February 19, 2012
It was the month of June 1983. A hot sultry afternoon, at the outskirts of Bangalore, Mount St Joseph, the Jesuit Novitiate. We had assembled outside to bid farewell to our senior Novices, after the completion of their initial two-year Novitiate training. Among them was a dynamic young man, Kingsley Adikaram, a Jesuit Scholastic from Sri Lanka. Thickly bearded and a very friendly person by nature. That was a long 28 years ago.
I was travelling along the beautiful beach road in Colombo, Sri Lanka, heading towards Clifford Place, where the Jesuit House Nirmala was located. My excitement was growing and I felt impatient. I had specifically planned this trip so I could see my Jesuit friend. Almost 28 long years had passed since I last saw Brother Kingsley, now an ordained priest. I was led to his room. Finally I saw him; there he lay on his bed, a beaming Fr Kingsley, head and beard shaven - paralyzed from neck below.
With the help of his left arm which is his only life line and very limited movement of his right hand, Fr Kingsley managed to pull me down and gave me a brotherly hug. He recognized me instantly as his memory is still intact. I sat by his bed, squeezed his palm with mine and looked at a man who was once a vibrant, enthusiastic young man, so full of zeal to be a priest and serve his people. Here is was, an ordained priest now lying like a dry piece of wood, totally helpless. Why God chose to alter the life of Fr Kingsley, I quietly wondered!
Kingsley Adikaram, a Jesuit from Sri Lanka was the unfortunate brutal attack of Hepatitis B while he was posted in Pakistan 11 years ago. The attack was swift and the damage was great. Fr Kingsley lost mobility of his body from neck down. His left hand was spared and a very partial movement of his right hand. Fortunately, the fierce disease spared his memory.
I sat beside Fr Kingsley for a good couple of hours reminiscing all the good things we did together while at Bangalore. Never once did I see in him show a sign of remorse, disappointment or discouragement. His face radiated with the same enthusiasm I had seen in him years ago.
Soon after his initial training in Bangalore, Br Kingsley proceed to Bombay for his Juniorate studies. He was then posted in Dublin for his studies in Philosophy. After the completion of his priestly studies, his dream was finally fulfilled. Much to the delight of his family, especially his aged mother, Fr Kingsley was ordained priest on 1994 in Sri Lanka.
Fr Kingsley immediately took up his pastoral ministry, serving at a Parish. That was all he had longed and hoped for, to serve the Lord and his ordinary people. A selfless man that he was, Fr Kingsley, after three years in the parish, volunteered to go to Pakistan to work in a parish in Karachi. He readily and willingly accepted the assignment. True of his Jesuit carism, he observed his vow of obedience to the will of God.
Fr Kingsley continued to enjoy doing fervent pastoral work at his new place in Pakistan. He was involved with very ordinary people and he was one with them. It was in the year 2000, the new millennium had just dawned and like everybody else, Fr Kingslesy also was ready to move forward. But it was not to be.
What started with a little fever and fatigue, ended up to be an event that halted his plans and completely changed the course of his life. The fever turned violent and Fr Kingsley rapidly lost weight. He could not walk without assistance. It was not long before the illness completely took over and made him bed ridden. The Hepatitis B virus had already reached his brain and his nervous system hit an irreversible damage. Fr Kingsley finally lost sensation and mobility of his whole body, now fully under the mercy of God and man.
His superiors then decided to fly him back to Sri lanka. The Jesuits left no stone unturned. The best doctors were consulted and the best medicines administered. But his illness was there to stay and it stayed. It was not long before Fr Kingsley finally resigned to the will of God. True to the spirit of Fr Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit Order, Fr Kingsley’s companions take care of him with great affection. He is never a burden to them. Fr Kingsley receives friends and relatives, occasionally watches Television and uses the power of his left hand to send out short email messages to his friends around the world or receive a phone call.
Asked as to how he has endured all this suffering, Fr Kingsley was quick to say that it was not a suffering. “I have accepted the will of God and I have no regrets,” he says. Fr Kingsley has not lost complete faith either. He still follows a rigorous programme of oil massages and physiotherapy to keep him from further deteriorating. “I am of the hope I will be able to regain some of my mobility, if not all,” says a confident Fr Kingsley. “The only wish I ask God to grand I am to be able to sit up on my own and be able to celebrate Holy Mass every day,” he says.
Fr Kingsley is a role model for all the unfortunate men and women who are bedridden. He shows the the way never to give up and never to regret for what has happened but rather look forward to a brighter morning.