7 January 1998 The Flowers that Disappeared
Master Francis and Agnes Ram and their family left Fiji and settled near Wellington after the 1987 coup d’etat in Fiji. They went regularly to weekday Mass. They also grew flowers in their garden and were happy to place a bunch of bright yellow marigolds (genda phul) on the altar of the church.
The next morning when they again came for Mass they noticed that their flowers were gone. Discussing it later they agreed that the angels must have taken the flowers up to heaven. Francis was very consoled by the thought that his piety had been rewarded by God.
Later he heard that one of the nuns in the nearby convent was allergic to that variety of flowers and had them thrown out. Francis laughed as he told the story. He said, “I am like that, I easily believe in miracles.
Sudhir Kakar, an Indian psychoanalyst, says that Indian child rearing and culture allow Indians to indulge in fantasy for far longer than Western culture. As a result Indian people have a greater expectation of the miraculous than Westerners
By Fr Frank Hoare
