Mother Teresa and Seeing Jesus in Everyone

 

Saint Teresa of Calcutta perhaps more commonly known as "Mother Teresa" became a cultural icon for her humanitarian work among the people of Calcutta (Now Kolkata) in India. In 1979 she won the Nobel Prize for her work, her highest earthly reward, although heavenly bliss was the greatest award in the eyes of this humble sister. Mother Teresa's message was the message the Catholic Church has proclaimed throughout its history: God's love is radical, transcending and extends to all people. 

The especially practical meaning of practical love was not only understood by Mother Teresa, but fervently lived. She once said that "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." To embrace the human person, there can be no room for judgement, only love. When Saint Teresa carried Calcutta's sick and dying off the street to her hospice centers, she didn't judge them for the dirt of the dusty streets that covered them, nor for their weary and broken, sometimes faithless hearts. She only brought them comfort in their last days, regardless of their religious creed. This must be our approach to every person. To see Jesus in everyone, we must look past our differences to the heart of the human spirit, made in the image and likeness of God.

Lastly, Matthew 25:40 tells us that "Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." We must always be ready to radically love others. To radically love another person is the continuation of Christ's love, the building of the Kingdom, as Jesus had intended. Because in radical love, we find wholeness and peace, or as Mother Teresa said "There are no great things, only small things with great love. Happy are those." Let us find true happiness in loving one another.

 “True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love.”

-Saint Teresa of Calcutta