A GERMAN WRITER SHARES HER PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN INDIA (in her own words)... I was just 18 years old, thirsty to discover what real spirituality meant. As I traveled on my own from Germany to Mother Teresas home in Calcutta, my heart was pounding. I went up the stairs toward the prayer chapel and met a small woman. I asked her where I could find Mother Teresa. She held out her hands and I burst into tears. With a warm smile she simply said: Welcome. It’s me. Her obvious love, simplicity and purity touched me deeply. For several months I worked alongside the joyous nuns and Mother Teresa. Every day we went to the slums to offer food and medicine. I saw that even though these people had nothing, they shared their little bit of rice with each other. They were there for one another and had faith. Who really is poor I wondered? We in the West with our excessive wealth, isolation from each other and loss of soul--or they? We have a different kind of poverty that may be harder to heal though, than the one in India, where basic necessities make life possible. A little 5 year-old girl in the orphanage, where I worked offered Mother Teresa her only toy to take to the children in the slums. I could see how precious this doll was to her and yet how happy she looked to be able to offer her gift. When I entered the house of the dying, I felt enveloped in a real sense of peace. The sisters tended so lovingly and respectfully to the ones close to death. How could the sisters bear to live and serve in the midst of the worst of human suffering? What was it that made them capable to do this work daily with such apparent love, joy and dedication? There was a handwritten paper pinned on the wall of the chapel, which read: When I was homeless you opened your doors. When I was naked you gave me your coat. When I was in prison, you came to my cell. When I was lonely, you gave me your love. This humble and strong woman had changed my life. Mother Teresa is more than a Christian saint. Her life of true compassion can speak to all of us with a profound and universal message: to simply act from love every moment of our lives.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 07:59:27 +0000
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