Hail Mary, full of grace

Mary directed me to a task that had to do with my healing, but in fulfilling that task my life was completely transformed

By Tina Petrova
Summer 2006

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I was born into a Roman Catholic family in Sault Ste. Marie, a small but hospitable town in Northern Ontario. My mother was a priest’s housekeeper at our parish of St. Gerard Majella.

Tina sought healing in prayer when the debilitating, painful wounds of a near-fatal car accident became too much to bear.

I remember fondly the highlight of Grades 7 and 8 at St. Bernadette’s Separate School when I was chosen to sing the High Mass in Latin each morning before school began. I loved the liturgy of the Church. I loved the pomp and glory, I loved the Saints, and in particular, I had a very deep and profound connection to the Virgin Mary, which has continued to this day.

One of my aunts whom I loved dearly also had a strong devotion to Mary. My aunt was a Catholic Charismatic. She was actively involved in prayer lines and healing circles and was herself the recipient of a miraculous healing of a serious illness. My aunt’s faith was unshakeable.

All in all, I grew up surrounded by ritual, ceremony and praise, which was to become the foundation of who I am now.

Years later, a near fatal car accident would severely strain and test this foundation. It was December 1997, deep in the Mojave Desert, when the Jeep Cherokee I was driving plunged off a 6,000 foot cliff.

As a result of injuries sustained in that crash, I was in chronic unrelenting pain for a full year, with no respite. Burdened by anxiety, sleeplessness and suffering, I made a pilgrimage to the creche of the Holy Child at a local church in Toronto on Christmas Eve, 1998.

I knelt before the creche and looked into the eyes of the Blessed Mother, pleading for help through a veil of tears. Leaning forward, I gently touched the feet of the infant Jesus. After a long while I stood up and began lighting the candles in front of the alcove of Mary’s shrine, sincerely praying for healing with all my heart and soul.

However connected I felt to the Divine, nothing could have prepared me for what came next.

A robed figure

That night in a dream, a robed figure appeared and instructed me to organize an event of interfaith unity bringing together peoples of different faiths and cultures all in praise of the One.

I had spent my late teens and early 20s immersed in religious studies of some of the world’s great traditions—Hinduism, Buddhism and Native American teachings. I was deeply interested in the web of life, our interconnectedness, and the ritual and liturgy of all paths to God.

I recognized the writings spoken in the dream as coming from a 13th century Sufi (a mystical sect of Islam) from the Persian Empire (present day Afghanistan), who historically has been linked to St. Francis of Assisi. They were said to have met in Damascus and became fast friends.

He is considered a Saint in Middle Eastern countries; his name, Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, or simply Rumi as he is known in the West.

This mystic from 13th century Persia has become the best-loved poet in North America today, outselling Shakespeare for the past two decades.

I was beside myself. How was I to interpret the meaning of this dream coming so soon after my prayerful appeal to Mary? Had she not been my constant confidante and companion through both difficult and celebratory times? Yet the question lingered: What did organizing an event have to do with healing my extensive injuries? I decided to continue in trust.

(CREDIT GRANGER COLLECTION)
Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), poet and mystic.

I tracked down the world’s leading translator of Rumi in the West—Coleman Barks, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia—and asked if he would come to Toronto to be the keynote speaker at this interfaith event.

After hearing my story, he did not hesitate in saying, “Yes!” Which left me wondering how I was to pull it all off with the immense pain and challenges I lived with daily.

Miracles abounded

Well, Coleman Barks did come to Toronto, miracles abounded and we had a full house not one but two nights in a row.

Somehow, all the bills for putting on the event got paid, and one morning I woke up to find the pain of my injuries gone, never to return.

My plea to Mary had directed me to a task, which in some incredible way had to do with my healing, but in retrospect, fulfilling that task completely transformed my life.

A producer from Canada’s VISION TV, the world’s largest network of interfaith programming, attended the live event and planted the seed to create a documentary film on the life, work and writings of Rumi.

This I did, which has been the single greatest gift of my life thus far. The film is titled, “Rumi—Turning Ecstatic”, and since completing it in the fall of 2005, I have had the honour of bringing it into libraries, universities, churches of all denominations, and the Catholic school system.

In producing this film, even more miracles abounded. Funding came together and several world renowned Rumi scholars granted me interviews and eventually appeared in the film.

So what is it about this Middle Eastern Saint that the Virgin Mary decided to bring to my attention?

Rumi was born into a time of holy wars, of Genghis Khan and the European Crusaders. His family fled Afghanistan and settled in Iconium, Turkey, where Rumi later became a professor at the university and was widely renowned for his profound tolerance, compassion, unshakeable faith and interfaith respect.

In one of Rumi’s well-known quatrains, he writes:

“Out beyond ideas of
wrong doing and right doing, there is a field.
I will meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
doesn’t make sense anymore…”

When this journey began, I had little exposure to this mystic poet other than hearing his ecstatic love praise to God at a conference I attended 13 years earlier in the United States.

A voice of peace

Now I understood. With all the fundamentalism, terrorism and misinterpretation of the holy writings, particularly since 9/11, the world is starved for a voice of peace, tolerance and interfaith respect. While many voices of this century could fit this description—Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mandela—Rumi’s is a voice of peace from within Islam.

(CREDIT NITIN DILAWRI)
A whirling dervish or member of the Mevlevi Sufi order, turns as a form of dhikr or remembrance of Allah. The order was founded by the followers of Rumi after his death in 1273.

Revered by Catholics and Muslims alike, the Virgin Mary—in all her knowing and ocean of compassion and mercy—seems to have guided me to shine a light on this Sufi mystic.

Is it not the mother who is constantly called upon to pull fighting children apart and who encourages them to make peace with each other? Is it not the mother who anoints wounds, cradles and gives solace?

In the course of my journey, I have come to believe that this era of global uncertainty and chaos needs exceptional illumination, courage, strength and guidance to get us all to reconciliation and peace.

I believe the guidance I received came from a Mother, a selfless Mother, who buried her own Son with grace, dignity and deep compassion and who is loved and revered by millions of people around the world.

Formed by my years growing up steeped in the Catholic faith, I am deeply grateful to Mary for coming to me in my hour of need. I believe that she will continue to be a source of strength and guidance to the world in our hour of need, as she was with her Son in His.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace.

Actor, writer and producer Tina Petrova is currently travelling on a goodwill ambassadorship across Canada and America, programming her new film “Rumi—Turning Ecstatic”, which fosters a profound experience of interfaith respect and reminds us that all praise is one praise. She will be releasing her first book in the fall of 2006 entitled “Passion for Rumi.”

Tina is involved in the interfaith work of Scarboro Missions, particularly in the World Religions Retreat Days for high school students. She is available to travel to your school or church to screen the film and lead dialogue, and can be reached through her website at: www.rumi-turningecstatic.com

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