Mother Teresa – The Saint, The Teacher, The Motivator
The Albanian nun has now become Saint Teresa of Calcutta. The epitome of love, who inspired each of us and even after 19 years of her death is still teaching us the way of life, was declared Saint Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis in Vatican City on September 4, 2016.
However, even Pope Francis struggled in addressing Mother Teresa as Saint Teresa.
He said, that each of us will struggle in her referring as Saint. “So tender and rich that spontaneously we will continue to say Mother Teresa”.
Her saintliness prevailed and many claimed of the miracles in her name. This , along with her immense popularity of hers remained the reason of such early canonization. Though in order to receive the status of a saint, miracles need to be proven, however the Mother Teresa everyone knows, is beyond any miracle. She taught each of us a way of living. She remained a source of inspiration for many.
Francis hoped that even for upcoming generations, she remains the “model of holiness”.
Unlike other religious and social reformers, who talked about eradicating poverty, and fretted about the presence of many evil structures, Mother Teresa believed in love. For her, the power of love can transform anyone. She was, as Francis addressed, “a generous dispenser of divine mercy”.
Mother Teresa helped those who were left at God’s mercy and “made her voice heard before the powers of the world”. She turned church into philanthropic “field hospital” where the poorest of the poor were treated both materially and spiritually.
For her “greater poverty” is when someone is “unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody”, instead of “the person who has nothing to eat”.
So why not each of us carry forward her legacy in our own way and bring a change in someone’s life. It’s not about adopting someone or feeding hundreds of people. The change necessarily must not be humongous but something that will leave some impact.
She always said that “greatest disease is to be nobody to anybody”. For her, charity always actually began at home. If we become concerned about our own people then there will be no need of old age homes, or for places for people suffering from leprosy or AIDS or any such place. Today we might sympathize with people, but we lack empathy. We merely use the expression “I love you” but our hearts has become sterile.
“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one”, that’s what she opined.
It was not about doing anything big, but even a smile did wonders and the expression of love. It’s all about doing “small things with great love”. You don’t need to necessarily shell out money to make someone happy. Just try once to sit with your grandparents, and just attend to them. By “attend”, I mean giving 100% attention to them, listening to them and responding to them. When you do so, you will witness may be a faint smile or a grin, but surely they will bless you. Why?
Just because of them, it’s not your money but just your presence and time is enough. Sit with someone who is not good being, just attend that person with utmost care love and care and you will see them genuinely smiling and surely feeling much better.
