By Mary M. Keenan

(Editor's Note: Mary M. Keenan, a parishioner of Immaculate Heart of Mary, recently visited with the Missionaries of Charity in New York, a religious order founded my Mother Teresa of India. Miss Keenan shares her account of the memorable experience in the following article.)

I arrived in the South Bronx around six on a Friday afternoon. A friendly sister met me at the door, grabbed my suitcase, led me upstairs and began a hurried, whispered introduction.

"We're supposed to be observing silence right now, but I'll try to fill you in on as much as I can before supper. Take your shoes off and put them here; going barefoot inside is part of our poverty. And here's a bucket for you with half a bar of soap. We have two changes of clothes, and we wash everything in our buckets. Plus, we use them for our baths. And we only use cold water for everything, including baths! Now, here's a tin can which we use for rinsing and for keeping our toothbrush and toothpaste in."

A bell rings -- "That's for the Angelus."

We kneel and say the Angelus together.

"Before I forget, here's a prayer book and veil, and a safety pin to put your rosary on the side of your skirt, because we say it whenever we're out walking. Here's your bed. As you can see, we live inwards without privacy. That's because poor people don't have privacy.

A bell rings again -- "That's for supper," I am told.

Quietly, about 14 people move into a room with one big, bare table and an open stand with odd old plates, glasses and silverware. Then, before I know it, everyone's on their knees, arms outstretched, and saying prayers. I follow along as best I can. Shortly we're all quietly seated, when someone says, "Praised be Jesus Christ."

Someone else puts a lei around my neck, and suddenly everyone's cheerfully singing and I realize it's for me. It's a welcome. How nice!

The rest of supper we frantically talk, learning names, asking questions and exchanging stories. I had to know, "Do you pray like that every night?"

"Oh, no. Just on Fridays, in memory of Christ's death."

"I see. And what do we do tonight?"

"Well, after dinner we each wash our own dishes in the bathroom sinks. Then we have about a half-hour of prayers, followed by a half-hour of recreation when we can talk again. After that, we have another half-hour of prayers, take our baths and go to bed about 9:30. Also, after night prayers, we don't turn on any lights; we use candles instead, and reuse the drippings.

Next morning, after barely sleeping on my two-inch mattress, I was awakened at 4:30 by the same bell. Following example, I jumped out of bed, fell to my knees, joined in the common prayers and then silently struggled in the bleak morning light to get ready for 5 a.m. chapel.

At chapel, an hour of common prayer and quiet meditation was followed by an hour of cleaning, and them Mass. At eight we ate breakfast, still in silence, as one person read aloud. Breakfast, by the way, consisted of hard chunks of bread with oil, applesauce, water and tea. One always got as much as one desired, but the menu varied little.

At 8:45 we went out in twos for our daily work, which consisted of either working in the soup kitchen or home for the abandoned, visiting apartments, teaching religion classes to children, working in the community kitchen, or begging for bread and fruit from local merchants (a truly humbling experience).

At noon, everyone came back for prayers, lunch, Stations of the Cross, a half-hour nap and tea. Then, in the afternoon, some went back out to work, while others stayed in for prayers and study.

At 5:30, there was an hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for all. (The chapel, by the way, had no pews, just a plain straw mat on which to kneel.) Prayers were followed by supper, which always consisted of soup, bread and water. Sweets were served two days per week.

All in all, as one can see from just one 24-hour period, the Missionaries of Charity live in strict poverty, work hard among the very poor and lead very prayer-filled lives. Obedience to God, as represented by one's superior, and complete dependence on Divine Providence are both also heavily stressed. Yet, amid all these seemingly harsh ways, a real joy and spirituality emerges, and can be felt among all the sisters. It was a truly inspiring experience.