On being called a saint.

Jesus, I trust in you!

"God in the New Testament is the God of love, compassion, and mercy. That is why we can trust Him fully, there is no more fear." - M. Teresa

I was looking for something Bl. Mother Teresa of Calcutta once said to a journalist who told her people were calling her a living saint. I recall Mother laughing it off, as it were, and saying something like, "When we are in the state of grace, we are all holy."  I couldn't find the exact quote, but I found some other very good quotes from Mother to share for today.

Even during her lifetime, people recognized Mother Teresa's exceptional holiness and called her "a living saint." To indiscreet remarks made about her sanctity, she would respond with utter simplicity: "Holiness is not a luxury of the few, but a simple duty for you and for me." Since sanctity should be our normal state, there was no reason for self-glorification.

In stating that holiness was a simple duty for everyone, Mother Teresa was not implying that it was easily achieved. Fully aware that holiness is a fruit of the action of the Holy Spirit in the soul, she also stressed that it required effort and a strong resolution on our part. "I will, I want, with God's blessing, be holy," was a recurring refrain on her lips in the last years of her life. Though her physical strength failed over time, her determination to strive for holiness never diminished.

"I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than to work a miracle in unkindness," Mother Teresa wrote to her sisters. This was a principle she herself followed. It was precisely this attitude of being kindly disposed that led her to look at others' actions in a favorable light, to give them the benefit of the doubt or to overlook a mistake. This kindness made her approachable and sought after even by people whose opinions were opposed to hers. Such kindness that communicates love was what she demanded of her sisters: "Be the living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting. In the slums we are the light of God's kindness to the poor."

"Holiness is not a luxury of the few, but a simple duty for you and for me."  - M. Teresa