“…Your heart was never drowned in sorrow as was My Mother’s heart. We both gave ourselves up totally for souls. What about you? ... Will you refuse?”
I love Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I remember watching many documentaries about her work when I was a little girl. I remember people speaking about how wonderful her work was and what a difference she was making in the world. I remember when she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize and used her awards speech to speak up against abortion and I remember the outcry (from some members of the public) when she chose to do that.
Prior to leaving her convent and starting the Sisters of Charity, Saint Mother Teresa heard Christ call to her to help the poor…
In 1946, on 10 of September Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta felt that Christ had called her to carry His love to the abandoned, sick and poor. And yet – even despite this calling, the Saint experienced great obstacles in her vocation to serve the poor. She had to convince her superiors (all the way up the chain of authority to the Pope himself) of the legitimacy of her calling. But there was more than that… The Saint had to leave her convent during a time of civil unrest in India. And even despite all difficulties, the Saint felt Christ insisting on His call to her, when she heard Him say to her, “You have come to India for me. Are you now afraid to take one more step for me? Has your generosity cooled down? Am I only secondary for you? You did not die for souls; that’s why you don't care what happens to them. Your heart was never drowned in sorrow as was My Mother’s heart. We both gave ourselves up totally for souls. What about you? ... Will you refuse?”
And of course, the Saint did not refuse the call to minister to the sick, abandoned and poor. Instead, she reached out to them and worked for them for the rest of her earthly life…
Because she understood what Christ had said when He spoke to His disciples… “Again He said to them, ‘I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come... You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.’ They said to Him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Even what I have told you from the beginning.’” (John 8:21-30).
And I pray today for the Grace to be able to heed the call of my Beloved. For I wish to be able to serve Him as the Saints have done, and when I think about that today, I feel such shame. For I feel He is calling me and asking me the same question He asked Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta when He said, “…Am I only secondary for you? You did not die for souls; that’s why you don't care what happens to them. Your heart was never drowned in sorrow as was My Mother’s heart. We both gave ourselves up totally for souls. What about you? ... Will you refuse?”
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.