How will I be when I grow old?

When asked to discern how I'll spend my Urban Poor Trials, my prayer ... I thought, moved me to address my pestering discomfort of living "forever" a life of "single blessedness."  "How will I be when I grow old,?" has been the question that had been bothering my consciousness time and time again.  What will life be without a family?  How will I spend the twilight years of my life alone and with no one to share my life stories with?  I paused ... remembered the funerals of priests we buried in the Jesuit cemetery since after Entrance Day and couldn't help but think of this life ... a sad and lonely life?  Thus, I wanted to see for myself how "the old" of society deal with such a life-shaking reality.  It would have been ideal to be assigned caring for old and sick priests ... priests ... the "busiest" people around.  Not having a family with whom they can share their day's efforts, priests can think of their work as the source of identity and life.  How is it like to be deprived of one's "usefulness in one's later years?"  I thought.


Unfortunately, no "Bahay Pari" can accommodate a curious Jesuit novice for now.  And what a propitious act of the Spirit to find myself amongst the poorest of the poor ... working side by side members of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.

Prior to this exposure, Mother Teresa was simply a modern day icon ... a news and media item ... the saint waiting to be officially canonized.  Though India had draped its national flag on the wooden box which carried the remains of this short yet greatly loved Albanian nun ... her work and influence, all must agree had taken roots in the hearts of many.  This ... I was to learn and appreciate quite tremendously the past weeks ... as I lived with and breathed the spirit of Mother Teresa amongst the brothers and sisters of the Missionaries of Charity.