ECCLESIA IN ASIA 'He appeared in my life 7 years ago and on Easter he brought me back home'

Around the world, Easter is the time of baptism for many new Christians. A moment that is always the arrival point of an encounter with Jesus that occurs through very different forms, faces and times. From India, we publish this story from Jonali Buragohain, a 52-year-old woman who received the sacrament of Christian initiation on Sunday along with her husband Ipshit Gohain and her son Jai, at the end of a long journey that began in a unique way in Africa. .

Seven years ago I was experiencing a dark night of the soul when the Lord Jesus reached out to me, who at that time was a practicing Hindu woman. She was curled up on the floor due to mental, emotional and physical exhaustion, because she couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel, when the Light entered my life. And since then that Light has guided me through the ups and downs of life.

It happened one depressing night in Tanga, a small, sleepy town in Tanzania, East Africa, when the lowest and highest points of my life merged to create a beautiful mix of belonging and longing. The Light entered through the cracks of my heart and soul, and for the first time I experienced a feeling of belonging to the one God and a deep desire to seek Him more.

That day the Lord Jesus touched me, and that encounter revolutionized my life. I didn't know that my life would never be the same. That night I changed! And over time my small family, made up of my husband and my son, also changed. He entered our little world, illuminated it so that we could see all the imperfections, small or large, and guided us to repair those things, to restore harmony to our lives.

He called me “daughter”

Going back to that night, while I was curled up on the floor and didn't see any hope, I heard a voice telling me: “Daughter, give me your hand and I will lift you up.” It was strangely comforting. That same night I dreamed of three men in long, flowing white robes walking along a path in the countryside. That dream became recurring and each time I had a new sensation: I wanted to see their faces, because in the dream I always saw them with their backs turned.

The dream of Emmaus comes true

Shortly afterward we left Tanzania and went to Ethiopia, where my husband found a new job. My husband, Ipshit, had traveled before and rented a house. When I entered that house, I saw a framed picture on the living room wall that amazed me. I stayed looking at her.

The owner of the house, Majha, an Ethiopian Catholic lady, asked me: “Why have you been staring at that picture? Do you know who they are?” He was referring to the three men in loose white robes walking in the middle of the field. They were the three men I saw in my dreams when I was in Tanga. Majha continued: “It is Jesus after his resurrection, with his two disciples, and they go to Emmaus”.

That word slowly etched itself into my mind: Jesus. He was the one who was reaching out to me. Knowing that gave me a sense of peace: knowing who was going to save me, who was my savior.

But I still felt a void. I didn't know how to get to Him. How to communicate with Him.

Call to the rosary

A few days later, Daisy, a Hindu friend from New Delhi, called me. “Jona, can you get me an Ethiopian rosary? I've heard it's very powerful. You can find it in churches.”

I didn't know what a rosary was. So I asked my husband to go to a church and buy me one. He bought two. One for me. And also a square candle with the image of the Virgin. Looking at the candle and the Virgin, it made me want to pray. I Googled how to pray with the rosary and printed out the prayers.

I lit the candle, knelt on the ground and began to pray. When he saw me praying, our son Jai (who was 4 at the time) also knelt next to me and took the other rosary.

A Bible appears

One of those days the hostess Majha came to me and said, “Can I give you a book to read? I feel a strong desire to do so.”

“Of course – I responded – I really like reading.”

The book was “The Cabin” by William P. Young. When I started reading it, I was immersed in a completely different world, a world where I understood very clearly what “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” really meant. Suddenly, everything became very clear to me.

Around the same time, while emptying one of my husband's bags, I found a small blue Bible. I asked him what that was. He replied vaguely, “I didn't realize it was still there. A few years ago, a young man approached me on the street, handed me the Bible, ran away, and disappeared.”

It was the New Testament. I started reading it and, thanks to the little knowledge I had from the book “The Cabin”, I was able to understand.

Every word aroused my curiosity. I could not stop. I began to thirst to know more. Everything Jesus said I found in my life. For the first time I found meaning in my suffering and began to feel ashamed for all the times I complained. “What is my suffering compared to that of Jesus? And yet, I complain,” he thought.

mom is dying

From Assam, India, they called me to tell me that my mother was dying and that I had to return immediately if I wanted to see her one last time. I traveled with my son. Mom didn't recognize us. He was in a semi-comatose state, with altered consciousness. He had stage four cancer. He had spread and the doctors had given him at most three months to live.

From the first day my son and I began to pray the rosary with her. I noticed that when we prayed, her face seemed serene. So we prayed the rosary next to her every day and her face seemed more and more serene. Until one day she opened her eyes. Another, she was able to move her limbs. Little by little she started eating again and after she even sat alone on the hospital bed, she recognized us and talked to us.

One day, as we lit the candle and began to pray the rosary, Mom slowly bowed her head and joined her hands in silent prayer. She seemed so calm!

The cancer disappeared

A month passed and we took her to do a Pet Scan, as the doctors treating her had advised. That same afternoon my sister-in-law Amee and I received a phone call from the head of Oncology. His voice sounded unusually excited. “Come to the hospital immediately!”

We ran to his room. She had the report in her hand and staring at us, she spoke these unforgettable words: “The cancer is gone. It's gone. I don't know what happened, but it's a miracle!”

I knew that. It really was a miracle. The Lord Jesus healed my mother through the intercession of his Mother Mary.

My husband has changed too

It was only the first of a series of miracles that have since occurred in our lives. My husband, who was not in favor of baptizing our son, today has become the most fervent follower of Jesus and cries at the mere mention of his name. He told me: “You will not be baptized alone. Jai (our son) and I will also be baptized with you.”

He packed up all the images of Hindu gods and goddesses and got rid of them. He reads the Bible every day and still cries. He recites the rosary every day with emotion: he is the most devoted worshiper of the Lord in our family.

We receive baptism

This Easter the three of us were baptized at our local parish, Our Lady of Fatima, in Majiwada, Thane, Maharashtra, after completing the one-year catechumenate at St. John the Baptist Church. The day of the baptism my husband couldn't stop crying.

I felt a deep peace within me: I feel like I'm finally home. In all these seven years since my first encounter with Him, Jesus has guided me, taught me and has returned me to his fold every time he distanced me. He never allowed me to leave.

Yes, he made sure not to lose a single one of the sheep his Father had entrusted to him. I walked away many times and yet he recognized his voice every time he called me by my name. So I came back again and again. And he always welcomed me with open arms.

It took many years of struggles and trials. But I'm glad I entered through the narrow door. He was preparing me all this time. And when He considered that I was ready, so was He. Everything happened in his time, not mine. His way is the best. Praise the Lord!

(With the collaboration of Nirmala Carvalho)