious, as voices of young and old, echo and re-echo the decades of the rosary, counting each bead, which is a special prayer dedicated to Mary.
This is followed by mass and though the morning has been long, especially with babies and toddlers, no one looks at their watches or walks out.
The mass ends with the statue of the Holy Mother being taken in procession around the church after which alms in the form of buns, packets of milk and even small packets of achcharu relished by expectant mothers are blessed by Fr. Joseph and distributed to all and sundry.
As families, carrying babies, finally wend their way down the hill to the main road, it truly is a re-enactment of that first Nativity.