Going beyond myself in Kolkata

By Thomas Hammen

I proudly walked into the men’s group with my guard low. Leading up to that evening, the Lord had blessed me with fidelity in my prayer life, and I had grown comfortable with my understanding of prayer. I spent a large portion of that evening nodding my head confidently and expressing an overall demeanor of ‘Yep, I know this.’

But it was during Br. Clinton’s talk when I received the punch in the gut that I needed. A quote from St. Augustine was projected on the wall; something like, “one’s soul can only seize on God by going beyond itself.”

Now THAT was something. “Lord,” I thought, “how am I to go beyond myself?” Br. Clinton tore the message open further: "God’s deepest work in our lives can only begin when we allow Him to take us beyond the end of ourselves.”

There is no better way to describe our two-week Kolkata mission than the Lord, in His goodness, taking our group far beyond the end of ourselves. Our time in Kolkata challenged us to abandon dependence on our own strength, and to truly rely on the Lord’s strength alone to “love others as I have loved you.”

Each morning in India began before dawn, praying morning prayer together, and walking a few blocks to the Missionaries of Charity Mother House for 6:00 a.m. Mass. Already drenched in sweat, we were greeted by the angelic voices of a multitude of blue and white saris, praying in unison from the second-floor chapel. Following Mass, we gathered in a quaint volunteer room to chat with pilgrims from all corners of the globe before heading off to our service assignment for the day.

During our mission, half of our group served at Prem Dan, a long-term convalescent facility for men, with the other half serving at Shishu Bhavan, a children’s orphanage. Our daily service at Prem Dan included washing clothes, shaving men, feeding the disabled, taking residents to the bathroom or simply sitting with them and holding their hands.

I can still picture Br. Adam smiling, looking at me and saying, “Today you get to shave Jesus!”

At Shishu Bhavan, we helped children with their schoolwork, served them meals, played guitar and sang along. Dancing – or our attempt at dancing – was always a hit with the kids.

While incredibly blessed by our interactions with the residents, we were blown away by the relationships we formed with our fellow volunteers. We befriended a young man from Spain who began joining us for our nightly sharing, and we encouraged him to return to confession for the first time in 15 years. One day, on our walk to Prem Dan, we shared the Gospel with a young man from China who had never heard it before. I won’t forget the sound of men and women from more than 20 different countries singing to the Lord during Eucharistic adoration, on a retreat day hosted by the Sisters.

Returning to the U.S., our group is incredibly convicted to “find our Kolkata.” While we will no longer be working with the materially “poorest of the poor,” on today’s college campuses there are undoubtedly countless men and women thirsting for deeper purpose and meaning in their lives. Through the gift of this mission, we aim to now use our lives as bold witnesses pointing towards the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. As our Lord says, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him’” (John 7:37). Pray for me as I seek to serve the spiritually poor!

Thomas Hammen is a senior at Florida State University.