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“I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:46).

Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Image)

I love Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Perhaps I love her because I heard so much about her during her lifetime and knowing the stories and observing the change she wrought across the world, I was able to imagine the power of God through the work of a tiny little nun?  Perhaps it is because I feel some sort of closeness to her because I lived when she lived…?  Or perhaps, I just love her because she did so much good for others at such a high price for herself…?

Whatever the reason, it is clear that Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a Saint who earned her place with God.  After all she lived a life of charity that few other could imagine.  It is one thing – after all – to sit in your clean and comfortable home and say that you will care for the poorest of the poor, it is quite another thing to smell their dirty skin and clean the maggots from their wounds.  It is another thing to sit inside a room filled with people suffering the effects of leprosy and smell the smell of their infection and look at them with love and never shrink away from them.

Once there was a television reporter who was conducting an interview of Saint Mother Teresa during her lifetime.  During the interview, the reporter followed the Saint around and took footage of the Saint doing the various jobs she worked on throughout the day.  One of the jobs that Mother Teresa had was to wash the lepers.  And she began to wash one of the lepers in her care, treating him with tenderness and love.  The reporter who was witnessing the scene said, revolted, “I would not do that for a million dollars.”  Mother Teresa replied – “Neither would I.”

You see, Saint Mother Teresa understood that Christ was in that man because she understood the instructions of Christ…

“Before the Son of man will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me...Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:31-46).

And today, I pray for the Grace to understand that too…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.