Republishing what I wrote twenty years ago

There are tears for Teresa today.
Strangely, she was a mother
who never bore a child of her own,
but who carried children of all ages in her heart.
The smallest of the small,
Teresa bore the suffering of the poorest of the poor
as though it was her own.

In gutters of human waste, she gave her life away.
In so giving, she offered life to those dying to be loved.
For Teresa time with people was never wasted.
She hastened to remind us that in each face
(no matter how diseased or despised)
one could see the eyes of Jesus.
And isn’t it ironic that while the world grieves the untimely passing
of the people’s princess (a queen of beauty),
Heaven celebrates Teresa’s full life of duty to the Father.

It was a duty to which Mother surrendered humbly, gladly.
It is a duty to which we, too, are called.
To preach the Gospel to the poor.
To heal the brokenhearted.
To proclaim deliverance to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind.
To set at liberty those who are oppressed.

And to that end we join arms with Sisters of Charity around the world
to embrace Teresa’s memory and to emulate her example
for Jesus’ sake and for the sake of those for whom He died.