Can a person without a wife or children truly have a family?
The question comes from an unexpected source—a hotel waiter who quietly says, "I feel sorry for you." His words become the beginning of a remarkable journey of reflection.
In The World Became My Family, Arul Lourdu tells the story of a life shaped by faith, suffering, friendship, and an unending search for truth. From a small village in South India to seminaries, universities, prisons, hospitals, villages, and parishes across India and Germany, he discovers that the deepest meaning of family is not found in blood alone, but in every person who enters our lives with love.
This is far more than a memoir. It is a pilgrimage through childhood, loss, vocation, philosophy, theology, different cultures, and the wisdom of the world's great spiritual traditions. Along the way, ordinary people become extraordinary teachers, strangers become lifelong friends, and every encounter reveals something about God, humanity, and ourselves.
Written with honesty, warmth, and profound gratitude, this book invites readers to look back on their own lives and recognise the people who quietly shaped them. It reminds us that every journey leaves us changed, every act of kindness enlarges our hearts, and every human life is connected in ways we often discover only with time.
A moving memoir of faith, hope, and humanity, The World Became My Family is an inspiring testament to the power of love to cross every border and to the truth that our greatest family may be far larger than we ever imagined.
