9/5/2014 – Friday of 22nd week in Ordinary Time – Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta – 1 Corinthians 4:1-5

       I remember that back on a Sunday morning in 1997, when I was a missionary in Ecuador, I was traveling home to my mission site by canoe, and upon arrival back home, turned on the short-wave radio, where on the BBC they were talking extensively about Princess Diana.  It took me a while to figure out that she had been killed that day in an automobile crash.  The world was shock and horrified when the details of what had happened came to light.  Princess Diana died on August 31, 1997, and just a few days later, her friend, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, would pass away.  Mother Teresa and Diana were two very different people – a humble Catholic religious sister working with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India, compared to the glamorous Princess of Wales of England in line to become Queen. However, they indeed were friends and they indeed admired each other.  Mother Teresa said this of Princess Diana: “"She felt very sorry for the poor. She wanted to do something for them. That's why she stood so close to me. Diana helped me to help the poor. She was very anxious with the lot of the poorest. That's why she is so beloved to me."

      Paul states in his letter to the Church at Corinth that as followers of Christ, they should consider themselves servants of Christ and stewards of the mystery of God.  The way Mother Teresa lived her life as a servant of the Lord and a servant to those most oppressed and most vulnerable in the world – that witness has spoken to some many, to both Christians and non-Christians alike. Mother Teresa was already working in the field of education as she served God as a religious Sister of Loreto when she heard God calling her to serve the poor of India in a special way, to found a new religious order to be a witness to the poor called the Missionaries of Charity.   It was not easy founding a new order, but Mother Teresa’s perseverance and determination drove her to be loyal to the calling she heard from God.  In the years since her death in 1997, the legacy of the Missionaries of Charity has only grown; the witness Mother Teresa gives the world continues today.   I recently saw a quote by Mother Teresa that got me to thinking.  She said: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”  Yes, not many of us have a position like Princess Diana did, but with our daily interactions, some of which are very small, we can certainly touch lives in great ways.  May the prayers and intercessions of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta inspire us all to be servants of the Lord in the special way God calls each one of us.