I would like to share some reflections (though not all that could be said) on how Mother Teresa understood and lived the mercy of the Lord in her life and work. The apostolic works of the Missionaries of Charity family are precisely the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Pope Francis says that the etymological meaning of the Latin word mercy is "miseris cor dareto give his heart to the poor, to those who are in need, to those who suffer. This is what Jesus did: he opened wide his heart to the misery of mankind"..
Note that mercy involves both the inside and the outside: the heart and then showing the mercy of the heart in action, or as Mother Teresa liked to say, showing "love in live action"..
At Misericordiae Vultus (the official document establishing the Jubilee of Mercy), Pope Francis said that mercy is "the fundamental law that dwells in the heart of each person, when he looks with sincere eyes at the brother he meets on the path of life".. The Pope goes on to say that his desire is to "may the years to come be impregnated with mercy so that we can go out to meet each person, bringing the goodness and tenderness of God".. This implies that our attitude should not be one of "top down". That we do not feel superior to those we serve, but rather that we consider ourselves part of the poor, identified with them, at their level.
Pope emeritus Benedict reminds us of this in his encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est, 34: "Practical action is insufficient if in it one cannot perceive love for man, a love that is nourished in the encounter with Christ. Intimate personal participation in the needs and sufferings of the other thus becomes a giving of myself: so that the gift does not humiliate the other, I must not only give him something of myself, but also myself; I must be part of the gift as a person.".
A wonderful example of this
"Your heart." (Mother Teresa's), said Sister Nirmala, Mother Teresa's immediate successor, "was great as the heart of God Himself, full of love, affection, compassion and mercy. Rich and poor, young and old, strong and weak, wise and ignorant, saints and sinners of all nations, cultures and religions found a loving welcome in her heart, because in each of them, Mother Teresa saw the face of her beloved Jesus.".
Like Mother Teresa, before showing mercy to others we must recognize our own misery and our need for mercy. The last book of the Bible has these words: "For you say, 'I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing'; and you know not that you are wretched and pitiable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Rev. 3:17). We can call this the "Calcutta of the heart", the "Calcutta of my own heart".
Sister Nirmala tells us that "Mother was convinced of her poverty and sin, but she trusted in the tender and merciful love of Jesus. [...] Mother always felt the need for God's mercy - how merciful God is to give us all these things he has given us - and so she was grateful to God.". Mother Teresa herself said: "Jesus, who loves each of us tenderly, with mercy and compassion, works miracles of forgiveness.".
Following St. Paul, we can distinguish three stages in the recognition of our weakness and interior poverty. The first step is to recognize our weakness, poverty, vulnerability and brokenness. Secondly, that we may accept our weakness. Finally, that we may even come to glory in it.
As we mature spiritually, we gradually acquire total distrust in ourselves and gain absolute trust in God. As Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade tells us, "this complete distrust of ourselves and trust in God, leads us to that 'inner humility' which is the permanent foundation of the spiritual edifice, and the main source of God's graces for the soul.".
Mother Teresa's extraordinary humility was demonstrated in her ready attitude to forgive and forget. This was a reflection of the mercy and forgiveness of the Master who "he has not come to call the righteous but sinners." (Mt 9:13).
Mother Teresa had a very profound and practical teaching on forgiveness and forgetting: "We need a lot of love to forgive and we need a lot of humility to forget, because forgiveness is not complete unless we also forget. [...] And as long as we do not forget, we have not really forgiven completely. And this is the most beautiful part of God's mercy. He not only forgives but he also forgets, and he never brings the subject up again, just like the father (in the parable) who never reproached the son. He did not even say to him: forget your sins, forget the evil you have done... And the Father himself ran away with joy. These are living and wonderful examples that we should share.".
Mother Teresa herself put this teaching into practice. One of her acquaintances had done something very wrong and was having difficulty facing his guilt and shame. So he told Mother Teresa the whole story. This person related: "Mother first asked if anyone knew about this and I told her only the priest who had heard my confession. Mother looked at me with so much love and so much tenderness in her eyes... She said, 'Jesus forgives you and Mother forgives you. Jesus loves you and Mother loves you. Jesus only wanted to show you your poverty. Now, when someone comes to you with the same thing, you will have compassion for that person'. I asked Mother Teresa not to tell anyone, and she tenderly promised not to. She never asked me: why did you do that, how could you do that? Nor did she say: Aren't you ashamed? You caused a big scandal. She didn't even say to me: don't do it again.".
As we know, in the Sacrament of Confession we encounter God's mercy directly and personally.
Mother Teresa approached the sacrament of Reconciliation faithfully and regularly, even during her frequent travels. "Even while traveling from house to house, Mother remained faithful to her weekly confession and preferred to do so with the ordinary confessor of each community where she was going to be."explains Sister Nirmala. For Mother Teresa, confession was not a habit or routine, but each time it was a new encounter with God's mercy and love. She understood very well the importance of confession.
On one occasion he said: "The devil hates God. And that hatred in action is destroying us, making us sin, making us participate in that evil, so that we too share in that hatred and (this one) separate us from God. But that's where God's wonderful mercy comes in. You just have to back up and say I'm sorry. That's the beautiful gift of confession. We go to confession as a sinner with sin and we come out of confession as a sinless sinner. That's the tremendous, tremendous mercy of God. Always forgiving. Not only forgiving, but loving..., gently, lovingly, lovingly, patiently. And this is what the devil hates in God, the tenderness and love of God for the sinner.".
Humble works
Turning now to our way of demonstrating mercy in action, Mother Teresa wanted the material and spiritual works of mercy to be carried out as "humble works".. She did not want to do "big things"but "humble works". with great love.
Someone once asked Mother Teresa a question: "When you say poverty, most people think of material poverty.". Mother Teresa responded: "This is why we speak of the unwanted, the unloved, the neglected, the forgotten, the lonely... This is a much greater poverty, because material poverty can always be satisfied with material things. If we pick up a man hungry for bread, we give him bread and we have satisfied his hunger. But if we meet a man who is terribly lonely, rejected, discarded by society..., material assistance will not help him. For to eliminate that loneliness, to eliminate that terrible pain, he needs prayer, he needs sacrifice, he needs tenderness and love. And that is very often more difficult to give than material things. That is the reason why there is hunger not only for bread, but there is also hunger for love. Nakedness is not just the lack of a piece of clothing; there is nakedness because of the loss of human dignity. And homelessness is not just not having a house to sleep in, it is being homeless, being rejected, unwanted, an outcast from society.".
The interviewer continued: "We've seen you and the Sisters doing for the children these very small things and with such tenderness; just in the way you treat them. And it was very inspiring, could you talk about that?". Mother Teresa responded: "It is not how much we do, or how big things are, but how much love we put into what we do. Because we are human beings, the action seems very small to us, but once it has been given to God, God is infinite and that small action rises, it becomes an infinite action. Because God is infinite, there is no measure for God, just as there is no time for God. God isGod can never become was. Likewise, God's love is infinite, full of tenderness, full of mercy, full of forgiveness, full of kindness, full of consideration. It is enough to meditate on the things that God thinks in advance for us, being so amazing how He, who has the whole world, heaven and earth to think about and yet is so particular about the simple, little things that can bring joy to someone. He inspires one person to give that joy to another person, to someone in need.
That is God's action in the world, God's love in action. And today God loves the world through us. Just as He sent Jesus to show the world how much He loved it. And today Christ is using us, us, you. He wants to try to show the world that He is, and that He loves the world, and that we are precious to Him. As Isaiah said, 'you are precious to Him, I have called you by name; you are mine. The water will not drown you. The fire will not burn you. I will forsake the nations for you; you are precious to me; I love you.' And that tenderness of God's love, and His compassion and mercy and forgiveness, are so beautifully expressed when He said that 'even if a mother can forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved you in the palm of my hand'. Just think that every time that you, that we, call out to God, there we are in his palm and he looks at us, so closely, with such tenderness, with such love. This is prayer..
Mother Teresa, throughout her life, had her critics. They were individuals or groups who tried to oppose her mission or her plans for various reasons. She never considered any of them her enemy, nor was she ever offended. Her desire to be one with Jesus offers us a key to understanding her own attitude toward people who, as far as her actions were concerned, could easily qualify as potential "enemies" in the way she viewed them. In a meditation she wrote for her sisters, Mother Teresa explains: "See the compassion of Christ toward Judas. The man who received so much love, yet betrayed his own Master, the Master who kept the 'Sacred Silence' and would not betray him to his companions. Jesus could have easily spoken out in public, as some of you do, and told others the hidden intentions and deeds of Judas. But he did not. Mnd rather showHe showed mercy and charity; and instead of condemning him, he called him 'friend'. And if Judas had looked into the eyes of Jesus as Peter did, today Judas would be the fruit of God's mercy. Jesus always had compassion"..
As great as Mother Teresa's faith was, she was always aware that it was God's grace at work in her life. She considered it a grace of God to be able to accept grace and she recognized God's action in her life. She said: "I must know what God has done for me. His great love for me is what keeps me here. Not my mmerit. The answer must be the conviction: it is the mercy and grace of God"..
I end with a reflection by Eileen Egan, a very close friend of Mother Teresa since the 1960s: "Mother Teresa took Jesus at His word and accepted Him with unconditional love in those with whom He chose to identify Himself. With the hungry, with the homeless, with the suffering. She wrapped them in mercy. Mercy, after all, is just love under the aspect of need, the love that goes out to meet the needs of the loved one. Could it not powerfully change life in our times for the better if millions of His followers took Jesus at His word?".
