VIRIDITAS: SOUL GREENING
Interviewed by Sister Malia Dominica Wong, OP Hawaii Catholic Herald
In my family circle there are 24 priests and one bishop. We belong to different congregations, some being in the foreign missions and others belonging to the diocese. My older brother, Father Viju, for example, is a diocesan priest and the secretary for the bishops conference in India. Our parents were very devout Catholics.
From childhood we learned the utmost importance of prayer. If we did not feel like going to Mass early every morning, our mother would wake us up and send us off to church. It was also imperative that we be home by 6:30 p.m. each day for praying together the family rosary. I remember how my father used to get down on his knees during the last decade and pray it with outstretched arms. My mom, meanwhile, carried all of the intentions of the family in the prayer. It was only after we said the family rosary that we all sat down for our evening meal.
Regarding my religious vocation, I was not a good boy growing up. I was naughty and my mother would always remind me that since I was born in December on St. Francis Xavier’s feast day, I needed to be like him. For example, as children we used to collect the payments for the electricity bills of our neighbors and catch the bus to town to pay it for them. We would keep the extra amount given for our service to play with or to buy things with. Our parents did not know we were doing this.
I remember one day going to pay the electricity bills when I was in the seventh grade. As I was stepping off the bus, it moved. I fell out of the running bus and hit my head on a rock. People hailed the bus and placed me back on it while hurrying me to the closest hospital which had an ambulance waiting to take me to the main hospital. The church meanwhile already rang the bells thinking I had died.
Miraculously, five days after the operation I came out of being in a coma. When I woke up, I remembered my mother’s words that I should be like St. Francis Xavier, and be a good boy. As I thought this was a second chance in life, I developed in being closer to God and in my feeling for the priesthood.
I arrived in Hawaii on Jan. 11, 2017, from Kerala, India. I had always desired to work in a parish, but since I entered the congregation, I was placed in religious formation work in the seminary. I had asked for a break from that kind of work. I was not happy when I arrived at St. Patrick Parish to learn of Sacred Hearts Father Thomas Choo’s retirement and that I would be appointed to serve in his place. He is such an intellectual and pastoral priest. But, the parishioners accepted me right away and thus I am happy to learn and serve them. Empowered by the Eucharist and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, along with praying the rosary, I know Mother Mary is very close to me and guiding me.
Father Santhosh Thottankara is a priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary from Kerala, India. He has been ordained 12 years. Father Santhosh serves as parochial vicar at St. Patrick Parish in Kaimuki.
