Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,

 and he will reward them for what they have done. 

Proverbs 19:17

By nature I suppose, I’m not someone given to making blanket generalizations. Life, to me at least, is too complicated, too many-cornered, too rife with paradox, seeming contradictions that in reality simply are not.

No matter. Here’s one I dare make – every Christian believer understands the absolute importance of taking care of the poor, the voiceless, the powerless. Love is the great commandment, and that love is expressed most clearly in giving one’s life for others. We all know that. No one can read the gospels – no one can read the Bible itself – and not know that Christ’s teaching about the powerless is ever at the heart of things.

But here’s the rub. How? – that’s where the difficulty arises. Enter politics.

Tonight, two Presidential candidates, both of whom confess Jesus, will spar for 90 minutes on just that question. No one expects much agreement.

On February 16, 1949, Mother Theresa wrote this entry, redolent with character, in her diary.

I went to meet the landlord of 46 Park Circus. The man never turned up. I am afraid I liked the place too much – and our Lord just wants me to be a “Free Nun”, covered with the poverty of the Cross. But today I learned a good lesson – the poverty of the poor must be often so hard for them. When I went round looking for a home, I walked and walked till my legs and arms ached. I thought how they must also ache in body and soul looking for home, food, help. Then the temptation grew strong. The palace buildings of the Loreto came rushing into my mind. All the beautiful things and comforts – in a word, everything. “You have only to say a word and all that will be yours again,” the tempter kept saying. Of free choice, My God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be Your Holy Will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come, even if I suffer more than now. I still want to do your Holy Will. This is the dark night of the birth of our Society. My God give me courage now, this moment, to persevere in following your Will. {47}

That entry is not short on theological perception; after all, the tempter himself makes a skulking appearance. But what I find remarkable is MT’s willingness to associate her own fears and anger that day with the perceived experience of those who daily suffer from the dishonor of broken promises, empty cupboards, and leaky roofs. Her own personal distress that day actually led her into considering anew the distress of others, those less fortunate. Instead of gathering her own spite into a fist, she reaches out for others, sees them more clearly in her own distress.

It’s a gorgeous little story, really, a story she didn’t mean to tell us, a story she simply recorded has her personal testimony after a very trying day.

Still, without a doubt, what happened that morning brought her closer to the poor and the destitute, the people she wanted to serve. Her empathy, amply demonstrated here, was the starting point for her mission, as it should be for all of ours.