Remembering St. Teresa of Calcutta

The world knew her as Mother Teresa of Calcutta. As a young student priest in Rome, I had the unexpected privilege of meeting her when I celebrated Mass for her sisters at a soup kitchen they operated near the Colosseum. She already was a global celebrity. 

What struck me about that chance encounter in the sacristy was her small stature, her profound humility and radiant smile.

As we approach the anniversary of the death and feast day of Saint Teresa of Calcutta on Sept. 5, it offers us an opportunity to pause and reflect on her life and commitment to the poorest of the poor. 

While it has been 28 years since her death, her legacy is very much alive. Recalling her witness is a gift to all of us, just as she was a gift to all whom she encountered and to whom she ministered.

During her lifetime, she had one of the most recognizable faces in the world. Most can recall pictures of her wrinkled face and her kind smile framed by her blue and white sari. 

Whether she was holding a child in Gaza, addressing the United Nations in New York or cradling an AIDS patient in Moscow, she encapsulated the fullest measure of compassion and humanity for everyone. 

She was a media celebrity (though not in the style of Hollywood), but she also had the charisma to enliven any setting. Holding the hand of Princess Diana, talking to Nelson Mandela or standing next to President Clinton, Mother Teresa shone among them as the true public star. All of us knew her to be extraordinary in almost every way.

Mother Teresa was able to redefine the religious imagination of the world as she spent herself serving the poorest of the poor. From the first notable media attention she received through the reporting of Malcolm Muggeridge on the BBC, to the media blitz that accompanied her death, she was the face of compassion for all humanity. 

During a time in which the reputations of many well-known religious figures in the world were tarnished by scandals, destructive ideologies or hypocrisy, she was celebrated as genuine and humble. Nearly everyone sensed a goodness that radiated from her. In fact, it was a goodness almost impossible not to be attracted to.

There are three aspects of her ministry we should keep in mind as her feast day approaches. 

The first of these was her ability to see behind the veil of first appearances. While this might seem less important than her work feeding the hungry or rescuing the impoverished, it goes to the heart of her unique ability. 

Constantly, she insisted that by attending to the needs of the poorest of the world, she saw and ministered to Jesus Christ himself. 

She was repeating only what Jesus taught in Matthew 25, but her capacity to see beyond the misery made her ministry powerfully effective. She didn’t just provide for the material needs of others; she could see in each person a measure of dignity and the truth of an identity that prompted her actions. Her actions were in response to what she saw. She wasn’t simply fulfilling an obligation. 

In a world in which we’re often oppressed by the demands of what we ought to do, she taught us to see first what was true. Once truth was in place, the world looked different. Charity looked different and personal, and hopeful. 

Secondly, she satisfied the hunger for God in the hearts of many. Because of the complicated history of our times, speaking about religion often is reduced to taking sides or defending the past. Those discussions don’t satisfy our hunger for an authentic encounter with God. 

Saint Augustine wrote that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. Mother Teresa was someone who understood the great hunger of our age and assured those most famished by it: God speaks by way of the heart. She invited others into ministries of compassionate caring, actions carrying with them meanings beyond the frontiers of labels and loyalties.

She was never afraid to stand on the firm foundation of doctrine and belief. She never hesitated when asked about the origin of her vision or the deepest roots of her vocation as a sister. 

Mother was not hesitant to call people to honest faithfulness to God. But, she did so by invitation. Continually inviting people to encounter the presence of God amid the needs of others, she fed the world’s hunger for meaning. 

God is not a proposition or an idea, she insisted. Instead, God discloses himself amid the needy of the world. Serve them and God will be found. 

Her powerful invitation was to be on the journey by action: following Mother Teresa was to do, not just to say. 

Thirdly, she was authentic. The world tires of image and persona, of reputation and hype. Each of these attributes are manipulated so often they become meaningless. Mother Teresa communicated a life with almost no distance between the image and reality; she was the symbol she became. Embracing her example was to embrace the authenticity of a true servant. 

This was powerfully attractive to many. We long for what is real, and we hunger for everything substantial. Mother Teresa was what she was said to be, and when the world found out, it couldn’t get enough of her.

In the chapel at Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, which is dedicated to Saint Teresa of Calcutta, the words that Mother Teresa put in every chapel of her order are emblazoned on the wall: “I Thirst.”  

This statement greets all who come to pray there. These words, spoken by Jesus on the cross, express the invitation to serve Jesus who suffers, and all those who suffer as he did. Reaching up to the cross to touch the suffering Christ is the legacy of Mother Teresa. But, it also describes all of us, who thirst to serve others as we grow in our humanity. 

Saint Teresa of Calcutta reminds us that we can satisfy our longings as she did, by finding Jesus in the side streets and forgotten alleys of our lives. When we do, we’ll find what she found: a life transformed.