Our mourning must turn into imitating

Mother Teresa was an inspiration for decades to millions of people. There are few on the planet who did not know about her; fewer still who did not admire her work among the poorest of the poor.

So what is a fitting and lasting tribute to her? Not the words of praise from world leaders...not the expressions of regret that she is gone...not the questions about who will carry on in her shoes. Rather, the most appropriate way to honor her is to imitate her.

What she did, she was fond of saying, was nothing special, just "something beautiful for God." She often invited people to copy her work among the needy of their own cities and neighborhoods. It was an invitation she issued to princesses and presidents, to the celebrated and simple.

Of course, we know that Mother Teresa, despite her humble claims of only doing what others could do equally well, achieved extraordinary things that most of us cannot attain. Nobel Peace Prizes do not lie in our future; nor do plans for scores of clinics to help those suffering from leprosy or AIDS. But most of us are capable of doing more than we do: of giving more to the next collection for the poor...of spending more hours in volunteer work...of petitioning more effectively for laws against abortion or in favor of the poor.

See Christ in the homeless, Mother Teresa begged us; recognize Him in the suffering and find Him in the forgotten, whether they are unborn children, those who suffer or the dying elderly.

To honor the memory of the Saint of the Gutter, we must keep her work alive in our corner of the world, doing what we can to alleviate pain, to comfort sorrow, and to show the Christ in us to the Christ in those who hunger, thirst and suffer.

(09-11-97) [[In-content Ad]]