“People who ate Kottu have to eat homemade food without Kottu today. People who ate Rice have to eat home-cooked food without Rice today. Where is Kottu now? Where is Rice now? Now, even people know that they can eat without Kottu and Rice. The people who could not eat without a sweet drink that contains certain flavors now know that they can eat by drinking pure water. This plague has taught us that we can live by eating home-cooked food without eating the food sold in various shops. Even children are now accustomed to eating what their mother lovingly prepares. How good would it be if that habit continued?”
His Holiness, the Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso, made the above statement while addressing a group of devotees through Zoom technology on Sunday evening, on 30th May 2021, from the Apostolic Hall of Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine.
It’s a custom that a set of devotees meets the Holy Apostle at the end of every month to check the requirements of the Shrine and contribute to those needs. However, travel restrictions have been imposed throughout the island these days due to the current epidemic. Therefore, this gathering was held through Zoom technology, and the devotees joined it from their homes.
The event was organized by the officials of the Apostolic Media Network on the instructions of the Apostolic Media Director, Mr. Manoj Chinthaka. It was coordinated by Mr. Suren Chathuranga Fernando of the Apostolic Media Network, interacting with the devotees.
“This pandemic has taught people many lessons that can be used to be disciplined. I know that some people would not be able to eat or even live if they did not drink a little alcohol every evening. What has happened now? The bars are closed, so they can’t go out to buy illicit liquor. So, are those people dead now, without alcohol? They now spend the day better than ever. I know that if the bar is opened again for one hour, not for one day, people will be queuing up in front of the bar with five hundred- or thousand-rupee notes in their hands. Since your brain is functioning clearly these days as there is no alcohol available, I would like to request you to think whether it is not a waste to spend money on alcohol.”
His Holiness, The Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso, made that statement and several other advices.
These days there is no possibility of visiting Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine to meet the Holy Apostle as on other days. So, the group of devotees was delighted to see Him live from their home and listen to Him like this. The Holy Apostle also spent several hours with His devotees, mixing the usual sense of humor and giving them mental relief. He started the meeting by saying, “Today I see you from afar. What I see now is not you who were next to me then,” and bringing a happy smile to everyone. The admonition with a mixture of humor given as a loving father to these devotees, who are confined to their homes these days, earned the respectful praise of all.
From the beginning of 2019, His Holiness The Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso started giving various advices for good health at monthly gatherings. Even though the devotees did not know those advice would be beneficial from 2020 onwards, they were following those health tips since then. He said that everyone should take immediate action to boost their body’s immunity. He pointed out the types of poisonous food and advised them to take local medicines, even introducing the easy dates for them. He did not say anything about this great catastrophe but prepared His devotees, who are following and listening to His words and believing in them, to face this catastrophe that would affect the whole world. He did this by allocating a specific time in the monthly gatherings, which He named as the ‘Health Lesson’. Many devotees were also tempted to take note of these health teachings.
These photographs show His Holiness the Holy Apostle Rohan Lalith Aponso addressing a group of His devotees through the Zoom technology from the Apostolic Hall, in Our Lady of Katunayake’s Shrine, on Sunday evening, 30th May 2021
