Offaly aid worker recalls time working with the street poor, lepers and the dying in India

The first thing I did each day during my time working on the streets of Calcutta in India was to attend Mass in Mother Teresa's convent, before heading out onto the streets where I worked with street poor, lepers and the dying.

At one of these Masses an Indian priest gave a beautiful sermon. He told two stories about love and resurrecting love with the first one as follows about love. There is a story related by Saint Jerome that when the Apostle John was an old man, his followers would bring him to the place where the Christians assembled to celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday. When it was time for him to preach, the crowds would gather around him.

Every week, his message was the same: “Little children, love one another!” Eventually one of those closest to him asked, “Do you never tire of giving the same message?” To this, John replied, “I never tire of proclaiming this, because Jesus never grew tired of proclaiming it.”

Love one another

In the first of the New Testament letters attributed to John, we are told: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God…if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us” (1 John 4:7, 12). For many of us, however, the meaning of love is often lost amid myriad, competing definitions, misconceptions, and images that bombard us daily. Romance, fraternity, friendship, duty, and affection are all facets of love, but are these what John was writing about?

And what about the fear we can have of being unlovable, that sense that we are not or could not be loved by God or anyone else? Sometimes we might even believe that we have to earn love. But if we are able to resurrect the true meaning of love, and understand what it means to be loved by God, then we can also learn what it means to love ourselves and one another. The second story the priest told is about a family and their joy of resurrecting their love.

The Child, the Mother and the Father

One day a child got the toy he had hoped for. It was the most sought after. He hugged it as if it was priceless and agreed when told that, as it was very expensive, his parents would not be able to afford another one. He called his friends and showed them his new toy. But the elation did not last long. After a few weeks, one of his friends got the latest toy available, the one that was now the most sought after. The child lost interest in his toy, and though his mother tried to explain that his toy was a very good one, he looked away and cried. The toy, now rejected, remained forgotten in a corner. The child’s mother had her own problems.

After much planning and saving, she had just gotten her new home and worked hard to ensure it would be the pride of the community. This was until a new house was built close by. This new house was undoubtedly the most modern. The owner invited her around and showed her inside. When she went back to her own house, she looked at it anew and her heart sank. The house looked common and was not worth any attention or special care. From that moment on, she lost interest in her own home and it became dirty. Her husband noticed the change and gently inquired. His wife told him she was no longer interested in the house because the neighbours' house was better. He tried to explain to her that their house was a very good one.

But the woman remained silent and cried. The woman’s husband had personal problems too. His wife was beautiful and he was madly in love with her but his friends had young wives and some of them were very beautiful. As he came to know them, his interest in his wife diminished and his feelings changed. A growing coldness crept between them. His wife tried to talk to him, but he remained silent.
One day the child’s eye fell on the old abandoned toy. He started playing with it contentedly. He had not noticed that the door of his room was slightly ajar and his mother was looking at him with loving curiosity. She felt happy in her heart that her child had made friends again with his old toy, and she smiled to herself in silence. The next day, as she was sitting alone in her home, she noticed how dusty and dirty it was. She rose to her feet and began tidying the house.

She had rediscovered and resurrected her interest in her house and once more she became the efficient wife she used to be. As her husband approached the house, he noticed his wife going enthusiastically about her chores and at once rejoiced. He felt happy that his wife had reconciled herself with the house and he smiled to himself in silence. The next day, when the husband and wife were seated in their sitting room, the husband looked at his wife and suddenly realised again what a beautiful woman she was. In that moment, he realised he loved her more than ever. He went to her and took her in his arms and resurrected their love and let it flow and encountered so many blessings from that day onwards.

Love flow

Loving others is the greatest of all blessings that we can ever give them. Out of our hearts of love will then flow specific practical blessings. We must understand that this love flows from the love that God extends to us and is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). This kind of love is more than natural love, it is love that comes from God. Only the God kind of love can enable us to bear, believe, hope, and endure all things (1 Corinthians 13:7).

To be a person of love is at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. After all, it was Jesus who said, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love” (John 15:9). But this is easier said than done. Ultimately, when we can learn to be grateful for the immeasurable gifts that God has so freely given to each of us, especially the gift of love, then we will become more loving and lovable people. Even if we do great things for others, if the things we do are not anchored in love, we gain nothing. Discovering the blessings can go far beyond our homes and families and can be a framework to extend unconditional love and acceptance in our wider circles of influence. Whatever your vocation, as you bless others in words and actions, relationships are enriched and people's lives are changed. 

What is love? 

It is silence, when your words would hurt. It is patience, when your neighbour’s curt. It is deafness, when a scandal flows. It is promptness, when stern duty calls. It is courage, when misfortune falls. Love ever gives. Forgives, outlives, And ever stands With open hands. 

And while it lives, It gives, For this is love’s prerogative, to give, and give, and give. 

As the author Annie Dillard once said, “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives,” so let each one of us spend wisely and be a blessing of love to ourselves and to others as much as we can and when we can. How will you treasure, cherish, and spend your time and make the most of your love today? Make the best of your life while you still can, for life can be shorter than you think and passes quickly and can be gone in the blink of an eye. It has no second half or repeat performance and it is all too easy to become entangled in the things that are of no value to us as we journey through life. That is why it is so important to make good use of our love and of this special time that God has given to us. 

Thought for the week

As your thought for the week, rediscover the good and love in your life. Resurrect it, cherish it and hold on to it because life is short and always remember that love is really all that matters because everyone comes into this world with nothing other than love and leaves with nothing other than love. Think about it. Profession, career, bank account, our goods are just tools, nothing more. Everything stays here. So just love and be a blessing. Love and bless, as if there was nothing more important in your life. Let me leave you with this Prayer Blessing by Br. David Steindl-Rais called the Source of All Blessings and Love so that we will bless what there is, for being. Whatever it be, bless and love it because it exists; you need no other reason.

"Source of All Blessings and Love, you bless us with breath. In and out, in and out, ever-renewing us, ever anew, making us one with all who breathe the same air. May this blessing of love overflow into a shared gratefulness, so that with one breath I may praise, bless, love and celebrate life. Source of All Blessings of Love, you bless us with humility, that down-to-earth quality that has nothing in common with humiliation but makes us stand tall and acknowledge both the humus that feeds us and the stars to which we aspire.  May I learn to practice, and to honour in others, this sparkling humility which is the dignity and love that we, as human beings cannot afford to lose. Source of All Blessings and Love, you love and bless us with imprecision. With all that is vague, close but not quite; all that leaves room for the more specific, the more precise, and room for the imagination. May I know when to be exact and when to move freely and blessed in the space so generously provided by all that is not perfectly defined, giving full scope to my dreams and my creativity. Source of All Blessings and Love, you love and bless us with memory. That sacred ingathering of the past that allows us to recognize faces, learn poems by heart, find our way back when we are lost, and bring forth old and new from its nearly inexhaustible store. May I know what to forget and what to retain and treasure, keeping in mind the smallest kindness shown to me and spreading its ripples for a long time to come. Source of All Blessings and Love, you love and bless us with change. In the seasons of the year, from snow to greening, flowering, fruiting and harvest, in the seasons of life, from childhood to youth, full ripeness, and saging. All living things keep changing. May I welcome change as a sacred opportunity to grow, love more and savour in each unrepeatable moment’s fleetingness what is beyond change. Source of All Blessings and Love, you love and bless us with departures. For they are a necessary part of our journey, necessary for the arriving.

May I always be ready to take leave, always aware that every arrival is a prelude to departure, every birth a step towards dying, and may I thus taste the blessings of being fully present where I am. May love and blessings help to sharpen your taste for the gift of life in its immeasurable facets. May you grow ever more blessed and loved, ever more able to to love and to bless. Go be a Love Blessing to everyone, especially those most in need in our world. Amen"