Good afternoon District 27. Today Catholics around the world celebrate the Feast of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I cracked open my safe this morning to see if I could locate my first day-of-issue postage stamp of Mother Teresa dated September 5, 2010. As a stamp collector, I have a deep appreciation for Mother Teresa and thought I would share this photo with you.
Many of us remember Mother Teresa in our lifetime. She was an inspiration for all of us and is best known as the Saint of “the Gutters” for working in the slums of Calcutta, India. Mother, as she was often called, served as a nun, missionary, and teacher, and in 1948 she left the confines of her convent to start the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity serving and seeking the face of Christ in the poorest of the poor. In 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her missionary work and was admired by many including Pope John Paull II and Princes Diana of Wales. (Interesting note: Princes Diana died on August 31, 1997, and Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997.) Today the Missionaries of Charity continue the work of Mother Teresa in thirty countries.
On September 4, 2016, I had the honor of attending the mass of the Rite of Canonization of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome. It was a beautiful day (See posted photos.) The piazza was full of people attending the mass with Pope Francis presiding. In his homily, Pope Francis addressed the people saying, “Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defense of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded” (1).
One of the many inspiring quotes by Mother Teresa is “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” As a substitute teacher in the Bennett County School District for five years, I would walk each morning to the school that I had been assigned. As I closed the door behind me and began my walk, I would say this prayer, “Lord, let me see you through your eyes today.” Like Mother Teresa who sought the face of Christ in the poorest of the poor, Christ never failed me in showing me that child that needed a hug, extra attention, or love. Like Mother Teresa, it is in our actions that we do the most good. It is why I chose to run for State Senate: not for my own personal gain, but to do God’s work in His vineyard – to serve, like Saint Mother Teresa, those who have been forgotten. God bless.
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