On Faith: Strive to quench an undeniable thirst for love

One of the most influential and famous persons over the last 100 years wasn't an athlete, celebrity, or political figure. She was a simple, short, 4-foot nothing, religious nun from Albania who would come to be affectionately known as Mother Teresa.

At the age of 18, she left home and joined the convent of Loreto Sisters in Ireland. She was sent to Calcutta, India to teach at a school for upper middle-class girls. While she loved teaching these girls, she was increasingly disturbed by the extreme poverty she saw outside the school walls.

One day on a train ride in 1946, she heard a call from within her conscience to serve the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. She would go on to call this, "the call within the call" - having already been called to religious life, this was a call to something more. She later wrote, "I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith."

She began one day on her own, with a few bandages, clothes, and food; she went out into the city to care for those in need. Soon others joined her, including other Loreto Sisters and girls from the school. She would found a new religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, to care for the poorest of the poor throughout the world.

Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and died in 1997. She was canonized a saint in 2016. There are now more than 5,700 Missionaries of Charity with convents all over the world.

In every Missionary of Charity convent, there is a crucifix in the chapel. And under the right arm and transept of the cross are the words, "I Thirst." These were some of the last words Christ said from the cross. Mother Teresa reflected on this, believing that Jesus wasn't thirsting for something to drink, but rather for our love, each and every one of us.

God entered into our broken fallen world. Something he didn't have to do. He did this out of his sheer graciousness and love for us. Jesus gave everything he had throughout his life. Day in and day out until finally he entered into Jerusalem one last time and was betrayed, arrested, mocked, humiliated, tortured, and crucified. He literally gave all of himself, exhausted himself so that we would know his love for us and choose to love him in return.

God gave us free will, each of us can choose to know, love, and serve him or choose to ignore and reject him. Jesus wants us to freely choose to love him. Mother Teresa wanted to satiate Jesus' thirst by praying, by worshiping him, by loving him, by loving the poorest of the poor. Know that Jesus created you good, redeemed you and desires your friendship. He thirsts for your love. Only your love for him will satiate his thirst.

Father Nick Nelson is the pastor of Queen of Peace and Holy Family Catholic parishes in Cloquet. Reach him at [email protected].