Orissa: 13 year old offers 'lockdown' flowers to Our Lady

Meghanjali Majhi drew the flowers on paper because she could not go to the forest to collect them. Prayers to Mary to intercede to stop the pandemic. Santojini, Majhi's mother: "Thanks to the intervention of Our Lady we saved ourselves from the attacks of Hindu fundamentalists between 2007 and 2008".

Raikia (AsiaNews) - A 13-year-old Catholic girl designed and offered her 'lockdown flowers' as a sign of devotion to Our Lady during the Marian month of May, which ended yesterday.

Due to the confinement measures against the coronavirus, Meghanjali Majhi was unable to collect fresh flowers in the forest to offer Mother Mary. To express her veneration to the Virgin she decided to use her own art, painting flowers on sheets of paper: "I am confident that Mary will receive my flowers as a symbol of my devotion and respect, and will intercede to stop the pandemic", she says Majhi to AsiaNews.

For Majhi, the Rosary and prayer to Mary are powerful tools for fighting Covid-19. The young Catholic tells of being inspired by the Mary to be charitable and kind to everyone: "Thanks to her intercession, I am in good health, I can study and realize myself in life".

Majhi's work has attracted attention and aroused the admiration of many people: "She is a model student, also with talent for dance and singing. I am proud of the creative way in which she invoked Mary during the confinement period," says Sr. Maria Goretti Senapti, superior of the convent of Santa Caterina in Raikia, and secretary of the attached high school where Majhi is a student.

Life has been hard in the past for Majhi. Her mother Santojini remembers their flight into the jungle during the anti-Christian violence between 2007 and 2008: "Thanks to the intervention of Our Lady we saved ourselves from attacks by Hindu fundamentalists in the Kandhmal area".