orphanage visit

I was amazed at how close I got to my Catholic faith in a place that is over 85% Hindu. First was the incredible opportunity to visit St. Thomas Basilica. This is one of only three cathedrals in the world that stands over the tomb an apostle of Jesus Christ! St. Thomas came to India in 52 A.D. to spread the word of the Lord, and died there as a martyr only twenty years later. I got chills while walking down beneath the church where the tomb lies, just thinking about being so close to someone who actually touched Jesus. It was a very special time for me to pray for my Uncle Tom, a priest in Alaska who touches lives every day with the love of Christ!
Another day we went to Missionaries of Charity Orphanage, known simply as “Mother Theresa’s House” to locals. Zig-zagging through the streets of Chennai India on a crazy rickshaw ride, I was armed with the usual bubbles, stickers and toys that I bring to other orphanage visits, and ready to play! But as it usually goes, God had other plans. He doesn’t need material things to work, and sometimes it is easy to forget that. Just a simple touch can change a life. It is hard to explain the deep connection that I felt with the little boy whose head lay in y lap. His whole body was crippled by polio and he could hardly move at all. All I could do was sit there, stroking his arm and constantly wave the flies out of his open mouth. That was enough. Soon his body became more relaxed, and his hand finally loosened from a clenched fist.
Of the seventy or so kids who reside in the orphanage the vast majority have severe mental or physical disabilities. For some, their mothers didn’t get pre-natal care and abandoned them shortly after birth. Others are enduring the side- effects of incest, which is still practiced in rural parts of India. And still others are suffering from traumatic early life experiences of abuse or neglect. The workers have actually found many children by looking in dumpsters around the city.
Yes it was heartbreaking to see these kids so helpless and so weak, but it was also heart-building to be there and for the first time, really understand the value of every human life. I am usually the one who can’t watch the operating scenes in Grey’s Anatomy, so I was kind of surprised that it was never hard for me to look at the children. I wanted to see them. No matter which way their limbs were deformed, no matter if they couldn’t hear me, or talk to me. Their lives have a purpose, an intrinsic value, just like the rest of us. Mother Theresa dedicated her life to helping the most wretchedly poor, the most severely crippled. She did not turn away from anyone, and being in her orphanage, I was challenged to do the same. I loved listening to the nun’s funny anecdotes about Mother Theresa’s visits there, and their passionate testimonials of why they do this kind of work. The pure selfless goodness that they have to take care of these children 24 hours a day seven days a week is nothing short of miraculous, and a result of an incredible undying faith. The people inside Mother Theresa’s house gave so much to me in the short time I was there, more than I could ever give back to them. I witnessed God working at his best, and that was pretty amazing!