I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you. // John 13:34 (from the Gospel Acclamation)
Horns were honking as people semi-confidently walked into oncoming traffic. We stepped out, hoping against hope that our guides’ recommendations on how to navigate the streets of Calcutta were actually true. There was a palpable urgency in the air. We entered the chapel of the Missionaries of Charity’s motherhouse for morning Mass, prayer, and a light breakfast together before we were commissioned from the motherhouse to serve alongside the Sisters at the various and precarious sites of their apostolates. Each of us found ourselves eager to meet those we were tasked to love.
Our group arrived at Kalighat, a home for the dying and the destitute, and then donned our aprons as directed. Descending the stairs, we entered the living area and were stunned. In various corners of the hall, residents were impoverished, dying, and in need of care. Each of us were initially assigned to one or two residents at a time: feeding them, dressing them, changing them, or simply combing their hair. Day in and day out, we would live this rhythm. The residents came to know our faces as we came to know theirs. We lost sight of who was the one tasked with caring for each individual person as serving became a mutual act among all of us, and we shared life together. We learned that receiving Christ’s love impels us to not only give Christ’s love but to receive it as well.
Today, I challenge each one of us to find our own Calcutta and realize that the corner of the world that we are in is the opportunity He has given us to love and be loved. May we come to realize that everything really is all gift meant to be given to others in return of receiving.
Senite Sahlezghi is a consecrated virgin for the Archdiocese of Denver. Native to Colorado, she is a first generation Eritrean American, is a Licensed Professional Counselor with a master’s in Counseling Psychology, and serves as the School Counselor for St. John Paul the Great Catholic High School. Grateful to be in a place surrounded by mountains and live music, the greatest privilege of her life remains being called to be Christ’s bride.
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