A prayer challenge for immigrant Keral families

Immigrant Catholics from Kerala, India say that in America it is impossible to do family prayer as it is done in their homeland. Many convincing reasons are enumerated to substantiate it. Nobody can find fault with anyone who gave up this sacred tradition because the schedule of the work and other activities is incredibly hectic, not at all conducive to keep up family evening prayer. They have to swim against the strong currents of the culture. My experiences in USA for the last 15 years, I thought, justified it, too.

But it was proven wrong when I visited a Catholic Kerala family in Oklahoma that migrated to America, along with three other priests. They had invited some of their friends to the house on the occasion of our visit. It was in the evening. We had great fun. We discussed many things. It included politics, pastoral topics, climatic issues; we exchanged jokes; shared experiences; some said stories; some dared to sing; there was laughter.

To be frank, sometimes it slipped into gossip, too. But it did not break boundaries. We ate and drank, but maintained the sanctity of the family. It lasted more than three hours.

But at the middle of the event, the mother of the house intervened and said, "Excuse me. It is time for prayer. Every day we do our family prayer at 9 p.m. Since some of the members can not physically be present we do it through telephone." There was silence for a while because it appeared to be a fly in the ointment.

Nevertheless, everybody obliged. She distributed rosaries, and she told her eldest son to lead the prayer, and he did. Prayer lasted for 30 minutes. All participated in the prayer. Nobody put forward any excuse to cancel or postpone it. It was a moment of divine experience for all, especially for the members of the family.

Family prayer is a strong tradition in the culture of Kerala, all the more among Catholics. If this state in India has a vibrant Catholic community, one of the reasons is that the families do evening prayer very earnestly and regularly.

Keralites carry this sacred tradition wherever they migrate. But they have to struggle and fight all kinds of adverse conditions to keep it up. The hardest part is to convince the generation who is born and brought in this country and culture of the need of family prayer. But a family that is determined and creative will succeed in it.

First of all, it needs a strong conviction and the support of a genuine Catholic formation. One of the fine examples for this is the aforesaid evening prayer, and the way they made use of the modern electronic media to do it connecting all the members of the family.

They challenge the Catholic immigrant families in the developed countries especially the families who have roots in Kerala.