Essay: St. Teresa of Calcutta

The canonization of Mother Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis was a momentous occasion for Catholics. For one, any time a man or woman is added to the pantheon of the saints, the Church rejoices in yet another inspiring example of a human life lived in the heroic pursuit of goodness. For another, this small spare woman in the iconic white sari serves as a symbol of the indispensability of the Church. The people of the world benefit greatly from the immense good that the Church does in its quiet humble way. We need those that recklessly persecute her to realize that in doing so they hurt the millions that depend on her for succor.

 

In 1946, the little Albanian nun had been leading a pleasant existence as a teacher in India when she received her “call within a call”. She heard a quiet interior suggestion to kick over the traces of her life and go help the poorest of the poor while living among them. So she did, and made her way (with 5 rupees in her pocket) to what was probably the direst, rankest slum in the world to serve the destitute and abandoned. This was in 1948, and today the religious congregation she founded consists of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. What do they do? They run hospices for people with leprosy, AIDS, and tuberculosis. They run soup kitchens, mobile clinics, dispensaries, and orphanages, all for free, of course, while living their vows of poverty and chastity.

While the Sisters of Charity seem to shine with holiness as they go cheerfully about their heavy work, instantly recognizable the world over, the truth is that they are only one small part of the vast enterprise that is the Catholic Church’s charitable mission. Wherever there is war, famine, disease, ignorance, homelessness, there the Church goes to work, helping more effectively and with more tenderness than secular NGO’s and government programs ever could. In sheer numbers of people fed, elderly/dying housed, lepers attended, AIDS-sufferers succored, children educated, and sick cared for, the Church is, hands-down, the largest charitable organization in the world.

This is not a coincidence. The Church boasts luminaries like Mother Teresa because the Church for 2000 years has believed and taught that Jesus meant it when he said: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.” To alleviate the suffering of others, no matter how marginalized or how far removed from our own cares and concerns, is a duty of each and every member of the Church. Some of her daughters—like Mother Teresa—take this duty and rise to dizzying heights with it. Others are inspired to volunteer for the St. Vincent De Paul society, or lend a hand at the parish nursery school where the migrant workers leave their babies as they head off to a hot day in the field.

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