Chapter 4 Chapter 4 "Crash" at the Holy Family Hospital

Mary, mother of Jesus, let my heart be like yours, So beautiful, so pure, so unblemished, Filled with such love and humility that I can be in the Bread of Life Receive Jesus and love him as you love him, in his incarnation the poor of the poor Serve him in the shape of misery. ——The Meditation Prayer of Mother Teresa and the Sisters "Crash" at Holy Family Hospital Mother Delam knew that before she could start serving the poor, she had to have some expertise in medicine and nursing.Otherwise serving the poor will be empty talk.So, as soon as she left the monastery, she went straight to the railway station and got on an express train bound for Patna.

Patna is located on the Ganges River in the west-north of Calcutta, about 500 kilometers away from Calcutta.The American Medical Missionary Society runs a Holy Family Hospital there.Although the hospital run by nuns is located in far away Patna.But it enjoys a good reputation and a high reputation throughout India. The American priest who was the director of the hospital warmly received the nun who came from afar.After listening to Mumu's brief statement, he said: "Mummu, I have to tell you that you have to learn all the courses. It must take two years, at least not less than two years."

Mumu became anxious when she heard this, and she said, "Two years? Then I have become an old woman? Is there any special quick way, just like the express train when I came here." The dean smiled. He felt that the petite nun in front of him was very similar to his temperament. He used to open a surgical and gynecological clinic, which made the Vatican uneasy.He said: "I understand your feelings very well, but I don't have any quick fix here, but I will try to provide you with convenience," So Mumu created a quick-fix method: that is to reduce sleep time, and reduce it, and reduce it again.If others study 8 hours a day, then she will study 16 hours or even more.

Therefore, in just half a year, in fact, in less than half a year, Mumu has learned all the knowledge that should have been learned in two years, including tuberculosis and leprosy care, maternal and child health care and midwifery skills, as well as the prevention and treatment of some common diseases. treatment etc. However, in terms of diet, Mumu had conflicts and disputes with the nuns. The food provided by the hospital was rich, but Mumu only ate rice and salt."I, and those who work with me, have to eat only rice and salt. Because this is the basic food of the poor, I must be like them," Mumu said.

Although the nuns vehemently opposed her approach, she still went her own way.It wasn't until the priest himself intervened, and the priest told her, "It's a sin for you to do this." She had to agree to choose a little food that she thought was appropriate. Although Sister Duran was called a "saint" when she was alive, she was actually quite stubborn in some ways, which made her more like an ordinary person, a living person.And not only will we not change our views on her because of this, on the contrary, we will only respect her more. In fact, Sister Durham's compromise on diet was only temporary, and she ate only the simplest food for most of her later life, and so did her followers.Mumu said: "Unless you live the life of the poor, how do you know them? If they are dissatisfied with the food, we can say that we eat the same thing. If they say hot, we are hot. They walk barefoot, we Yes. They only have a bucket of water, and so do we. They line up, and so do we. We can only lift them up by lowering ourselves. If we can prove with our actions that we can actually live the same life as them, then, They will open their hearts to us."

great poor Sister Delam was leaving the Holy Family Hospital in Patna for Calcutta.Before she comes back, I feel that it is necessary for me to share a few little stories of poor people with you.Because Mumu has said many times: "The poor are great, and the poor are lovely." And as soon as Mumu returns to Calcutta, she will enter a slum called Motiji and live with the poor there.If we can read these little stories with a heart of pity and gratitude, I think we can have a deeper insight into the greatness and loveliness that Mumu said, and we can also understand the difference in this conclusion more practically. Fantastic.

One day, Mother Delam found 4 homeless people on the street, and one of them looked very bad, so she said to the nun who followed her: "Go and take care of those 3 people, I will take care of them." Come and take care of it." The medicine has no effect on the poor creature, and Mumu can only try to comfort her with all her love and everything she can do.Mumu helped her carefully onto the bed, trying to make her lie as comfortable as possible, and then Mumu held her hand and stroked her hair and face.At this time, the poor man actually smiled, and it was very beautiful and peaceful.Finally, she held Mumu's hand tightly, said "thank you" gratefully, closed her eyes and died.

This woman's attitude towards death and how she behaved when it came, shocked Mumu.Mumu said: "In front of her, I couldn't help but reflect on myself. I asked myself, what would I say if I were her? I might say, I'm hungry, I'm dying, I'm cold, My whole body hurts, or whatever, it’s all complaining and injustice. But she just said thank you and smiled at me. She made me see a noble love. She taught me a lot.” Once, when Sister Durham and the nuns went out to work, they saw a man lying in the gutter on the side of the street and rescued him.Only then did they realize that half of his body had been eaten by maggots, which looked terrifying and uncomfortable.But they took him to the almshouse anyway, where they washed him and comforted him as best they could.Not long after, the man died.Before dying, he said: "I've lived my whole life in the streets like an animal, but you made me die like an angel."

Sister Delam believes that a poor man who lived such a humble life can say such words when he dies, which is enough to prove that his heart is great and his personality is perfect.He lived such a miserable life, but when he died, he didn't curse anyone, didn't speak ill of anyone, and didn't blame society and fate.Mumu said: "He is like a pure angel. This is the greatness of our people." One morning, a strange man suddenly came to Mumu's residence. He said to Mumu, "Sister, a family with eight children has been without food for several days. Please help them anyway." Immediately packed a small bag of rice and delivered it in person.

When the children saw the nun delivering the rice, they were overjoyed, and their eyes widened with hunger.Mumu felt a pain in her heart—she was so familiar with such eyes.But after the child's mother took the rice, she divided it into two parts, and then hurried out with one part. When she came back, Mumu couldn't help asking her, "Where have you been? What have you been?" But she simply replied: "They are also starving." It turned out that the neighbor's house also had no rice for several days. The mother, who had eight starving children to feed, gave half of her extremely limited sack of rice to her neighbors.This is the greatness and beauty of the poor—I am in poverty, but I have great pity for those who are as poor as him, or even not poorer than him.

Moreover, her neighbor is a Muslim family. In India, there are often conflicts and conflicts between Muslims and Hindus, and some even never communicate with each other. Even today, their relationship has not improved significantly. Sister Delam said: "This incident deeply moved me, but I have never sent rice to her neighbors. The purpose of my doing this is to let them share the joy and beauty of love while helping each other. .” On December 10, 1979, at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, Sister Durham finished telling the story, and then she pointedly asked: "Do we remember that our neighbors need our love? Do we remember? But She remembers, she is in her own hunger, but still knows that someone else is hungry." One day in November 1983, the famous journalist Jane Goodwin came to Calcutta to interview Mother Durham.Although it is already winter, the temperature in Calcutta is still around 30 degrees Celsius, so homeless people still live on the sidewalks on both sides of the street.According to the most conservative statistics at that time, the number of vagrants in Calcutta was as high as 500,000, and many experts even believed that the actual number was far more than 500,000.This kind of situation - the concentration of so many homeless people, makes it almost impossible for Jane to believe that this is in the human world.So, he thought he should do something. A nun told Jane that there was a slum under the Hara Bridge in Calcutta, which was rarely visited because of its remoteness.If Jane likes, she can go there and have a look. The next day, before dawn, Jane went there, but Jane saw that although it was still dawn, there were already many people waiting in line to receive food.Some carried begging bowls or jars, while others didn't even have a bowl, just an old newspaper or a plastic bag.The nun had told Jane that on most days their waiting would be fruitless because so few people would come here. After searching for a long time, Jane finally found a bread vendor on the street Iq near Halla Bridge.For 30 rupees (about $2.85), Jane bought all 140 of the peddler's "buris" -- deep-fried bread stuffed with vegetables. Jane carried the 140 loaves of bread and walked towards Hara Bridge.As the smell of bread wafted past on the wind, the hungry people began to shout and stir.As soon as Jane approached, people rushed forward and surrounded Jane.Some grabbed his basket, others pulled his clothes.The mothers, on the other hand, held their babies up high in front of Jane, hoping to win his sympathy and remind Jane not to forget them. Faced with this scene, Jane suddenly became timid.Although he is an experienced reporter who has seen the world, he is not familiar with or understands today's scene, and he doesn't know what will happen next. And the number of people pushing towards him continued unabated. At a glance, they were all waving their arms and shouting and begging.He began to worry about his own safety, and even wondered whether he should come here, his camera was still hanging on his shoulder, and there were some dollars in his pocket.For this group of people who have nothing, he is obviously a wealthy Westerner, and at the same time the best robbery target. But what happened next shocked Jane. Although people were still rushing toward him like a tide, he suddenly discovered that everyone actually only held one piece of bread.The scene looked chaotic, but as soon as they got a piece of bread, the people in front would retreat automatically—in order for the people behind to squeeze up.Although the arms that reach into the basket are very thin, it can be seen that it is caused by severe hunger.But no one ever took an extra loaf, except mothers with babies to feed. This is a group of people who have nothing, but they are so considerate of each other, always thinking of others, so generous, so selfless.This surprised Jane very much. After distributing the bread, Jane walked towards the parking place.At this time, the sun rose, and the rising sun shone on this impoverished place, making it gradually brighter. Although few people came here to visit, the sun still shone on them. In the bright morning light, Jane saw four puppies curled up beside a big dog, apparently just born.In order to make the postpartum bitch and puppies sleep more comfortably, someone found a broken blanket and put it on the sleeping place of the dog, and put a burlap bag under the blanket.And the man himself, most likely, didn't even have a bed. Because of this personal experience, Jane has since changed her view of the poor. The poor have no money and no status, but they do not lack mutual help and understanding.This is the greatness of the poor. One evening, on the street of Calcutta, a beggar came up to Sister Duran and said, "Sister, everyone gives to you, and I want to give to you too. I only got 29 cents for the whole day today, but I want to give you all the money." Mom thought at the time: "If I accept it, he will definitely be hungry tonight. If I don't accept it, I will definitely hurt him." So Mumu held out her hands and happily took the 29 cents--29 cents that were of little value to Mumu.At this moment, Mumu was amazed to see that the beggar smiled so contentedly and brightly.Mumu thought, "Maybe he discovered that even a humble beggar like himself can be helped by others if he wants to." It was a beautiful thing that this poor man, sitting all day in the hot sun, collected only twenty-nine cents, which he gave to Sister Durham. Twenty-nine cents is so little, but when the beggar gives it and the mother accepts it, it becomes a huge sum of millions.Because there is a lot of love in it. Another time, Sister Duran picked up a child in the street.Based on her many years of experience, she could tell at a glance that the child was hungry, but she didn't know how many days he had been hungry.Mumu gave him a piece of bread and told him to eat it quickly.But he ate slowly, biting into crumbs at a time.Mumu said: "Eat quickly, you won't be hungry after eating." But the child stared at Mumu with wide eyes and said, "You are wrong, nun, you can't eat quickly. After eating, I will eat again." will starve. So Sister Delam said: "The greatness of the poor is a fact, and they teach us many good habits. Maybe they lack food and clothing, and don't even have a home, but they are great people, lovely people. We must know They're lovely people, great people. And then we love them." But Mumu has been accused of deifying poverty and the needy, and of preaching that suffering is fun.In fact, Sister Delam has always made a clear distinction between the voluntary poverty of the religious and the forced poverty caused by the injustice of the social system.She said: "Poverty is your and my creation, the result of our refusal to share it with others. God did not create poverty, he only created us. If we do not have the ability to give up greed, then this problem will never be solved. .” Mumu also said: "Greed - greed for power, greed for money, greed for fame, this is the biggest obstacle to peace in the world today." In "Divine Comedy. Inferno", the great poet Dante uses leopards, lions and she-wolves to symbolize carnal desire, pride and greed respectively, and points out that the she-wolf (greed) is the greatest danger to human beings. Later, in an interview with a TV station, Mumu Delan specially reminded those Western audiences who have always lived a carefree life. Mumu said: "You may not eat occasionally, but they are hungry every day, have no shelter, and wander the streets. , and finally die alone. What they seek day after day is to live. This struggle, this courage, is their greatness." back to calcutta Sister Durham returned to Calcutta by steaming train.This is a city shrouded in poverty and pain, but it is precisely because of this that Mumu pities and loves it so much.Many years ago, she knew that this was where she should be, and where she would definitely come.Now, after a brief absence of several months, she is back here. Mumu, dressed as an Indian commoner woman, walked the messy and dirty streets of Calcutta.Except for a few daily necessities that she carries with her, all of Mumu's property is 5 rupees, and there is no place to stay.In Mumu's diary, there is a chapter dedicated to the difficulties at that time: "In order to find a place to live, I ran around until my waist was sore and my legs ached. At this time, I thought that in order to get a bite of food and a shelter, What a pain, both physically and mentally." But Mumu didn't panic.Instead, she felt it was the happiest and most freeing moment of her life.As a devout nun, she firmly believes that the Lord will take care of her at any time. Jesus once said: Five sparrows can be bought with two copper coins, but the Lord will not forget one.Even your hair—he counted it.Don't be afraid, you are much more noble than sparrows. This morning, Sister Delam came to a small building. After hesitating for a while, she rang the knocker on the iron gate.The hostess who responded did not recognize her and thought she was a poor beggar, so she said, "Why did you come to the gate? You should go to the back door, and I will give you food there." Sister quickly explained her identity and purpose of coming. The hostess was very surprised. She said, "So it's Mother Teresa. The priest told us about it a long time ago. I thought you would come in a nun's attire, but I didn't expect you to be dressed like this. I don't even recognize you. Please forgive me, come in quickly, my husband has been waiting for you for a long time." Prior to this, Father Fan Ru of Lloyd Abbey had entrusted the owner of this small building, Gao Ma, to find a place for Mumu near Motiji.Mr. Gao Ma's family are all devout Christians and belong to the diocese where the priest lives. But housing is hard to find.Especially finding a suitable house near Motiji is even more difficult.So Mumu had no choice but to ask euphemistically whether she could live in Gao Ma's house for the time being and move out as soon as she found a place to live. Gao Ma was not very willing. He said, "Sister, you should have seen that my family is not big, but it has a lot of people." But Gao Ma's youngest daughter said loudly from the side: "Father, aren't the two rooms upstairs and the attic empty?" Children are so simple, so Jesus said several times: "Unless you become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." "Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Gao Ma couldn't help being a little embarrassed, so she said, "It seems so, but those two rooms are too simple, I'm afraid Sister Bai is not used to living in them." Mom hurriedly said: "The simpler the better, I won't be at home anyway, I just need a place to sleep." Speaking of this, Gao Ma had no choice but to agree. So Mumu chose the smallest room in the attic.There is only a bed, a table, and a chair in the room. Mrs. Gao Ma said that she still has a lot of unused furniture at home. If Mumu needs it, she can find her at any time. But Mumu said that in the days to come, she will go to the poor in person and concentrate on helping them. She will not have time to enjoy the furniture, let alone take care of them. Not only does she not need other furniture, Even the existing table and chair, she probably rarely uses them. In this way, Sister Delam lives in this family of seven.However, some people said that the mother did not live here at the time, but in a nursing home run by nuns from the Little Sisters of the Poor.Of course, it doesn't matter.The important thing is that the long-awaited charity work of Mother Delam will begin soon.