Friends,
Isn’t this a wonderful day to release this issue of INI?
On this day, 15 August, we celebrate the Assumption of our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Here in India, it is also the Independence Day – the day the nation celebrates winning political freedom from the British.
On 15 August 2023 India would complete 76 years of political freedom and enter the 77th year. In these 76 years, thank God, India has achieved spectacular progress in several areas.
But alarmingly it faces also serious threats to the freedoms it won. The article in this issue by Paul Michael, SJ contrasts the noble vision our Founding Fathers had for this country with what we are witnessing today.
Manipur and Nuh in Haryana are painful symptoms of all that is wrong in this great country.
So there is a lot to pray for. We need to pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary, whose triumphal entry into heaven is celebrated here on the same day India’s tricolor was hoisted by its jubilant citizens. This is why she is hailed also as ‘Queen of India.’
We need to pray that she gives us the wisdom and the courage to ensure that India remains a sovereign, secular, social democracy where all our freedoms are and will be intact.
– M.A. Joe Antony, SJ