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Writer's pictureSarah Raad

Rice

And though they were hungrier than if they had kept all the rice, that family were richer too.  After all, only the rich have enough to share…

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

I love Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

 

Perhaps I love her because she was a Saint who lived during my own lifetime, and because I saw her on the television and I knew people who went to visit her, I feel in some way better connected with her than I do with many other Saints.

 

I feel the same way about Pope Saint John Paul II.  I saw him on television.  I attended Mass when he visited Sydney.  I listened to his interviews.  I heard him on the radio.

 

All of these things made me feel very connected to these modern Saints.

 

A Saint is a person who has gone to Heaven when they have died.  The Catholic Church has many steps that are required to be passed before a soul can be declared a Saint.  These steps include miracles that must be verified by science as miracles or occurrences that have no scientific explanation and can therefore be attributed to a miracle through the intercession of the Saint.

 

There are other modern Saints, but of all of them, these were the Saints who I knew about during their lives and for this reason they resonate with me.

 

But what does this mean?  Well, they were holy even when on Earth.  Although they could not be called Saints until after their deaths, it was their holiness that made them popular an dwell known…

 

Saint Teresa of Calcutta said, “When I see someone sad, I always think she is refusing something to Jesus... Cheerfulness is a sign of a generous and mortified person who forgetting all things, even herself, tries to please her God in all she does for souls. Cheerfulness is often a cloak which hides a life of sacrifice and a continual union with God.”

 

And though she carried terrible sadness and spiritual dryness inside her heart for most of her adult life, Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta was known for her beautiful cheerfulness and kind smile…

 

Once, she visited a starving family and took with her some rice.  The children were so many and so hungry in that family that when she took them the rice, their eyes lit up with joy.  The Saint explained that when she gave the rice, “The mother of the family divided the rice I gave her and went out. When she came back, I asked her: ‘Where did you go? What did you do?’ And she gave me a very simple answer: ‘They are hungry also’.”  That mother had gone out to share the small amount of food she had received with others who were also hungry.

 

And the Saint recalled, “I didn't bring any more rice that evening because I wanted them to enjoy the joy of sharing.”

 

And though they were hungrier than if they had kept all the rice, that family were richer too.  After all, only the rich have enough to share…  And there is a dignity in that sharing that Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta gave to that family that was surely inspired by Grace…

 

And today, through the intercession of the Saints, I have come to realise that we can all be rich – if I only would have the generosity to share…

 

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.

 

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