Easter Reflections On Father Michael Rodrigo

“Beginnings are always arduous; venturing into the unknown needs enormous courage.” From ‘Reflections on the Diaries of Father Michael Rodrigo’

- Kanya D'Almeida

Never again will Sri Lankans observe Easter Sunday without a twinge in our hearts. Last year, when the attacks on churches shook us to our core, we could not have imagined that an even greater horror was waiting in the wings. This year, as we enter our third week of lockdown—a first even for a population accustomed to curfews— there will be no egg hunts, no services, no singing. Only a sombre reflection of the state of a world brought to its knees by a microscopic pathogen that has claimed more than 50,000 lives in just three months.

The Covid-19 pandemic has covered the earth in a terrible silence, and we find ourselves staring into a black hole of uncertainty. But even as we shut our doors, we cannot fail to notice the open window: an unprecedented opportunity to frankly and honestly assess the human condition, and determine how we will move forward. Will we return to the rat race or will there—could there—be a kind of rising? A rebirth? The latter would require a lot—nothing short of abandoning our old way of life.

Just over 30 years ago, a small group of people made the decision to do just that. Turning their backs on the comforts of their homes, the embrace of their families, even the possibility of wealth and professional advancement; they set out for the poorest village in the poorest district of the poorest province of Sri Lanka. The village was called Alukalawita, located in the district of Moneragala, close to the town of Buttala in the Uva Province. Led by a Catholic priest named Father Michael Rodrigo, this cohort of sisters and lay people acquired a small plot of land with a simple, thatched-roof hut which became the nucleus of a unique and radical poverty-alleviation campaign.