FROM BISHOP DOLAN
Mother Teresa was one of the most well-known figures in the world.
At just under five feet, her small stature and blue-striped sari were recognized across cultures, oceans and belief systems. She’s especially known for spending much of her life serving the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta, India. It was in these overcrowded, unsanitary and severely underserved neighborhoods that she spent her days accompanying the dying, tending to the wounded and feeding the hungry.
What kept her going? She saw the face of Christ in every person in front of her and she loved Him — in them — with abandon.
She continued her ministry for decades and even visited the Diocese of Phoenix in 1989, making a special stop at Our Lady of Fatima Parish Mission in Phoenix, where she established “Gift of Mary Home” next door as an outreach to the poor.
At the end of her life someone might have looked around Calcutta and thought, what difference did that make? The streets are still filled with debris and there are still sick people everywhere. But those who encountered Mother Teresa were changed forever.
Because Mother Teresa didn’t just enter into the slums of India, she entered into the slums of peoples’ hearts and loved them there.
Other women soon joined Mother Teresa, eventually forming the Missionaries of Charity. I’ll tell you what, these ladies are like the Marine Corps of religious life! They live an immensely radical life of poverty, prayer and service, sharing all that they have with the poor around them.
So, it’s easy to imagine that, if Mother Teresa were here right now and you asked her what you should do with your life, she might say something like, “give up all you have, fly across the ocean and become a missionary.”
But while she was still alive, Mother Teresa gave some different advice, and it was this: “Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta.”
She went on to say, “Find the sick, the suffering and the lonely right there where you are — in your homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world if you have the eyes to see.”
We all have slums of sorts within our own hearts. Those places of human poverty, spiritual hunger and woundedness that need tending. The spaces where we feel unwanted, unloved and uncared for. The areas where we are starving to be seen, known and loved.
Jesus meets us right there, reverencing our humanity and tending to our deepest needs.
He also extends a profound invitation to each one of us to be Christ to one another.
Did you know that the Lord created you on purpose, bringing you to this place and into this time of history for a particular reason? He has imbued you with specific gifts, joys and experiences that reflect the heart of the Father in a way that no other human being ever has or ever will.
And it is in our authentic and messy and grace-filled humanity that we are called to enter into the wounded and often debris-filled slums of our brothers’ and sisters’ hearts, bringing Christ there and loving Him in one another with abandon.
So, whether you are called to the priesthood or to be a stay-at-home parent or an artist or a paramedic or a hairdresser or a teacher — the Lord has a great call for your life. You don’t need to fly across the ocean to spread His love in the world and to have a profound impact.
You simply need to stay where you are and find your own Calcutta.
