Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Loving Others

Right now I am reading a book on Mother Teresa. The book is insightful and straightforward - just my kind of reading, yet I'm having a problem finishing it. The dense reading may be giving me too much to ponder.

One of the biggest themes of the book, along with many other spiritual books, is about how to be God's love for others. What I like about this one is all the great analogies and real life examples. I don't need to go to Africa and become a missionary to be God's light to others. I can start right where I am with who I meet and talk to on a daily basis. I can't think of a better pro-life stance than that. Part of the way to do that is...


Tough Love
I have always believed in tough love. One of the few bible verses that comes to my mind often is Proverbs 27:17. To paraphrase - iron sharpens iron, so man should sharpen man. I don't feel sharper if I have sugar-coated conversations all the time. Mother Teresa was a shining example of loving others with true compassion no matter who they were or what they had done, but she didn't stop there. Tough issues were addressed and in her 1979 Nobel Lecture she noted:
The poor people are very great people. They can teach us so many beautiful things. The other day one of them came to thank me, and said, "You people who have evolved chastity, you are the best people to teach us Family Planning. Because it is nothing more than self-control out of love for each other."

I love the way she started that statement with compliments. It is easier to hear a hard truth if you can first feel the love and acceptance of God - no matter where you are at in your life. She also spoke about the dangers of abortion and I encourage you to use the link above to read more of what this amazing woman said. Like her lecture, I can be tough and, hopefully, loving at the same time. I am learning through the example of those who went before me, but it is a long process. So, for today, I will let the loving words of Mother Teresa be the main focus of the post. NFP was accepted and appreciated by the poor. Again, I don't know any better pro-life stance or argument than that.

2 comments:

  1. Yes - the fact that NFP is not only used effectively but even embraced by people in poverty is major support! Of course many secular people will dismiss it, but we know better :)

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  2. oh I forgot to mention....H/T to you for helping me with the Mother Teresa research. I got the quote from you - thanks!

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