Sweeping Hearts Clean: A Joyful Church Cleaning Experience

Mid December 2024 saw a motley bunch of happy hearts: we, parishioners, wielding brooms and buckets, mops and dusters, literally take the floor and ceiling of the Sacred Heart Church, Railway Colony, Madurai, by storm! As is the practice, our dear parish priest, Fr.P.Devadass gave an open invitation to all those who would like to be part of the Church cleaning team. Church cleaning holds a special place in our hearts even if it is not always possible for all of us to be there every time.

Built in 1927 by the Anglo-Indian community, the Sacred Heart Church, nestled in the exciting environs of the leafy precincts of the Railway Colony, was the fulcrum of faith, the guiding light of all those going out on line, or returning from work. The Post and Telegraph, Hospitals, Educational Institutions and the Railways were all bastions of this sincere, hardworking and fun-loving community, whose child-like love and reverence for God is legendary. The Sacred Heart Church, Madurai, is the tenacious, tangible and thriving edifice of their devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, their veritable life-force. Though recognized and designated as the Church for Anglos all over the city of Madurai, the Sacred Heart Church has its arms open wide to anyone in need of a heart-to-heart-talk with God, a quiet time of prayer or a fun time of fellowship. Church services are conducted both in English and in Tamil. This Church offers everyone seeking the solace and comfort of the divine, a perfect place of peace and tranquility.

With its centenary year fast approaching, this phenomenal Church, blessed with a long line of friendly, kind and devout parish priests, all of them truly Holy men of God, is right now being tended to with tender, loving, care by Fr.P.Devadass, our humble, gentle, joy-filled shepherd whose unwavering faith, indefatigable spirit and wisdom inspires both the young and the not so young alike. His homilies are at once simple, informative, insightful, and interesting, making the Word relevant to our everyday; his life, a testimony of his deep-rooted love in the service of God. 

Encouraged and motivated by Father’s request for cleaning the Church, we joyfully joined hands with the regular workers in the cleaning process! Here we were, an assorted group, forming a formidable brigade with one purpose: Mission Deep Clean! Some of the men folk, armed with a four-legged, super tall step-ladder, embarked on ridding the high walls and ceiling of even the slightest trace of cobweb or dust, while few of us women, got our act together strategizing our brooms, buckets and mops.

If you’ve never tried your hand at cleaning a Church, then let me tell you, in no uncertain terms, that you are really missing out on something lovely and wonderful! There is so much fun involved – what with self-styled leaders giving directions, and a whole crew of hearty followers! You tend to forget it is a task you are doing and enjoy it like you would a hobby.

Not sure if it is an ‘age’ thing, but these days, everything I venture into fortuitously harkens back to my childhood, no, not a deja-vu-like situation, but rather a fertile flood of mesmerizing memories of having been there, done that! What fun it was when dear Sr.Hosanna would call us to help clean our Holy Family Church in my hometown of Bitragunta. Starting with the floor of the Altar, a couple of us children would go on our hands and knees rubbing candle wax onto the black marble while a few of us would have a biceps workout polishing the waxed floor till it shone, oh so bright! Not a task for the faint hearted, this! Come to think of it, I now know how I got myself such a strong set of muscles! After all our hard work, dear Sr.Stella, whom I presume, was in charge of the Convent kitchen, would delight us with doughnuts – gosh, not these buns with fanciful toppings that masquerade as doughnuts today, but small, firm, rightly sweetened doughnuts that tasted yummm! I am certain that that exotic variety is extinct now. But thank God for memory; I can still taste those doughnuts of childhood, in my mind. Memory sure has a strange way of making even the intangible, tangible, for me at least!

I can see you’re as engrossed as I fast-forward to the present. The ceiling and fans all spruced up by the anti-spider men, our contingent takes over the floor, one group sweeping out the fine dust that settles well under the kneelers, with another battalion of us mopping up after them… and then suddenly somebody heralds tea break, and off we go, the happy, sweaty gang, ready to gulp down freshly brewed tea from Father’s kitchen and snack on vadas, our laughter and chatter cutting across/through barriers of any kind. That, my friends, in a nutshell, is the beauty and charm of Church cleaning together. What a magical moment of belonging and camaraderie, this cheerful coterie!

Back in our homes may we continually strive to put into practice the adage, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,”  the cleaning our places of worship resonating with this incredible idea. Another intriguing axiom painted on the wall in our Post Office in my hometown – “Work is worship. Duty is divine” speaks of putting heart and soul into all we do and whatever we are expected to do, however insignificant. Church cleaning, I would like to believe, is also a prayer in action, and, at the Sacred Heart Church, Railway Colony, Madurai, it comes with the bonus of a merry band of workers.