Sometime ago a woman came with her child to me and said : 'Mother, I went to two or three places to beg for food, for we have not eaten for three days but they told me that I was young and I should work and earn my living. No one gave me anything.' I went to get some food for her and by the time I returned, the baby in her arms had died of hunger.

In Minneapolis, a woman in a wheelchair, suffering continuous convulsions from cerebral palsy asked me what people like her could do for others.

I told her: 'You can do the most. You can do more than any of us because your suffering is united with the suffering of Christ on the Cross and it brings strength to all of us.'

There is a tremendous strength that is growing in the world through this continual sharing, praying together, suffering together and working together.

There was the man we picked up from the drain, half eaten by worms and, after we had brought him to the home for the dying in Kalighat, he only said, 'I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die as an angel, loved and cared for.'

Then, after we removed all the worms from his body, all he said, with a big smile, was : 'Sister, I'm going home to God,' and he died.

It was so wonderful to see the greatness of a man who could speak like that without blaming anybody, without comparing anything. This is the greatness of people who are spiritually rich even when they are materially poor.

I once picked up a woman from a garbage dump and she was burning with fever; she was in her last days and her only lament was : 'My son did this to me.'

I begged her : 'You must forgive your son. In a moment of madness, when he was not himself, he did a thing he regrets. Be a mother to him, forgive him. It took me a long time to make her say: 'I forgive my son.'

Just before she died in my arms, she was able to say that with real forgiveness. She was not concerned that she was dying. The breaking of her heart was that her son did not want her. This is something you and I can understand.

For parents: Vast regions of the world are covered by spiritual deserts. There you will find young people marked by human abandonment, the result of broken relationships which affect them to their very depths.

Even when they are thirsting for a spiritual life, many of the young are afflicted by doubt.

They are unable to place their confidence in God, to believe, since they have not found confidence in those to whom life had entrusted them. Separations have wounded the innocence of their childhood or adolescence.

The consequences are skepticism and discouragement. What's the use of living? Does life still have any meaning?

One day a lady came to me dressed in a very rich sari. She told me: 'Mother, I want to share in your work.' I prayed for a moment to get the right answer to give her about sharing in my work.

And I told her: 'I would begin with the sari. You start buying a cheaper sari each month, and the money you save, you bring it to me for the poor.' So she started buying cheaper saris and she said it changed her life. She has really understood sharing. And she told met hat she has received much more than she has given.

I will never forget the day I was walking down a street in London and saw a man sitting all alone, looking so terribly lonely. I walked up to him and I took his hand and shook it. And he exclaimed: 'Oh, after so long, this is the first time I've felt the warmth of a human hand.' And then his face brightened up. He was a different being. He felt that there was somebody who really wanted him, somebody who really cared. I never realised before that such a small action could bring so much joy.

We get so many visitors every day at Mother House in Calcutta. When I meet them I give each one my 'business card'. On it is written: The fruit of silence is prayer; The fruit of prayer is faith; The Fruit of faith is love; The fruit of love is service; The fruit of service is peace.

This is very good 'business'! And it makes people think. Sometimes, they ask me to explain it. But you see, everything begins with a prayer that is born in the silence of our hearts. Among yourselves you can share your own experience of your need to pray, and how you found prayer, and what the fruit of prayer has been in your own lives.

I'll never forget my own mother. She used to be very busy the whole day, but as soon as the evening came, she used to move very fast to get ready to meet my father. At that time, we didn't understand, we used to smile, we used to laugh and we used to tease her. But now I remember what a tremendous, delicate love she had for him. It didn't matter what happened, she was ready there with a smile to meet him. Today we have no time. The father and the mother are so busy. The children come home and there's no one to love them, to smile at them. That's why I'm very strict with my co-workers. I always say: Family first. If you are not there, how will your love grow for one another?

You will find Calcutta all over the world if you have eyes to see. The streets of Calcutta lead to every man's door. I know that you may want to make a trip to Calcutta, but it is easy to love people far away. It is not always easy to love those people who live beside us. What about the ones I dislike or look down upon?

Continued