Last Sunday Pope Francis canonized the newest saint in our church, Mother Teresa. For many of us her name brings up the image of a small Indian nun dressed in a white and blue sari. Mother Teresa is known internationally for her ministry to the sickest of the sick, winning  the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize as well as many other honors for her acts of charity.

   Born on August 26, 1910 in Macedonia, she was inspired at the age of 15 to work in India. At 18 she left home, became a Sister of Loreto and found herself teaching in a fashionable girl’s college. She soon became depressed on seeing so many destitute and dying people on the city streets, many lying prey to rats and other vermin.

   In 1946 she received a “call within a call” to leave her teaching position and help the poor by living among them. Four years later she founded the Missionaries of Charity, a community of women and men dedicated to care for the poorest of poor.  Eventually this grew into an international community following her example. Millions of  poor people have been compassionately cared for and have not died alone.

   Mother Teresa of Kolkata died in September, 1997 and was beatified in 2003, just six years after her death. As we honor her with sainthood, may her challenge continue: to never forget the poorest of the poor!