Find Your Own Calcutta

Sunrise at Well Being Retreat Center, Tazewell, TN

The story goes like this….

One day, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, also known as Mother Teresa, visited a Catholic high school in Virginia, whereby a student asked her, “How do we become like you?” It wasn’t the first time she was asked this, and she replied with an answer that she often repeated to others. She didn’t encourage prayer or more homework or studying Christian teachings. She simply said, “Find your own Calcutta.” Another time she offered this guidance (purportedly the first time) occurred when Sister Mary Johnice left her home in the U.S.A to be of service to Mother Teresa in Calcutta, India. Once there, Mother Teresa looked at her and said in full, “Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right where you are-in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools.”

So Sister Mary returned to East Buffalo, New York and founded the Response to Love Center to feed and care for the poor in her community.

Mother Teresa, of Albanian descent, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910. At the age of 12 she realized that all she wanted to do was serve others, and upon adulthood she trained under the Catholic Church leadership in Ireland and India. While in training (another story), she approached her superiors and said, “I have 3 pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage.” They said “You can’t build an orphanage with 3 pennies. With 3 pennies you can’t do anything.” Agnes smiled and said, “I know. But with God and 3 pennies, I can do anything.”

And she did.

Not without controversy due to her strong unwavering religious views, Mother Teresa devoted 50 years to caring for the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her indelible charitable service to humankind.

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
—M.T.

Loneliness is now proclaimed as the worst pandemic in the West. U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, declared it as an epidemic affecting both individuals and society as a whole. And this preceded the Covid years-prior to 2020, approximately half of Americans reported a significant amount of loneliness.

Its sister, Isolation, is our newest plague, and it’s devouring us.

The MCC Project, or Making Caring Common, was 4 years in the making from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. On October 25, 2024, their report: Loneliness in America: Just the Tip of the Iceberg was released. I won’t get into all the findings here, but I do want to emphasize some remedies to our latest plague, as discovered by this research team in their survey. Three fourths of the participants offered the following solutions:

-Reach out to family and friends

-Learn to love myself

-Learn to be more forgiving of others

-Find ways to help others

Not a bad start to finding one’s own Calcutta.

There’s another side of Mother Teresa’s famous quote that stands out to me that I’d like to expand upon. A bit more personal.

What is that One Thing that is calling out to you? What is that one desire you’ve deeply held? What is that problem that keeps popping up to get your attention? You know, the one that won’t go away? That One Thing isn’t trying to be elusive, nor is it trying to hurt you.

It’s asking to be acknowledged.

In his book, Wild Goose Chase, author Mark Batterson, writes about the element of mystery or unpredictability found within the spiritual realm. He tells us that the early Celts had a name for the Holy Spirit….An Geadh-Glas, or “the Wild Goose.” He adds that like a wild goose, the Spirit can’t be messed with or tamed, and there’s an element of danger about.

“Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure.” —from the Introduction.

Where are you in your chase?

Is there a growing passion for something new? Where is it? Is it buried beneath your running narratives, trapped in a job or a relationship? Is it living under an avalanche of responsibilities? Do you feel like, why bother, it would never work out? Or that you lack the skills? Or thinking that it’s too late for you?

If you have the courage to step outside the box, to take one more small step, somewhere, anywhere, and listen to your Spirit, your Wild Goose, then you’ve called in the magic.

Become deeply committed to your growth (that One Thing) by really addressing that other One Thing that’s holding you back.

And never count out anyone who is brave enough to step outside to pursue a dream-even if all they have are 3 pennies.

Mother Teresa emphasized these 3 things:

-Small acts of love - the importance of even the smallest step.

-Focus on the needs of the most vulnerable - the poor and marginalized.

-Power of personal action - Take initiative and do not wait for others to act; all can make a difference.

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
—M.T.

YOU are a leader!

Now go….Find Your Own Calcutta!

Til next we meet in the forest…

Love,

Amanda ❤️

P.S. If you’re ready to go after your One Thing, to find your passion, to Spiritually Rewild, then please reach out - let’s catch that Wild Goose! 🦤