Come One. Come All.

Come one. Come all.
I saw the Mother Teresa movie a few nights ago. It made me even more inspired about the work this wonderful saint did. She was relentless in caring for the poor. She went “against the grain” when it came to pleasing the status quo, and those who represented the status quo. From sun up to sun down, her love for humanity was seen as she reached out to the homeless, the sick and suffering. She worked so zealously that it affected her physically. When her doctor told her she must get some rest. Her reply was “I have the whole of eternity to get rest.”

I thought about her love for humanity that drove her to untold hours of making a difference in the poor and needy, but to the wealthiest, they, too, were affected by her compassion. She left everyone better off after she had spent time with them. She didn’t see through the eyes of comparison and measuring up to a certain standard. She just was.

If she had been in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and she saw one of those “beggars” that stand on the street corners with a sign that says “Please help”, I don’t believe she would have ever passed them by. Somehow I think she would have gotten out of her car and managed to figure out a way to help them. To her, they were Jesus. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” (Matthew 25:35) She was accustomed to picking babies up out of garbage cans. Those little ones discarded by leper parents, perhaps, who could no longer care for them.

I heard a speaker tell about a wealthy individual that drove up to his church in a Rolls Royce and was concerned about the security of his car when he went into the church. An attendant parked the car in a locked and secure area that the church provides. Then a homeless man came up to the church pushing his grocery cart with everything in the world he owns in it. He, too, was concerned about the security of his grocery cart. The attendant took his cart and parked it right next to the Rolls Royce. I loved that story. They cared equally for both individuals.

That’s what Mother Teresa did. That’s what Jesus does. He loves us unconditionally. And isn’t that how we should love, too? After all, God didn’t give us a measuring stick to use on who measures up and who doesn’t. He did give us a measuring stick, and it’s the Golden Rule stick and it says. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” And another measuring stick that says “This is the first and greatest commandment. Love the Lord with all your heart, your soul and love your neighbor as you love yourself.” (Matthew 22:35).

In a world that needs this love and compassion, how can we rest on our laurels? Maybe it’s time for us to get busy loving and caring. After all, like Saint Teresa of Calcutta, we have the whole of eternity to get rest!”