5 September 2018 – Wednesday of 22nd week in Ordinary Time – Mother Teresa of Calcutta – Luke 4:38-44

      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. However, they were friends they both 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."

        As we hear about Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law in the Gospel today, we think about the healing presence of Christ that Mother Teresa brought to the world by her service and her example.  Mother Teresa lived her life as a servant of the Lord and a servant to those most oppressed and most vulnerable in the world.  She was a witness of our faith to so 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 in life like Princess Diana or Mother Teresa did, but with our daily interactions, some of which are very small, we can certainly touch lives in great ways.  May the prayers and intercession 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.