Conflicts around the world, such as the unrest in Syria, have displaced millions of people from their homes over the last year. And the mass exodus shows little signs of stopping as refugees look for new homes around Europe and even the United States.
In fact, the U.N. Refugee Agency estimates that the number of displaced individuals has surpassed 60 million by the end of 2015 – the highest yearly number ever recorded!
Pope Francis has not ignored this issue. Rather, he has embraced it and made it and emphasis of his papacy. Recently acknowledging that “Welcoming the Stranger” is not always easy, but necessary if we are to fulfill our Christian obligation. Saying, “Nations must find the right balance between two serious and binding obligations: protecting the rights and safety of one's citizens and ensuring assistance to and acceptance of migrants.”
But there is fear and uncertainty when we open our homes and our countries to strangers. We make ourselves vulnerable. Perhaps we look the other way and pretend it’s not an issue?
So who do we turn to? Who can model for us this “balance” that Pope Francis speaks of when welcome strangers?
How about, soon to be canonized, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta!
We know her story well.
Young Gonxha Agnes left home at the age of 18 years old to be a missionary (1928). She joined the Sisters of Loreto and was shortly after sent to India to teach in an all-girls school. She loved her work, her sisters and her students, but something was still missing. Then in 1946 during a train ride to her annual retreat, Mother Teresa had a conversion. She would later call this her “call within a call”, to radiate Christ’s love on all souls.
This is exactly what Mother Teresa did! She was granted permission to start a new religious community called the Missionary Sisters of Charity. Their charism…to serve the “poorest of the poor”…the strangers whom no one else would dare love and care for.
Through her work, Mother Teresa was focused on being a witness to the joy of loving, celebrating the dignity of every human person, embracing the value of doing little things faithfully and with love, and showing the worth of a friendship with God!
And if you spoke to the millions of strangers who Mother Teresa and her Sisters of Charity welcomed, I know you would find that her work is exactly the example we need to embrace those whom the rest of the world chooses to ignore!
If you want to learn more about Mother Teresa, her work, her life, and the Missionary Sisters of Charity, click her:http://www.motherteresa.org/. Also feel free to stop by our Middle School Religion classroom to see our 2nd class relic of Mother Teresa (a portion of her habit)!
As we reflect on our Christian call to Welcome the Stranger, may we each find strength in Mother Teresa’s response to love those that others are afraid to love - Sounds like she knew a thing or two about Welcoming the Stranger!
Blessed Mother Teresa…Pray for Us!Blogger: Joe Tallman,
Middle School Religion
St. Pius X School
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