WHEREVER she is right now, Mother Teresa, or St Teresa as she is now, must be looking down, not at the celebrations in Rome or Kolkata, but with sadness at the dying, the destitute, the poor and sick all over the world. She must be wishing she could still reach down and touch broken people and make them whole again.
I don’t think a supernatural miracle is needed to make one a saint. I think the miracle is the joy a broken person experiences when someone reaches out and physically touches them.
There is a story I oft repeat: A poor man who had gone to the market to buy provisions for his home, and seeds to plant in his small field, was returning home with the produce on his small cart drawn by himself, when inadvertently he slipped on the wet road, and his cart skidded into the sucking sand of a river. He tried all he could but the cart was firmly stuck and was slowly being sucked in.
A rich man passing by in his carriage, seeing the plight of the poor fellow, ordered his horsemen to help. They pushed and shoved but couldn’t move the sinking cart. The rich man then told them to untie his horses and tie them to the cart, but even that did not help pull the poor man’s cart out.
Then the rich man climbed down, put his own strength along with his horsemen and the horses to the cartwheels and suddenly the poor man’s cart rolled out of the slush and onto firmer ground.
A few years later, the tale goes, the rich man died and stood outside the gates of heaven, “What good deeds have you to show?” asked the angel sentry at the gates of heaven. “Well,” I built a school, gave a donation to an NGO!” said the rich man.
“Not enough!” said the angel. “I helped employ thousands through my businesses!” “Not enough!” said the angel, and the rich man pulled out his hanky worriedly, to wipe his brow, and a piece of dirt fell off from the handkerchief. “What’s that?” asked the angel. “Oh, that’s a piece of dirt, when I pushed a cart out of the marsh!” said the rich man as he attempted to wipe it off the angel’s table. “Open the gates and let him in,” shouted the angel, “That piece of dirt, from that action is all we need!”
Yes, reach out and touch. We are all so good at cheque book charity! All good at giving gold and money to temples and churches, but reach out, help, lift, strengthen, the weak and the poor. Use your money, use your time, use your positivity to push the wheels of those stuck in the slime and marshy ground, and that’s when you become a saint! Mother Teresa did this..!
