The Poorest of the Poor

This experience has been extremely blessed and I have had my eyes opened in so many ways. Simply being in India, I find so many things to be very shocking.  The culture is extremely different from America.  One of the differences is in the way that people drive.  From an outside perspective, there seems to be an extreme lack of rules and it almost seems like a “free for all.” The cars get extremely close to each other, yet I have never seen them make contact.  There are many other things that are totally different from America such as how the people use their horns, the amount of trash everywhere, the jam-packed buses, and many other things. The point I want to focus on is the shocking experience of the vast number of poor.

              I have not looked down any street and not been able to see someone who is homeless. There is a seemingly endless amount of people who have nearly nothing.  When I go in the morning to the Mother House, which is about 2 blocks, I find at least 4 people sleeping on the streets. Most of the ones I have seen have nothing but a blanket between themselves and the ground.  It is so sad to see this kind of poverty.  The Missionaries of Charity do so much to help as many of them as they can. They are filled with love, humility, and the desire to give of themselves.  One of the shocking things was to see Mother Teresa’s room.  It was about the size of an average American bathroom.  It had room for a small bed, a dresser, and a desk.  The bed had very little cushion and would give people back pains after the first night of sleep.  The desk is where she did so much work and yet the chair had no back.  To experience the pains of the poor, she joined them in the ways she could and I’m guessing the other Missionaries of Charity sisters take up similar disciplines.  They are filled with so much love and I am blessed to be able to witness it and grow in that love myself.

-Sean Mulcare