Our friend Malini, who succumbed to a terminal illness, bravely fought her illness on the night of Sunday, April 11, 2010, the first Sunday after Easter.
Malini was a Weerasinghe, and through my Trinity College, Kandy links, I knew all of the Weerasinghes. But it was through her marriage to Sevaka Yohan Devananda that I first met Malini. I had known Yohan from my Peradeniya University days.
When I was Registrar for the College, I was invited by our Ecumenical Seminary in Pilimatalawa to be the Director of Lay Formation. It was my responsibility to find housing for Yohan and Malini. It was then that I had the joy and privilege of meeting Malini.
My friendship with Malini could be divided into my Pilimatalawa days and my Colombo days. It was during my Colombo days that I truly got to know Malini the person. This getting-to-know process was mainly because of Malini’s wish to be ordained in our church.
I was part of the group that interviewed Malini for ordination. We have a rule that all those being prepared for ordination must work with a priest and a congregation. I invited Malini to help me with the Sinhala work at the Cathedral. Malini gladly accepted the invitation.
It was a joy to be a part of the group responsible for Malini’s ordination, along with three others as the first women deacons of our Church. This historic event took place on the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2003. As Diocesan Director of Ordinands, I continued to work with Malini and the other women deacons. My last official work with Malini was to see how Colombo and Kurunegala could work together to further education.
This tribute would not be complete without mention of Malini’s qualities as a deeply caring person.
One Christmas I was alone in Pilimatalawa, as my late wife and daughter were visiting family and friends in Bangkok, and Malini invited me over to Christmas lunch.
After my wife’s death and my daughter departure to America, I came to Colombo to work. Malini made it a point to come by at Kitu Sevana, where I lived, and invite me to her Nawala residence for a meal. A few days before my daughter’s wedding, Malini visited and asked if she could be of help. She was worried about me as a single parent coping with all the arrangements for my daughter’s wedding.
At the end of the sermon at Malini’s funeral service at the Cathedral, Bishop Duleep asked, “Where is Malini now?”
The answer is that Malini is now with all those with whom she worked.
Malini has touched all our lives. We must continue the work she began.
Our prayers are with Yohan and the Weerasinghes, and all those who will miss Malini in the days to come.
May her soul rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.
Sydney Knight
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