Justice, Mother Teresa's Way

As former seminarian and wanted to be a Catholic priest back then but didn't make it, I always dig saints.  Human as we are, we are always searching anything that are good and beautiful.  Same  our hunger for truth, love and justice.  I think saints lead us the way.  By saints, I mean not just  the holy people of old  weaving miracles and magic but ordinary ones made of flesh and blood oozing with incredible talents and creativity giving all they have for humanity liberating them from the quagmire of poverty and suffering all for God’s greater glory. Mother Teresa is one. 

 No regret though that I didn't became His Alter Christus validating that God really is good.  Well this awakening always call for a celebration. At least I am still alive and  could still afford ranting through my music and writings. Might have already been met crossover abroad six feet under the ground had I’d been ordained. Why?  When you've got very sensitive heart and soul for the poor, I foresee that I would not definitely last that long in the ministry. Except when you pretend and play deaf, dumb and blind on different injustices happening around. Like hyphenated and  hyper priests, I might have gone to the hills too for safety. Where anyway good man goes if not for the collective consciousness of the company of good guys you would feel secure and safe. Or I might just too naïve on the meaning of ministry. Not really that sure as you can still eligible of serving in whatever capacity you could. What more when you would also be armed to protect your life and limbs once you are there. Many are called indeed but few are chosen.  Yes of course, God is still good as I don’t have any regrets living more each day as if lusting for life making the best of it whatever contribution I could make for the day. 

 The likes however of Mother Teresa is an exception. By then the name  of Mother Teresa of Calcutta floating in the air was one of my favorite that came out. The living saint in fact is how the whole Christendom referred her because of her works of charity among the least member of society, the poor, the sick, needy and yes  the most feared member of society – the lepers!

Unfortunately though there were no available biography about her to serve as ready reference before as she was still alive. However the thought that I read that she would even write her prayer while in transit in a plane showing how she values time is all I could hear that on top of attending regular mass service and faithful watch of blessed sacrament before each mass to keep her going her hectic schedule.  This the reason why this fragile nun with rocklike faith declared saint by Vatican   brimming with energy dishing out her service to the downtrodden, people living in abject poverty in India giving her tender loving care among its sick sounds a welcome development.

Thus, the death wish I oftentimes hear, how people in India would prepare dying that way – dying in the loving arms of Mother Teresa did become the best thing that could ever happened to a sick man. What a wonderful event really happening to each one in the loving arms of Mother Teresa!

That until I research her life from the Google learning too inspiring quotes about life and living. Justice? This is it, concept Mother Teresa did not just defined, but also lived. 

Here are top 10 Mother Teresa Quotes to inspire us today. These without any accompanying explanations as they are all explainable.

1. I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.
2. Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His voice in the depth of our hearts.
3. Live simply so others may simply live.
4. God doesn't  require us to succeed, he only requires that you try.
5. Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
6. Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
7. I know God won’t give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.
8. Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
9. Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
10. If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

These are just ten out of 248 lovable quotes of Mother Teresa. The bottom line is love, a precondition for justice if you have to be serious with the word.

She was born Agnes Gonxha Buyaxhiu at Skopje, Macedonia on August 26, 1910. She taught for 17 years in India before she experience “call within a call” caring for the sick and poor. She established leper colony. Pope Paul VI  would later bestowed her Missionary of Charity on 1965.  A prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, highest honor in recognition of her work by giving hope to suffering humanity, was given to her on 1979. She established many institutions since then. She died later on Sept. 5, 1997 at the age of 87 years old.

She would later divulge her identity : “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, am 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.”

Three lessons learned from this fragile nun – immediacy of time, unconditional service through love and justice, and the power even just from One which derived its strength from God - .

(21st entry for My 500 Words Daily Challenge, January 21, 2014)