I AM WITH YOU | KAIROS GLOBAL | AUGUST 2026

Author: Sujamol Jose

Audio:https://open.spotify.com/episode/71ZEJE4JT8WpJE8062BSpe

Intro: Sujamol Jose was privileged to have Palliachen as her spiritual director for over thirty years. She fondly shares lessons, love and memories of him.

God, our good Father – who goes after a lamb gone astray, leaving 99 behind – came in search of sheep lost and trapped in sorrow... Having found them all, He assured them, saying, 'I am with you…' And He gathered them and dried their tears. This God who came down to earth looked for a place to dwell... And for 86 years, that dwelling has been the Jesuit priest Fr Abraham Pallivathukal – Palliachen. 

For all these years, Palliachen has kept walking – a walk with no rest – drying the tears of many and holding them close. Through him, many have recognised the love of God the Father; in him, many saw Jesus. 

I came to know Palliachen in 1991, and since then he has been my spiritual father. In his later years, when he got sick, people advised me to seek spiritual guidance elsewhere; but I knew that as long as he was there, Palliachen would be the only spiritual father I would have. 

Throughout my life, at every stage, Palliachen was someone who came to us and stood close by us. When Achan moved away from Ernakulam (where we lived), and was transferred to Trivandrum, and later to Kozhikode, I wondered how I would meet him. But every three months – even when I never thought I could make it – I have been miraculously blessed to have been able to meet him. 

The last time I met him was just three weeks before his passing. When we reached, Achan was being taken by wheelchair out of his room to go to the hospital. But we got to spend a few precious moments with him. When Achan asked, ‘Mone, why did you take the trouble to come?’ I reminded him of the countless times he had come to visit us, and that this was no trouble at all. After he got into the car to go, something made me get in beside him and give him a kiss. That was my last embrace for him. I fell ill and was hospitalised shortly before his passing, and was unable to attend his funeral.  

I remember his constant care and concern whenever we fell ill; those comforting words from him, ‘I am with you, Mole,’ in all our trouble-filled phases. As the kids grew up, he would ask after them often, about their studies, the courses they took, our finances – and this was not just to us – he was a foster father who closely knew and intervened in the lives of numerous other people and families. He knew our every need and understood us like no other priest – person even. People say that if Palliachen took a person under his wing, it was not only that person; their spouse, their children, and every aspect of their lives became his own. Our family is a witness to this. 

The birth of our youngest was a miracle because of his intercession. Months before, I was hospitalised with uterus-related complications. Achan came and prayed for me. This was when he was in Kottayam. Later that night he called and said, ‘Continue the treatment. Next year, this time, you will have a child.’ It happened as he said. Joshua was born the following year.  The day before the delivery, Achan called and said, ‘Pray, claiming the verse, Psalm 23:4 Even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’ And I wondered at that, because everyone said, being my third delivery, it would be easy. But complications arose during the delivery, and the doctors said that only one of us would survive. It was God’s grace and Achan’s prayers that Joshua and I are alive today. Joshua – God is salvation – was the name Palliachen suggested. 

We have had innumerable instances of Palliachen intervening to help us, and each time, we were left with a lesson for life. One morning around 11 am, when he stayed in Ernakulam, he called to say, ‘If you both are free, come and meet me – just the two of you, no need to bring the children.’ We reached in an hour to find him ready and waiting for us. He got into the car and asked us to go to a hotel. There we had lunch together, and he told us, ‘Both of you should find time to go out together, without the kids, for a meal or a movie. These are small but important ways to sustain love in marriage.’ After lunch, Achan directed us to a place close by. We arrived at a newly constructed and beautifully built double-storey house. When we asked whose house it was, he told us the person’s name, and that the following day was the house blessing. When I asked what Achan’s connection with the house was, he revealed that it was a house the Jesuits had built for the person free of cost. Seeing the beautiful edifice, I wondered aloud, ‘Such a beautiful house even though it’s for free?!’ Achan looked at me for a moment and said, ‘Edi penne, who is the house for?’ I repeated the name Achan previously mentioned. Giving my ears a small pinch, he said, ‘Mole, isn’t the house for Jesus? When we give Him something, shouldn’t it be the best? Would we give Him something shabby or old?’ It was a reply that opened my heart. He was teaching us to see Jesus in others and love them accordingly. Since that day, whenever I have given others anything – be it time or something material – I am always reminded of this incident. When such lessons are lived by us, Palliachen never dies. 

Throughout these years, I’ve never had to unburden my sorrows … whenever my heart has felt heavy, Palliachen would call asking, ‘What’s wrong, Mole?’ How could he have known, I’ve always wondered. Today, when I remember his ‘I am with you, Mole,’ I understand. He was a saint, a priest who led a holy life; now with Jesus in heaven. And from now on he will say, ‘We are with you, Mole.’