“My sisters and myself desire to bring Christ into the unhappy holes of the slums of Calcutta poor and later on to other places…by going amongst the people, nursing the sick in their homes, helping the dying to make peace with God, having little free schools in the slums for the little children, visiting the poor in the hospitals, and helping the beggars of the streets to lead respectful lives. In a word, act the charity of Christ among the poorest and so make them know Him and want Him in their unhappy lives.”
Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) in a letter to Archbishop Périer, Feast of Corpus Christi dated 5 June 1947, in Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the “Saint of Calcutta” edited with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk (New York: Doubleday, 2007) 74.
As we find ourselves in the second half of Lent and begin to look to life beyond Easter, Mother Teresa would urge us to adopt a lifestyle of going amongst the destitute and filling “the unhappy holes” of their lives with Jesus Christ in word and deed. Consider doing this in your neighborhood, a section of the inner city, or wherever it makes sense based on where God has planted you.
Few things cause our light to shine more brightly than acts of charity. That’s the view of the prophet Isaiah. Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. Isaiah 58:10. Want to learn from some of our friends who have dedicated their lives to offering this kind of care to the poor in Guatemala?
Come to our home and meet Edgar and Gladys Güitz of Potter’s House. They serve the Treasures, the poor who scavenge to survive in the garbage dump in Guatemala City. Edgar and Gladys are coming to visit us in Littleton, Colorado, so we are having an open house on Sunday, 19 April 2015, from 1:00pm-3:00pm. Reply to this meditation if you want to attend, and we will email you our townhouse address.