Mother Teresa was made a saint this
morning. It had no effect on her. It was done for us – that we might learn from
her holiness.
When I was growing up, if you asked
the question – who is the holiest person on the planet – we would all have said
Mother Teresa.
Born in what is now Albania, she
began to consider religious life at age 12. At 18 she joined the Sisters of
Loretto, studied in Dublin, Ireland and went to Calcutta, India to serve as a
teacher and as a principal.
At one point, she made a promise to
Jesus – to do whatever he asked. Well, September 10, 1947, she experienced her “call
within the call” while traveling to a retreat.
Would she give up everything to serve the poor?
She began in Calcutta with an open
air school and a home for the dying. By her death, almost 5,000 sisters were
serving as Missionaries of Charity in over 100 countries, including NYC.
I met her once, a junior in college.
She was tiny as could be. As she spoke at our college graduation, you could
hear a pin drop. She did not speak long, but we listened to every single word.
Her secret – as she met the poor =
every single one of them was Jesus in disguise. This had a huge impact on me –
especially when I was working with the poor, homeless and the sick – look beyond
to see Jesus.
Many of her sayings still have a
great impact:
-
Let us meet each other with a smile,
for the smile is the beginning of love.
-
Spread love wherever you go. Let no
one come to you without leaving happier.
-
Love begins at home, and it is not
how much we do . . . but how much love we put into that action.
-
If we have no peace, it is because we
have forgotten that we belong to each another.
-
It is a poverty to decide that a
child must die so that you may live as you wish.
-
What can you do to promote world
peace? Go home and love your family.
-
We ourselves feel that we are doing
is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing
drop.
-
In this life we cannot do great
things. We can only do small things with great love.
-
If you cannot feed 100 people, then
feed just one.
-
One, by one, by one, by one . . .
-
I do not pray for success, I ask for
faithfulness.
-
When we die and it comes time for God
to judge us, he will not ask: how many good things you have done in your life?
Rather: how much love did you put into what you did?
-
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not
come yet. We have only today. Let us begin.
-
SVDP ST. TERESA PRAY FOR US!
