a postcard from India

The Indian poet Kabir (1440-1518) says in a poem that we often hope to meet God in a moment of time. Little do we realize that this moment is with the person at the side of us! How true is it that we often search for God but are rarely aware that he resides in each and every person we meet! “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6 : 19-20)
It was wonderful that I lived all my life in Calcutta in India before moving to the city of Chennai where I reside now.

I had the opportunity to visit Wrocław in Poland and loved the city and the people. When people in Poland asked me about the name of the city that I live in India, almost no one had heard about the city of Chennai! Some did not know New Delhi which is what Warszawa is to Poland. However, it was beautiful to know that everyone knew about Calcutta! The main reason was because of Mother Teresa. The wonderful nun who dedicated her life to the Jesus she saw in every person! “Each one of them is Jesus in disguise” is what she said about the poor and downtrodden that she was a shining light to.

As a young boy, I had the opportunity to meet her a few times. It’s hard to forget the first time I met this saintly nun. She was sitting in a corner on the floor of the chapel at the Missionaries of Charity house. One could hear (and even today you can hear) the bustling street outside – cars honking, trams passing by noisily and buses restarting their engines. However, this beautiful lady was absorbed in prayer. Today, there is a statue in the place where she used to sit, absorbed in prayer even though there was so much noise around!

I end this post with these thoughts of seeing God in everyone we deal with during this week and to continue our dialogue with God through this gift of time we have.
Have a lovely week!

Joseph