The following excerpt is adapted from Our Church Speaks by Ben Lansing and D.J. Marotta. ©2024 by Benjamin Terry Lansing and Daniel John Marotta Sr. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www.ivpress.com.
Mother Teresa’s dedication to the poor and suffering and her advocacy for human rights made her one of the most recognized humanitarians of the twentieth century. Born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, she was the youngest child of an Albanian family in Macedonia. As a young girl, she resolved to devote her life to service as a nun and missionary. At eighteen, she left to study at a Roman Catholic abbey in Dublin, Ireland, and was soon sent as a missionary to India, where she taught at St. Teresa’s School in Darjeeling. Anjezë took the name Teresa as her own, upon taking her first religious vows.
Teresa moved to Calcutta in 1937 to work at a convent school, where she served as headmistress. She was struck to the heart by the miserable conditions of so many of her neighbors and friends in Calcutta. Malnutrition, violence, and disease wrecked the lives of millions. The school lacked teachers and food, and Teresa was forced to beg to feed her students. With her heart burdened, she became an Indian citizen and committed herself wholly to her fellow Indians. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950 and abandoned her Western clothing, wearing instead a white and blue Indian sari for the rest of her life. Her organization grew to include over five thousand members in 133 countries and ministered to the poorest of the poor, managing homes for those suffering from tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and leprosy; and running soup kitchens, orphanages, schools, and many other ministries.
For much of her life, Teresa ministered in Calcutta, India, but later in life she occasionally left India to draw attention to humanitarian crises around the world. During the Lebanon War’s siege of Beirut in 1982, Teresa joined a group of Red Cross workers to free thirty-seven children from a hospital. She ministered to those impacted by the famine of Ethiopia, the earthquake in Armenia, and the Chernobyl radiation. She became a global advocate for the preservation of all human life, including the unborn and those at the end of life. “By blood, I am Albanian,” she said. “By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus” (Louise Chipley Slavicek, Mother Teresa: Caring for the World’s Poor [New York: Chelsea House, 2007], 90).
Seeing with Eyes of Compassion
Teresa already had a calling, a mission, and a ministry. She was busy doing very good things for the Lord and for others. Her selflessness was unquestionable. And yet she still had the eyes to see different needs, new needs, all around her. Rather than seeing all of these burdens as impediments to her work, she had the eyes to see them as even more important work.
Of all the remarkable things Teresa of Calcutta did, this may be the most unnoticed and uncelebrated. How often are you and I so focused on doing something—maybe even something for God—that we cannot see the needs and opportunities right in front of us?
It all comes down to our eyes. Do we have eyes to see?
In Christ’s parable, the righteous ask, “Lord when did we see . . . ?” And he answers that they saw him when they saw the “least of these.” In other words, when they had eyes of compassion to the needy around them, they had eyes to see God.
Sometimes the very thing that prevents me from seeing God is all of my activity for God. In the midst of my ministry in Bible studies, prayer groups, teaching, sermon writing, and counseling sessions, are my eyes open to see anything else that God might be doing? Is there a more important work to be done that perhaps is right in front of me?
What about you? When was the last time you slowed down long enough to widen your viewfinder to take in all of what is happening around you? Where are the real needs? Who is in crisis? Have you chosen to serve someone who doesn’t really need your help over someone who is desperate for aid? Have you chosen to pursue someone far off and ignored the ones who are near?
One hallmark of Jesus’ earthly ministry was his willingness to allow people in crisis to interrupt him. Jesus’ schedule was full of activity and full of purpose. It wasn’t like he didn’t have important places to go or things to do. But he allowed interruptions because he saw with eyes of compassion. The interrupting person was therefore not a nuisance or a barrier to the work; they were the work.
Pray that Christ give us his eyes of compassion, that we might see as he sees.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Add comment