She is Sunshine..!

 

‘Just living is not enough; one must have sunshine and freedom’.

These meaningful words of a Danish author H. Christian Andersen came to my mind when I met a dynamic woman in her early eighties who visits the sick in the hospitals of Mangaluru consoling and instilling hope in their broken lives. This morning I had the privilege to accompany her in her mission of visiting victims of Cancer in the Indiana Hospital of Mangaluru.

She was here in our Friary parlor asking for a priest who could administer the holy communion to one of the cancer patients at the hospital. I agreed to her request and prepared myself and traveled with her in the auto rickshaw to the hospital. While on the way to the hospital we only introduced ourselves, our work and ministry.

She’s Mrs. Tilly Peris, a resident of Nazareth Niwas, Bondel Parish who spends her time and energy driving away the shadows of sadness and instilling light and hope in the lives of sick, hopeless and lonely people. What surprised me was her energy, the confidence and faith in the Lord in spite of her own ill physical health.

It was a wonderful experience to see the smiling faces of people when she entered the wards and rooms. One of the patients even exclaimed with happiness, ‘our Sunshine is here!’ I was so glad to be there in the hospital and spread the positive energy along with Mrs. Tilly.

On our way back she shared quite a few concerns she has for the rich (materially) yet poor people who live a lonely life in Mangalore city. There are many elderly people in the city whose children live in far away foreign countries suffer from this sickness of loneliness. Mrs. Tilly, a widow who doesn’t have her own children is a proud mother of hundreds of lonely people. She says, ‘I never go to the parties and functions. People who invite me do so because of the formalities and they never miss me. I love visiting my poor lonely friends because they miss me’.

Though I met Mrs. Tilly only for an hour I’m filled and energized with her confidence and a strong will to visit and console the sick. She is really participating in  Christ’s mission of visiting and healing the sick. If I get a chance to meet and spend more time with her again I shall surely do so and share more details about her.

Eleanor Roosevelt the wife of the 32nd President of the United States of America  Franklin Roosevelt often said, 

It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness. 
Indeed Mrs. Tilly is a hope and light for many lives. May we learn from her. God bless and long live Mrs. Tilly.