Selected tributes to Mother Teresa

Pope John Paul II

Castel Gandolfo, Italy
7 September 1997

Dearest brothers and sisters,

In this moment of prayer, we remember our dear sister, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who two days ago concluded her long walk on earth. I met her many times, and she lives in my memory as a tiny figure whose entire existence was the service of the poorest of the poor, but who was always full of an inexhaustible spiritual energy, the energy of the love of Christ.

Missionary of Charity: this was Mother Teresa, in name and in deed, offering such a compelling example that she attracted to herself many people who were prepared to leave everything to serve Christ’s presence in the poor.

Missionary of Charity. Her mission began every day, before dawn, in front of the Eucharist. In the silence of contemplation, Mother Teresa of Calcutta heard the cry of Christ on the Cross resound: “I thirst.” That cry, reverberating in the depths of her heart, drove her, on the streets of Calcutta and of the peripheries of all the world’s cities, to search for Jesus in the poor, in the abandoned, in the dying.

Dearest brothers and sisters, this nun, universally known as the Mother of the poor, leaves an eloquent example for all — believers and non-believers alike. She leaves us the proof of God’s Love, that transformed her life into total self-giving for her brothers. She leaves us the proof of contemplation that becomes love, and of love that becomes contemplation. Her works speak for themselves and show to today’s world that high significance of life that unfortunately often seems to be lost….

While we entrust to the Lord the generous soul of this humble and faithful nun, we ask the Blessed Virgin to sustain and comfort her Sisters and those who, throughout the entire world, have known and loved her.