1 John 3:18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
Mother Teresa was 85-years-old when she was invited to address the Presidential Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. This frail old lady, dressed as ever in her simple cheap clothing, passionately and eloquently called on the powerful luminaries gathered around her to enshrine the protection of unborn babies in law.
She pleaded for compassion on behalf of the ‘little ones’: “How can we speak out against violence, when we are the most brutal with the most defenseless?” It was obviously a controversial and sensitive subject, and many of the media elite spoke of that awkward moment for the President Clinton, Vice-President Gore, and their wives as this humble diminutive lady spoke with such conviction.
As she stood down, the audience gave a roaring standing ovation. However, a number of people, who were seated on the stage, very ostentatiously chose not to stand up, in obvious disagreement with what she’d said.
Afterwards, President Clinton was asked in an interview what he thought of Mother Teresa’s pointed message. He paused and said only this: “It is very difficult to argue against a life so beautifully lived.” He was wise to keep his words to a minimum, because he recognized that all the arguments supporting his opinion about her words were irrelevant at that time. Anything he said would only reflect his attitude toward Mother Teresa the person; and in the presence of a life well lived, he was no longer responding to an issue at hand, but to a person in front of him.
Will we speak well, or live well? People look as they listen, and what they see must be one with what they hear. Dorothy Day’s life in many ways followed a similar trajectory to Mother Teresa’s. It was said of Dorothy Day that “she loved the truth enough to live it.” Will we?
Lord, I choose to live in such a way that it will be said of me that I loved the truth enough to live it. Amen!
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