For months, a Sinhala cancer patient cancer was accompanied in prayer by a Tamil friend via an online application. Now the disease has disappeared.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Prayer and friendship between two Sri Lankan women have made them protagonists and witnesses of a recovery that Sri Lankan doctors consider extraordinary. Shanthini and Rupika have no doubts to attribute it to the intercession of Our Lady.
“The rosary is the only weapon in my life. I have experienced its power on many occasions,” said Shanthini Caldera, a 57-year-old Tamil Catholic woman from the Archdiocese of Colombo, speaking to AsiaNews.
Married, a former teacher and mother of two grown children, she now devotes part of her time to praying for others.
“I met Rupika in a private hospital in Colombo in the month of May,” Shanthini explained. “The young woman, my daughter's age, is well educated and with excellent skills.
“She was there for a checkup related to her breast cancer, but she was very depressed and had given up hope for her life.”
Speaking with her, Shanthini discovered that although raised a Christian, Rupika, a Sinhala woman, had strayed from the faith.
During the trials of disease, she had accepted the invitation of some Buddhist friends who had convinced her to perform the Buddhist ritual of Bodi Pooja in a famous Sri Lankan temple.
“Since Rupika lived in a rural area, I could not go and visit her in person due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic,” Shanthini said.
“But I told her that I would help her anyway by staying in touch via WhatsApp. This is how I began to pray the rosary every day with her and for her.”
Rupika continued to take her medication at home, but the treatment was accompanied by prayers.
As she went along this journey, she gradually began to draw closer to Jesus and Our Lady, as well as feel better in her inner self.
During a check-up a few days ago, to her doctors’ surprise, the disease had completely gone.
“Who took your cancer away? This is a miracle,” a doctor told her. Rupika replied immediately: “Our Lady made it possible.”
Echoing her words, Shanthini said: “Her love for all of her children in world made it possible.”