Miracles and other strange stories

(Excerpted from the Merrill. J. Fernando autobiography)

I believe in miracles. I believe that there is a divine hand in all the affairs of men. I believe that many of the good things that have happened to me to have been answers to prayer, whilst narrow escapes from disaster, on several occasions, the merciful hand of God.

In September 1976, whilst I was driving in Colombo, at the corner of Muttiah Park, about 200 metres from the Gangaramaya Temple, my car was hit by a truck. I have little or no memory about the accident itself, but I found myself seated on the pavement on the side of the road in a state of shock, not quite knowing what was going on. My car was a total wreck. Sometime later I was told that I had been pulled out of the car by passers-by. The only visible injury was a small gash on my back. However, later on at the hospital, it was discovered that a few of my ribs had also been broken.

Whilst I was awaiting treatment at the Accident Ward of the General Hospital, I saw Dr. Cabraal, the neurosurgeon, passing by. I told him about the accident and that I had no recollection of what had taken place. He told me that the erasure of that unpleasant memory was nature’s way of protecting me. In the meantime a young doctor, possibly an intern, who walked into the ward sutured the wound in my back, but to this day the site of the wound produces unpleasant sensations. My guess is that the wound was closed up without it being properly disinfected.

Whist all this was going on Dr. P. R. Anthonis, the well-known surgeon, arrived at the ward and said: “Merrill, you cannot stay here, I am taking you to Ratnam Hospital.” After admitting me to Ratnam’s, he called in Dr. Rienzie Pieris, the Orthopaedic Surgeon, who was then in government service. Rienzie took me in hand and after that first meeting we became lifelong friends. My sons who were holidaying at Merton bungalow at the time of the accident returned to Colombo and wanted to stay with me in hospital, but I insisted that they go back to school.

Divine deliverance

K. Selvanathan, the father of Mano and Hari, visited me in hospital and told me that he had seen the twisted heap of metal that had been my car and that it was a miracle that I had escaped with my life. He said: “Merrill, when you get out of hospital, you must work for God, to thank him for having saved your life.” I have never forgotten those words.

In July 1983, civil riots broke out all over Colombo. I was in office at that time with Leone Van Lier, from South Africa. Gangs of armed men were stopping cars, smashing up windscreens, and, if the occupants were Tamil, pulling them out and beating them. Petrol was being removed from cars by force and used to burn vehicles and buildings. It was a terrifying and lawless time.

Against the pleas of my staff, I decided to leave the office with Leone. I told them that I would pray and trust in God. Leone, a seasoned South African, was surprisingly calm as he had become familiar with civil strife in his country! I drove out of my office and found the road full of rioting gangs but about 100 metres away I spotted two naval officers on motorcycles. I quickly got my car behind their machines and traveled with that escort up to the next set of traffic lights, leaving the rioters behind. As we got to safety, both Leone and I realized that our naval escort had disappeared. Thinking about it later, and the unbelievably opportune appearance of the naval officers, I concluded that it was the intervention of the Lord on my behalf.

There was a somewhat similar episode some years later, when I was rushed to Durdans with an undiagnosed but serious medical condition. Over a couple of weeks in hospital I was administered a wide range of medications and subjected to numerous procedures, but my condition did not improve, whilst the various tests carried out on me failed to identity the problem. One evening, Pastor Dishan Wickremaratne, having found out that I was in hospital, arrived with his father, Pastor Colton and, together, prayed with me for over an hour. The next day I had recovered completely and was able to return home just two days later.

Immediately thereafter I left for Singapore and, at the New University Hospital, underwent a series of tests and subsequently had consultations with several doctors. However, there was no sign of illness, nor an indication of a medical condition which could have caused that bout of ill-health. Thinking about this chain of events some months later, I came to the realization that my recovery from an inexplicable illness was due to the power of prayer.

Netherlands – near disaster

I was on a business trip across Europe, during which I had to spend some time in the Netherlands. One morning, I traveled to Rotterdam by train to meet a customer and while walking from the station to the customer’s office, I stopped at a department store to buy refills for my pen. I had placed my leather briefcase on a counter with a mirror, on it and while removing the case, I accidentally knocked down the mirror, which shattered to pieces. Having apologized profusely to the shop staff for my clumsiness, I moved on.

When I finished my business with the customer, he suggested that we leave for a pre-arranged lunch, but I declined and caught an early train back. Traveling through The Hague, the speeding train suddenly derailed and several compartments, including the one I was in, toppled. A young couple sitting next to me suffered minor fractures whilst I smashed my knee on a hard surface. Ambulances arrived quickly and the medical staff started dispatching the injured to hospital, requesting all passengers to stay at the location till all had been attended to.

I could not afford to waste time as I had traveled thousands of miles to attend to important business issues. Avoiding the paramedics, I managed to scramble out of my compartment, which had fallen into a ditch, and limped across to the nearest highway where I flagged down a passing truck. The driver very kindly dropped me off at my hotel in Amsterdam.

My knee by then was badly swollen and painful, but I collected my bags and rode to the airport immediately to catch a flight to Munich, to meet another customer. After the meeting my customer took me to a doctor, who attended to my knee and, thereafter, I drove to Berlin for the next customer meeting.

The above events followed each other in very rapid succession and during that period my main focus was honouring my customer appointments, despite the accident and the injury. After my meeting in Berlin, I relaxed for a couple of days – on doctor’s orders, actually –and that rest gave me the opportunity for quiet reflection on that rapid chain of events.

A momentous meeting for me — greeting His Holiness, Pope Francis

My conclusion was that the whole episode could have ended very badly for me, but that I escaped, by God’s grace, relatively unscathed and was still able to conclude my business. Perhaps the broken mirror was an omen and a warning of what was to follow! However, at each stage, I was provided with a timely solution which, in my view, could only have been heaven sent.

A special relationship

Whilst I was in hospital recovering from my car accident in ‘ 76, the well-known Venerable Galaboda Gnanissara Thero, the “Podihamuduruwo” of the Gangaramaya Temple, visited me. He returned to me my neck chain, my ring, and my rosary, which I carry with me all the time. He had recovered them from the scene of the accident. With that first meeting, we developed a very special friendship.

Whenever I visited him at the temple, thereafter, he used to come out to the car and lead me into the premises, holding me by the hand. I always hastened to open the car door myself lest he opened it for me, as I did not think that was appropriate. He would take me into the greeting room and insist that I sit down and make myself comfortable. He would not allow me to take off my shoes although it is customary to do so when one is in the presence of a Buddhist priest or in a temple. He would also lead me around the temple, still with my shoes on. Much to my embarrassment, he introduces me to all we meet as the Christian who helps all religions!

Every year we conduct a ‘pirith’ ceremony at our Peliyagoda premises for the Buddhist members of our staff. Irrespective of all his other commitments, this ceremony is always presided over by Podihamuduruwo. He waits for a couple of hours after the ceremony commences and then leaves with me, as I am unable to maintain the traditional seated, cross-legged posture on the ground for very long.

I have tremendous respect for Podihamuduruwo, a dynamic leader and a person of vision. I have seen for myself the contribution he has made to uplifting underprivileged youth, with his vocational training centre in basic engineering and other technical skills.

In fact, many of the technicians in my plant at Peliyagoda were first trained at the Gangaramaya centre. I have assisted him in some of his ventures, such as the construction of housing for low-income families and also at the training centre. I never failed to contribute to the annual Gangaramaya Perahera and, once, at his request, participated in the construction of resting houses for pilgrims at the Kataragama Temple.

The Venerable Thero and I come from two completely different backgrounds; I from a middle class society on the western coast, rooted firmly in the Catholic faith, and he from a village farming community in the deep south, the power base of rural Sinhala Buddhists. But we discovered a commonality of ideas and ideals and a resonance in our personal philosophies, especially that of a shared sense of community responsibility. He too, like me, is a man with a highly-developed entrepreneurial spirit. Despite the mutual exclusivity in the respective positions we occupy in society, I an industrialist and he a leading Buddhist cleric, deep down, fundamentally, we are kindred spirits.

I was deeply distressed when Podihamuduruwo fell seriously ill. He was flown to Singapore for treatment and I visited him in hospital with Pastor Samson and, together, we prayed to Lord Jesus for his recovery. I fervently hope that this good and amazing man will be able to recover and return to the wonderful work he has been doing for the community. Our society sorely needs more people like him.