THE WORD AND THE SAINT
It is an interesting anecdote to recall - the story said about a man who asked a Zen master, 'what would you do if the world begins to end right now?' The Master who was just drinking a cup of tea, looked up at him and said without panic, 'I would continue to taste this tea.' That is the spirituality that Paul and Jesus speak of today. To remain awake, alert, active always is the key to face the worst of events in life.
Mother Teresa of Kolkata was a living example of it. The enormous work that she had accomplished in her lifetime, and against all the odds that she faced, is an everlasting testament of how alert and awake she was to do good to others. She was never taken up with the fact that she was doing a great job... she always felt she was doing what she could. But the Lord was using her mightily. Her part lay in the way she cooperated with God's will to bring about the best in any situation. The secret that helped her was, not waiting for the ideal situation to do good, but to do it in whatever way you can, whenever you can. That is why she said, 'you need not do great things for God; but do the ordinary things with great love!'
The Spirituality of keeping awake is nothing but being alert to any situation that presents itself to do good. Whether we think it is small or judge it big, we are called to do whatever is within our capacity to make a difference in the lives of the needy and the suffering. Mother Teresa shines as a brilliant icon of God's compassion. Let us develop within us a heart for the needy, the suffering, the lonely and the oppressed -'those in the periphery' as Pope Francis would remind us.