I was living in those days from house to house in the city of Ahmedabad begging for hospitality among Hindu families, staying a week with each and sharing fully in their life. In one of the houses I lodged in those days, the man of the house showed me with genuine pride the altar of his family gods, where he had collected, as is often the custom, images of different divinities in the rich Hindu pantheon, not to offend one by pleasing another, and to obtain the blessings of all.

There I could see the joyful Shri Krishna with his flute and his peacock feather on his forehead; Lord Siva with his mane of hair that slowed down the Ganges’ descent upon earth; Lakshmi, goddess of riches; Saraswati, goddess of wisdom; Ganesh to remove all obstacles and to bless the beginnings of any new work; the exemplary couple of Rama and Sita with their faithful Hanuman; Kali in her awesome incarnation of the dark moments of life; and Yama, god of death riding a black buffalo.

My friend showed me all of them, and then he pointed with special pride to one of the images and told me: “See, I have now also placed the Lord Jesus among my family gods as a remembrance of your staying with us for these days.” I looked closely, and a smile, which was at the same time a sign of satisfaction and of amusement, gently curved my lips. Yes, that was a Christian image all right, but not precisely of Jesus. The image was actually… that of Our Lady of Fatima! Somehow he had got mistaken by the similarity of the long white vestments of the Sacred Heart and of Our Lady, and had taken one for the other. I was sure Our Lord and Our Lady must have enjoyed the joke, and I also enjoyed it with them and told my well-meaning Hindu host nothing about the mistaken identity of the statue. That is how Our Lady of Fatima came to preside over a Hindu household with her motherly care.

It once happened that two twins were conceived in their mother’s womb. Weeks went by and the twins grew. As they were becoming conscious of their being, their joy was unbounded. “Tell me, is it not wonderful that we are alive? Isn’t it marvellous to be here?” The twins began to discover their world. When they found the umbilical cord that connected them to their mother and through which the received their food, they burst out in joy: “Our mother loves us so much that she shares her food with us!” Weeks and then months went by, and one day they suddenly realized how much they had changed. “What is the meaning of this?” – asked one of them. “This means – the other answered – that we soon will not fit in here. We won’t be able to stay here: we’ll have to be born.” - “No way to see myself outside here – objected the other – I want to remain here for ever.” – “Just think. We have no other go – said his brother – unless maybe there is another life after birth.” – “How can that be? – answered the first in anger. – Without the umbilical cord life is impossible. Besides, many have left their mothers’ womb before us and no one has come back to tell us there is life after death. No.  Birth is the end of it all. Nothing after that.”

The other twin kept remembering his brother’s words and became deeply troubled. He thought: “If conception ends with birth, what sense does this life in the womb have? It would have no meaning. Maybe there is not even a mother as we always thought there was.” “But there must be a mother – argued the first. – Else there would be nothing left for us at all.” – “Have you any time seen our mother? – asked the other. – Maybe we’ve just imagined her. We have invented her to explain away our life here.”   

The last days for the two twins in their mother’s womb were thus darkened with doubts and questions in deep anguish. At long last the moment of birth came. When the two twins left their world they opened their eyes and uttered a loud cry. What they saw was far beyond their wildest dreams.

(Selecciones de Teología, nº 152, Vol.38, 1999, pág.306)