Mother Teresa never got used to poverty; after her visits to different communities of her sisters, she often remarked, “Our poor people are suffering so much.” “The poverty in New York, London, Rome…go at night in the streets of Rome you see people sleeping on a newspaper,” she sadly noted. At times it seemed that the poor were getting poorer and poorer. She had eyes to see that many people did not have sufficient clothing. Some had no change of clothes nor a chance to have a shower, and while living on the streets, they had to put up with the scornful looks that their poor appearance or bad smell provoked. They too would have liked to wear decent and nice clothes, as everyone else does.

Whether the poor were ill clad or not, Mother Teresa’s reaction to their need was not only to give them proper clothing, but also to show them all the respect she could. She would cover the bodies of those lying naked on the streets, put a warm blanket over those shivering with cold, or shield from shame those lying with maggots and humiliating wounds so that others might not turn with repugnance from their poverty. When she spoke of “clothing the naked not only with clothes, but also with human dignity,” she was emphasizing the need to treat people suffering from want with great respect and to restore to them their dignity as sons and daughters of God.

Profound knowledge of herself allowed Mother Teresa to go beyond appearances and see herself as neither different from nor better than others. She was able to do so because she knew in the depths of her heart that she was one of the poorest of the poor. This also helped her to have a profound and tender compassion for the person in front of her, at the same time as she recognized his or her human dignity. Further, she knew that “the poor people are very great people. They can teach us so many beautiful things….These are people who maybe have nothing to eat, maybe they have not a home where they can live, but they are great people.”

Yet do we realize how little worth is accorded to human dignity in our modern world? Are individuals not often considered mere objects of exploitation? In so many circumstances in which human dignity is so little respected, and when individuals are considered mere objects to be exploited, the love and respect with which Mother Teresa treated every human being is an even more timely reminder. Treating someone with kindness, respect, and reverence can indeed restore to that person his or her innate dignity.

HER WORDS

He Chose to Be Like Us

The poor are great people and we owe them deep gratitude, for if they did not accept us, then we would not exist as MCs. To be able to understand this, we look at Jesus. To be able to become man, He “being rich, became poor” [2 Cor 8:9]. He could have chosen the king’s palace, but to be able to be equal to us He chose to be like us in all things except sin. We, to be equal to the poor, choose to be poor like them in everything except destitution.1

I am very sure that all those people who have died with us [are] in heaven, they are really saints; they are in the presence of God. It may be that they were not wanted on this earth, but they are very beloved children of God.2

Jesus Died for That Naked Person

Jesus died on the Cross to show that greater love, and He died for you and for me and for that Ωleper, and for that man dying of hunger, and that naked person lying in the street, not only of Calcutta, but of Africa, and New York, and London, and Oslo—and insisted that we love one another as He loves each one of us. We read that in the Gospel very clearly, “Love as I have loved you; as I love you; as the Father has loved Me, I love you.”3

And He says, “I was hungry and you gave Me to eat, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you took care of Me, I was homeless and you took Me in, I was lonely and you smiled at Me….Whatever you do to the least of My brethren, you have done it to Me.” And this is what Jesus again and again told us: to love one another as He has loved us.4

So this is what all of us must take the trouble [to find out], where are these places [in which the poorest of the poor live] and guide the other Co-Workers to go to these places. Say two can go, never go alone. You should never go alone, take another person and go to that place. That is Christ in the distressing disguise, and for us this is the hungry Christ, the naked Christ, and the homeless Christ….Just to do that humble work…We have determined to remain with the humble work and…it is not a waste of time just to feed and to wash and to scrub and to love and to take care and to do these little things. Because it is directly done to the hungry Christ, the naked Christ. He cannot deceive us; it is that touching Him twenty-four hours. So that’s why it is so beautiful that we can pray twenty-four hours when we are in their presence, when we are touching them.5

Do you really love Jesus? Do you really often feel that thirst of Jesus? Do you hear Him saying to you, “Do you love Me in the poorest of the poor?” Sisters, listen to Mother, are you able to hear the cry of Jesus in the hungry one? The naked one? The unloved and unwanted one? In the leprosy patient with that big wound full of maggots? Those AIDS patients? With what dignity do you treat them? Do you find the suffering Christ in each one? If you are very close to Jesus, with the help of Our Lady you can say I will quench the thirst of Jesus by sharing their suffering. It is the same way in our community, with our own sisters, our superiors. Now don’t forget: “You did it to Me.”6

How Clean Your Hands Must Be

How clean your hands must be to join in prayer, to clothe the naked Christ.7

Today a group of schoolchildren came to see me. They had selected a boy and a girl from each class to bring the money and the food after the puja offerings to us, to our Shishu Bhavan (Home for Children), and then they came here to see me. Now how do they know about us, I do not know. See, sisters, this is the wonderful part of our vocation, that as MCs we have created an awareness of the poor in the whole world. Twenty years ago if you said there is a hungry man or a naked man around, nobody would believe you. Today the whole world knows our poor because of our work. Because they know, they want to share.8

Mr. Kennedy came to visit the place. Sister Agnes was washing the dirty clothes and he insisted on shaking hands with her. Sister was hiding her hands but he insisted, “I want…These hands are doing the humble works for the love of Christ.”9

I remember last time when I was in Beirut and I brought those children—in terrible condition—hospital bombed—workers had run away—those thirty-seven children completely naked, one on top of another, nobody feeding them, taking care of them—they were like sucking each other. We brought these children and put them on nice clean beds. See the difference these sisters have made for these children. “Thank you, Mother”—doctors came and everyone said, “Every single child will die within one week.” The most wonderful thing is that not one single child died, and the smile on their faces was beautiful.10

Let us not make the mistake that here in Europe and other places we do not have hungry people, we don’t have naked people. There is not only hunger for bread, there is hunger for love. [Maybe here] there is no nakedness for [lack of] a piece of clothing but there is nakedness [for lack] of human dignity; there is no homelessness for a room made of bricks but there is that rejection of being unwanted, unloved, uncared for. That is why we need to pray. Prayer will give us a clean heart, and with a clean heart we can see God. And if we see God, we will love one another as God loves each one of us.11

Nakedness Is the Loss of That Human Dignity

That is why we say, the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for, the forgotten, the lonely—this is much greater poverty. Because material poverty you can always satisfy with material things: if we pick up a man hungry for bread, we give him the bread and we have already satisfied his hunger. But if we find a man terribly lonely, rejected, a throwaway of society, material help will not help him. Because to remove that loneliness, to remove that terrible hurt, needs prayer, needs sacrifice, needs tenderness and love. And that is very often more difficult to give than to give material things. That is why there is hunger not only for bread, but there is hunger for love.12

Every human being is created in the image and likeness of God, and Christ, by His incarnation, is united with each human person. In the beginning when I first started the work, some people passed remarks that the Church is not made of rubbish. That meant the poor, the sick, the dying, the crippled, the homeless, etc. Now everyone seems to have turned toward what was considered rubbish. Yes, the poor are worthy of respect and human dignity. Human beings cannot become conscious of their own dignity unless they have experienced love. It reminds me of the man who died in Nirmal Hriday. “I have lived like an animal in the street, but I will die like an angel, loved and cared for.”13

There are many people who have died in very cold countries, they are frozen to death. But nakedness is also the terrible loss of human dignity, that loss of [that] beautiful virtue—that purity, a virgin body, a virgin heart, a pure heart—that purity that is pure, that chastity that is chaste, that virginity that is virgin, loss of that beautiful gift of God.14

Nakedness is for the loss of that human dignity, the loss of that respect, the loss of that purity that was so beautiful, so great, the loss of that virginity that was the most beautiful thing that a young man and a young woman can give each other because they love each other, the loss of that presence, of what is beautiful, of what is great; this is nakedness.15

There is nakedness for that human dignity, for that respect of the Divine that is in each one of us. Because God has created us for greater things, to love and to be loved. And so when we take away the dignity of that human being, we are destroying in him that divinity that is in him.16

HER EXAMPLE: THE TESTIMONIES

He Was Stark Naked with Many Wounds

Once when an English young man was running wildly on the road to avoid the stoning from an angry mob, Mother stopped the ambulance in which we were traveling and took him in. He was stark naked with many wounds. Mother took him to the Mother House, gave him water for bathing, treated his wounds, gave him clothes to put on and a warm meal.17

We Are Going to Take Every Child from Here

When we first went…into this orphanage [in Romania], we found sixty-three children in an unspeakable state….Mother had permission to take forty of the children. We went and found them naked, two and three to a bed, many sitting or lying in urine. Mother said to me, “We are going to take every child from here.” I said, “Mother, we only have documents for forty.” Mother stopped me and said, “I will not leave without taking every child.” Later I found Mother outside and she kept repeating, “I don’t want to judge” (she was visibly shaken). “I don’t want to judge them, but these people (the caretakers of the children) they are standing there, they are not feeling shy, not feeling embarrassed, how is that possible?” Then again, “I don’t want to judge them.” Mother did not lose her composure with the caretakers, but she saw to it that we took the children, all sixty-three.18

Mother Did Not Send the Lady Away

I was so struck to see Mother’s trust in Divine Providence. One day a lady came with torn clothes, so Mother asked the sister in charge to bring a sari. There was no sari to give her, though. Still, Mother did not send the lady away, and in a few minutes a man came and brought many new saris. That lady was so happy.19

She Had the Power of God’s Love

Albania in 1991 was totally empty of everything: no foodstuffs in the stores, no clothes, no medicines. Mother begged, especially from Italy, for clothes, food, and medicines. Things began to pour in but it was difficult to distribute them. People were undisciplined and hostile. We told Mother about it, but Mother told us to distribute the clothes and food when she was with us. We went and gave out tickets to the people, but even this was impossible. The day for distribution came and Mother was there, ready, with her apron on. Police were also there outside. The crowd outside was enormous in number, beyond police control. Mother went out to the crowd and spoke to them. We were afraid for Mother, as she was suffering from heart disease. She was courageous and determined. She calmed the crowd and that day we gave the people clothes. Mother could do this because she had the power of God’s love. After finishing, Mother exclaimed, “Albanian people were not like this.” Mother remembered her past. Yes, the whole nation was destroyed in fifty years. If God was legally banished from the country, what could one expect a man to be—a man without dignity. One Albanian said to us: “Communism has taken fifty years to destroy the conscience of people, but to rebuild the conscience of Albanians it will take a hundred years.”20

The Best Medicine to Stop the Cough

Mother would keep close to her bed whoever was sick so that she could keep an eye on us. If any sister would cough in the chapel, Mother would bring her out and wrap her with her own warm clothing. And if any sister would cough at night in the dormitory, Mother would go to the sister and say gently and lovingly, “Sister, is Mother going to hear your cough all night?” Then that was the end. The best medicine to stop the cough was Mother’s great love and concern for us! In our dormitory, every night before Mother went to bed she went around from bed to bed and saw to it that everybody was all right and nicely covered us with a blanket. If our legs were out, she would put them inside the mosquito net and tuck our blankets nicely—even if Mother had lots of letters to write and was very busy. How much I missed Mother, who was so much like my very own mother.21

How Much the Poor Must Have to Suffer

I was in the dormitory. It was winter, and with all the doors and windows open I was shivering in my bed. Two blankets were not enough, but again it was around midnight, so I tried to warm myself with what I had. Just then I felt somebody covering me with a blanket. I thought I was imagining, yet I opened my eyes and who was there? Of course, Mother. Once again very lovingly she covered me, tucked the blankets under my mattress, blessed me, and pressed her warm hands on my face and said, “Sleep.” Only in the morning did I realize that she had sacrificed her own blanket and given it to me. Was she able to sleep in the cold without a blanket? Only heaven knows. In the morning, Mother told me, “How much the poor must have to suffer sleeping on a bare cold floor without any blanket. Our sufferings are nothing compared to the suffering of the poor.”22

All My Clothes Are Wet

One day it was raining and all my clothes were wet, and I went to tell Mother, “Mother, I have nothing to put on, all my clothes are wet.” And Mother told me to go and take Mother’s nightgown from under her pillow and wear that. I did that.23

REFLECTION

“I was naked and you clothed Me.” (Mt 25:36)

“Naked for loyalty He hopes of you….Will you be that ‘one’ to Him?”24

“The poor are naked—for clothes, for human dignity and compassion.”25

Do I look down on people whose clothes are shabby or dirty? Do I realize that they might be dressed like that because they have no change of clothes? Do I realize that because of their poor clothing they may seek isolation? And do I contribute to their wretchedness by my condescending look or by pretending I do not see them? Do I realize that they may be suffering because of want and because they are despised by others on account of it? What can I do so that they need not be shunned by others because of the rags they wear?

Do I have eyes to see that the people I encounter on the street need clothes? Do I have a heart ready to share some of my clothing with them? Would a piece of clothing that I do not need help someone? Approaching a needy person might be difficult and challenging, but it may also be rewarding. Try to find a person in need and give something with your own hands, in a way that restores that person’s dignity, that makes him or her feel honored and respected. Can I offer someone a warm and friendly greeting, acknowledging that person’s innate dignity by the way I interact with him or her?

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance wherever I go.

Flood my soul with Your Spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,

that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me

that every soul I come in contact with

may feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up, and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as You shine,

so to shine as to be a light to others.

The light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be mine.

It will be You, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You in the way which You love best,

by shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,

by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what I do,

the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

Amen.

—Inspired by John Henry Cardinal Newman’s own prayer, prayed by Mother Teresa daily after Holy Communion