We are each called and equipped by God not only to survive our personal Calcutta, but to serve there--to contribute to those around us whose individual Calcutta's intersect our own, just as Mother Teresa did, if on a different scale. If she could face the worst of human suffering in such immense proportions-and do so despite bearing her own pain-then there must be a way that we can do the same in the lesser Calcutta that is ours. We must never forget, distracted by the demi-problems of our routine existence, just how important our life is in the plan of God, and the great amount of good we can yet contribute.
How important can our one small, unspectacular life be? Consider this: the good that each of us can accomplish, even with limited resources and restricted reach, not even a Mother Teresa could achieve. The family, friends, and coworkers whom we alone can touch, with our unique and unrepeatable mix of gifts and qualities, not even Mother Teresa could reach. No one else on the planet, and no one else in history, possesses the same network of acquaintances and the same combination of talents and gifts as each one of us does-as you do.
There is no need, then, to travel to far-off lands to contribute to Mother Teresa's mission, or to follow her example. Wherever we are, with whatever talents and relationships God has entrusted us, we are each called not to do what a Mother Teresa did, but to do as she did-to love as she loved in the Calcutta of our own life.
Mother Teresa's SECRET FIRE, Joseph Langford
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