Today we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
St. Teresa reminds us that love for God becomes visible in the way we love the person directly before us. Jesus identifies Himself with the hungry, the sick, the lonely, the rejected, and the forgotten: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Teresa recognized Christ beneath His “distressing disguise.” She understood that poverty includes not only hunger and homelessness but also the painful experience of being unwanted or forgotten. She therefore approached each person not as a problem to be solved, but as someone possessing sacred and eternal dignity.
Her life also teaches us that faithfulness does not depend upon spiritual feelings. Even during years of interior darkness, she continued to pray, serve, and love. She remained faithful to Christ even when she could not feel His presence. Holiness, she shows us, is sometimes the quiet decision to keep loving in the darkness.
We may not be called to accomplish something dramatic, but every disciple is called to notice the suffering nearby. Our “Calcutta” may be found in our family, parish, neighborhood, workplace, or within the heart of someone who simply needs to know that they have not been forgotten.
The person before us may be Christ in disguise. We need only the faith to recognize Him and the love to respond.