Have you ever thought of a priest who is wandering on the street in search of abandoned people? You can find someone like this if you go to the streets of Thenkashi in Tamil Nadu. Father Rajesh Vayalunkal MCBS, all through his life, has been a great example for a brand new form of missionary work.
Father Rajesh clad in a saffron Jubba stands on the street corners as if waiting for someone. There he manages to gather good many unlucky people who happened to be abandoned by their own family members. His loving heart and caring hands could gather them together, feed them and provide some safe shelter, and thus a new Missionary Home, Anp Illam, which means; home of love, took birth. Presently, it has become a place of solace and love to more than 120 people.
The inmates do have many stories to tell about how they happened to be here. But the gist of all stories is the same; Everyone had been wandering in the streets. And sometimes, lying on the roadside, even not having a bath for several days. The hair is braided without combing. Worms were eagerly moving to catch up with the living body through the wounds. Father Rajesh meets them and takes them to the shore of love, that is, their Anp Illam. The
conclusion of the story reaches the priest, Fr. Rajesh MCBS. At present people know that Father Rajesh is the only hope for those who are abandoned but look forward to normal life. We can raise thousands of doubts and questions like, “How can you do?”
Father Rajesh’s answer would be very simple- ‘that is my Christ..!’
The One who Catches the Man
Father Rajesh has not been a person who has been working for the street people only after
becoming a priest. He has been with the poor in the street since he was in his 20s. He was not even a seminarian during that time; just a member of the group known as ‘Jesus Youth’. That was a God-given situation that turned young Rajesh’s life upside down.
Young Rajesh was working as an Event Executive during that time. One day, a man named
Shaji came to his house seeking some help.
“He asked me, ‘can you help me to hold someone’ I went there with Mr. Shaji. There I saw a man who had neither taken bath for days nor eaten anything. The neighbor asked if I could help to hold him”, Father Rajesh shares his first experience of grabbing the heart of people.
With the help of a few more people they took the man to the hospital. While examining him, the doctor asked Rajesh a little angrily: “How could you treat your father like this?” That question pierced the heart of that young man. Rajesh did not try to correct the doctor that it was not his father. But that question made him review all his outlook and concepts on life. He was convinced that the person he helped was his father too. Moreover, in those who wander about on the streets, we can see Christ! He was growing into such an idea through that experience. Thus the incident that occurred in his early twenties inspired him to be concerned about the poor on the street and dedicate himself to be at their service. He started to spend everything he earned for the service of the poor and needy.
‘Anp Illam or The Home of Love’
Rajesh carried on his service among the abandoned people on the street for about nine years. Later, at the age of 29, he felt being called to join a seminary and become a missionary. Thus he joined the Emmaus Kottayam Province of the Missionary Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament. After the required studies and formation he was ordained a priest. As a priest he wanted to devote his life to the service among the poor, both children and elderly, on the streets.
Father Rajesh has been serving as director of Anp Illam in Vadakara, Tamil Nadu, for the last ten years. Still, he continues his efforts to be at the service of people who are on the streets.
He holds them very close to his heart. In everything Father Rajesh does Jesus Christ who
walked with the sick, the sinners, and the poor is his model. That is the only model he
imitates in his life.
“Sometimes it is very difficult to attract the minds of the people whom we meet on the
street.” Fr. Rajesh spends hours and days with them. He always strives to convince them that he is one among them. For that, he is ready to follow even their routine kind of life, even their eating habits until they are moved to Anp Illam. He prefers to journey on foot and he has already covered a major section of the big state of Tamil Nadu in India. Whatever the language of those people, Father Rajesh never faced any problem to communicate with them. He has mastered the language of love!
“Whenever a newcomer arrives the person is welcomed with appropriate celebration. The
person is cleansed, provided with new dress and the community joins for a common meal and which is followed by a hearty welcome. It was Christ who was wandering, it was Christ who starving. I could not leave this Christ on the road” says Father Rajesh.
The Selfless Others in Anp Illam
Along with Father Rajesh, his confreres in the mcbs, like Father Tomichan Kollarett, manages the financial affairs of this home. Four nuns from the Dorothian Sisters’ (DSH) community extend their hands and hearts through their selfless service day and night. They feed not only the 120 people in the Anp Illam but also provide food for about 250 starving people on the streets daily. There will be thousands of ‘people in need of food’ on the street. However, Anp Illam’s cart travels 35-40 km daily with food looking for the neediest. So they find the most hungry and sick and feed them. To be able to provide food for so many people daily is something miraculous for Father Rajesh and his team.
“Everything happens by the providence of God”, Father Rajesh doesn’t have more explanations.
The sick found on the streets belong often to multi-ethnic and religious groups and even to
various states of India. Once they are able to recall in their memory their own whereabouts
they can be helped to return to their own homes. Father Rajesh does that too as a mission
entrusted to him by God.
Anp Illam has the same Charism as that of the MCBS community: ‘To live and proclaim the Eucharistic Mystery we celebrate.’
“I am not a social worker, but a philanthropist and evangelist. I try to keep that spirit of the
early church alive. The charity was the lifeblood of the early church,” says Father Rajesh.
Anp Illam has had to face a lot of financial problems. Their only prayer is that their daily
bread may not be interrupted. Their only hope is that God will not reject their prayer, as many people are eagerly waiting for the arrival of the cart coming with food from Anp Illam. Hopefully, their waiting will not be in vain.
According to Father Rajesh, ‘That is my Christ’! What a beautiful and ardent vision of the
Gospel! A very powerful pragmatic approach…!
Sunisha V.F.