The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality.
Quote by Mother Teresa from her book: A Simple Path: Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa (1910–1997) was born in Skopje (present-day Macedonia) and joined the Sisters of Loreto in Dublin in 1928. She left the Loreto order in 1948 to begin the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. Her service to the poorest of the poor became her life’s work. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and was beatified in 2003.
REFLECTION:
- Examine how you love.
- Do you ever feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for?
- Are you still looking to fill the “hole in your soul” with more things or more doing?
- Do you have a spiritual practice that supports you?
- Examine your spiritual practice. Do you need to make changes… add, subtract actions, etc.
- Do you know someone who if feeling lonely or in need of some love today? Why not reach out?