Once near death, now closer to God
Priest stabbed in May recovers in body, mind
By Jaime Powell
Saturday, September 12, 2009
SINTON — Kicked, beaten and stabbed nearly 20 times. Last rites twice in a single day. Still, Father Shaji Varghese harbors no anger toward his attacker.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church could have been the scene of his death four months ago. Instead it’s where he is living one of the most important lessons in the Bible — forgiveness.
“I don’t take this incident as something very bad because this incident taught me so many things,” Varghese said. “It made my vocation more stronger, my loyalty toward God more stronger. I was made more sure that my God is such a caring one. We are not perfect. It made me know that God answers to the prayers and God supports.”
That May 8 morning, David Rodriguez approached Varghese, 42, following Mass asking him to hear his confession. Rodriguez, who has a mentally troubled past, didn’t say anything that led Varghese to believe anything was amiss, the priest said. Varghese listened to the confession.
Minutes later, Varghese was found about 100 yards from the side doorway of the church soaked in his own blood. Rodriguez was arrested about an hour later.
“I was thinking my time was almost over,” Varghese said. “I went to sleep, but on the third day I started seeing people. It was a glad thing to come back to that.”
Rodriguez has remained in the San Patricio County Jail since the stabbing, charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He is undergoing psychiatric evaluations to determine whether he is competent to stand trial, his attorney David Stith said.
The response from Varghese’s parishioners was immediate — prayer.
“They were stunned,” Varghese said. “And they were scared. I started knowing the community when it happened. This is an incident that brought the community together to pray for a special cause — that is my life. They started working together.”
Guadalupe Aguilar, 71, who attends Mass daily at the church, remembers praying for the priest in front of the church.
When Varghese, a native of Kerala, India, started at the church, about 1½ years before the stabbing, some parishioners in the predominantly Hispanic congregation had a little trouble understanding him, Aguilar said. After Varghese was stabbed, the membership was all behind the priest, he said.
“The faith is the same no matter what language you speak or what country you are from,” Aguilar said. “It’s about adoring and praising God.”
Varghese believes their prayers saved his life.
“So many thought I was going to die because of the serious wounds,” Varghese said. “The kidney, both sides of my artery, my neck, my cheek, my chest. It was prayer. I believe prayers saved me.”
While Varghese has been on the mend, on Saturdays and Sundays parishioners have had regular get-togethers with their priest to give thanks that Varghese survived, Aguilar said.
“We need to let him know how much we would have missed him and how thankful we are,” he said.
The stabbing left its imprint on the small town church.
Altar boys Anthony Sanchez, 14, and Andrew Sanchez, 12, recalled that their grandfather was one of the first on the scene following the stabbing. As they huddled in the doorway Friday watching the rain after Mass, they said it was their first glimpse of real violence.
Altar boy Joseph Mejias, 8, standing in the shadow of his father Mike Mejias’ legs, nodded solemnly when asked if he remembered that day.
Mejias said his son was inconsolable after the stabbing.
“He took it so hard,” Mejias said. “He loves Father Shaji. He cried a lot.”
While Varghese was in the hospital, Mejias and his son visited, though the boy did not get to see the priest because he was still in bad shape.
Other priests who gathered at the hospital took the boy, who had been crying nonstop for three days, under their wing, Mejias said. After they spoke to him, Joseph quit crying, Mejias said.
Explaining the stabbing to a third-grader was tough, he said.
“I just explained life to him,” Mejias said. “I told him that some people do bad things in the world.”
While Joseph avoids talking about what happened to Father Shaji, he lights up over the priest’s recovery.
“He makes me feel happy,” Joseph said.
Joseph’s father hasn’t yet found forgiveness for Varghese’s attacker or the stabbing’s impact on his son.
“It’s human nature not to, but of course I’m going to try because it is the right thing to do.”
Varghese chalks up his capacity for forgiveness to his upbringing and more importantly his faith.
He went home to India in August for a month and spent time with his mother, seven brothers and sisters and 14 nieces and nephews. During a visit to his brother’s house, Varghese noticed a picture of Rodriguez in the family’s prayer room.
“I asked, ‘Why do you keep it here,’ and my sister-in-law told me, ‘While we were praying for you, we were praying for him also,’” Varghese said.
His long trip back to Sinton left plenty of time for reflection. He thought about things such as his parish, his vegetable garden and the drought. He doesn’t think about the attack all the time.
But day-to-day actions such as shaving, which irritates the scars on his neck, or stretching, which pulls the scars on his torso, are reminders.
“I have pain here and there,” he said, pointing at knife scars on his neck.
“But here,” he said, pointing to his heart, “I’m not angry at him. In my heart there is nothing other than forgiveness. There is still a scary event in my mind. And it may be months or years before it goes away. But I’m not angry.”
Varghese has not visited Rodriguez in jail, though he said he may as he heals more. He regularly asks parishioners who work at the jail how Rodriguez is doing.
“I pray for him,” Varghese said. “God bless, God forgive David.”
http://www.caller.com/news/2009/sep/12/once-near-death-now-closer-to-god-it-made-my-my/?print=1
No comments:
Post a Comment