Ecce Homo

On a Sunday early morning, I rode my scooter across town to visit an elderly gentleman who lives alone.

When I reached, he smiled kindly but said it was too early for him, and asked if we could meet another time.

So I turned back—not disappointed, just unhurried—and made my way to the jetty. From there, I took a junkar boat across the Cochin ship channel toward Vallarpadam.

It was then that I noticed a board announcing the exposition of the centuries-old Ecce Homo—a special grace offered during Lent.

History came alive in that moment. In 1663, when the Dutch conquest of Cochin drove out the Portuguese from Fort Cochin, the Catholic community was forced to flee. They carried with them their altar and the revered Ecce Homo, taking refuge across the waters at the Our Lady of Hope Church.

Most likely, this remains one of the oldest living devotions connected to the first European Catholic church in India.

And I could not help but think—had the gentleman received me that morning, I would have missed this grace entirely.