A Poem Mother Teresa hung in the Calcutta orphanage: 
 

People are unreasonable, illogical, self-centered 
                                  ... love them anyway. 

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, 
ulterior motives
                                ... do good anyway. 

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies 
                                ... be sucessful anyway. 

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow 
                                   ... do good anyway. 

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable 
                           ... be honest and frank anyway. 

People love underdogs but follow only top dogs 
                         ... follow some underdog anyway. 

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight 
                                     ... build anyway. 

People really need help but may attack you if 
you try to help 
                                ... help people anyway. 

If you give the world the best you have, 
you may get kicked in the teeth 
                       ... but give the world the best you have 
                                       ... ANYWAY. 

 One of Mother Teresa's Favorite Prayers: 

       Lord make me an instrument of thy peace ... 
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; 
where there is doubt, faith; 
where there is despair, hope; 
where there is darkness, light; 
where there is sadness, joy; 
O Divine Master, grant that I may not 
so much seek to be consoled as to console; 
to be understood as to understand; 
to be loved as to love; 
for it is in giving that we receive; 
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; 
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 

                                     St. Francis of Assisi 

Professor John Sanness,  who chaired the committee, 
gave the speech of presentation for the 1979 prize to Mother Teresa. 
After speaking of the many paths to peace which had been recognized in previous awards, he explained what was special in this one:

Can any political, social, or intellectual engineering, on the international or on the national plane, however effective and rational,
however idealistic and principled its protagonists may be, give us anything but a house built on a foundation of sand, unless the spirit of Mother Teresa inspires the builders and  takes its dwelling in their building?

Sannes explained that this spirit is rooted in the Christian faith. "She sees Christ in every human being, and this in her eyes makes man sacred... The hallmark of her work has been respect for the
individual and the individual's worth and dignity. The loneliest and the most wretched, the dying destitute, the abandoned lepers, have been received by her and her Sisters with warm compassion devoid of condescension, based on this reverence for Christ in Man."

Sannes told how Mother Teresa was born into a Roman Catholic Albanian family living in Skopje, capital of the Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. At the age of twelve she had felt the call to help the poor, and a few years later decided to work in India. At the age of eighteen she joined the Irish order of Loeto and went to teach in their girls' school in Calcutta. After sixteen years she felt a new call, to work in the Calcutta slums. There she started a new order, the Missionaries of Charity, committed to serve the poorest of the poor, which soon spread to many other countries.

Working for people who were not of her race, religion or nationality, Mother Theresa had transcended all barriers. "With her message she is able to reach through to something innate in every human kind---
if for no other purpose than to create a potential, a seed for good." "She promotes peace in the most fundamental manner," 
Sanness concluded, "by her confirmation of the inviolability of human dignity."

     The Consequence of Indifference

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I have a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring home with me." "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him."

"There's something you should know," the son continued. "He was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm and a leg. I want him to come live with us; he has nowhere else to go"

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."

"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us."

"Son," said the father, "you don't know what your're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think
you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own."

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. They were told that their son had died after falling from
a building. The police believed it was suicide.

The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the City Morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him but, to their horror, they also discovered something they didn't know. Their son had
only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don't like people who
inconvenience us or make us feel ucomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are. Thankfully, there's Someone who won't treat us that way ... Someone who
loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the Forever Family, regardless of how messed up we are.

Tonight, before you tuck yourself in for the night, say a little prayer that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us.

   ~ Author Unknown ~
 

      And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord
forgave you, so also should you. And
          beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your heart to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. 

  ~ Colossians 3:12-15 (NASV) ~ 
 

   Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
 You've stripped away our heritage,
  You've outlawed simple prayer.

  Now gunshots fill our classrooms
  And precious children die.
 You seek for answers everywhere
  And ask the question "Why?"

   You regulate restrictive laws
   Through legislative creed.
   And yet you fail to understand
   That God is what we need!

Written by Darrell Scott, 
father of Eric and Dylan,
  two victims of Columbine 
High School shooting.
  Presented with his testimony before 
the Sub-committee on Crime, 
House Judiciary Committee,
          United States House of Representatives,
            Thursday, May 27, 1999, 2:00 p.m.,
              2141 Rayburn House Office Building. 
 

Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule.
For this great nation under God
 Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
Anytime my head I bow
Becomes a federal matter now.
The law is specific; the law is precise.
Praying out loud is no longer nice.
Praying aloud in a public hall
Upsets those who believe in nothing all.
In silence alone, we can meditate
And if God should get the credit......
great
They are bringing their guns;
I don't dare bring my Bible.
To do so might make me liable.
So, now, Oh Lord, this plea I make ...
Should I be shot in school,
My soul, please take. 

   Written by a 12-year-old-girl in Boston.
 

 The recent passing of Mother Teresa
   evoked an outpouring of sympathy and
  respect for one of the truly great and influential people of our day.

    What was it that made Mother Teresa
     such an outstanding person? Perhaps
   it was her selfless dedication to the
   poorest of the poor. Perhaps it was her commitment and devotion to God.
 Perhaps it was her understanding of
  the dignity and value of each person,  no matter what dire circumstances they happened to be in. Most of all, Roger Cooke believes it was her profound
  ability to communicate in a simple way the complex issues relating to life, Christianity, and God. Her words
  distilled the truth of a matter down to pure nuggets of wisdom.

   A sculpture of Mother Teresa has been produced by Roger Cooke that has
  captured the character of this great lady, in both detail and spirit. Weeks of research and labor went into this fine piece to ensure that the proportions and expression were accurate. The sculputre is 9" high, with a 3" base. All four sides of the base contain significant quotations from Mother Teresa, which gives the piece added spiritual significance.

 The following quotations are found on the sculpture:

 "Do something beautiful for God."

"Whatever you do for your family, for your children, for your husband,
for your wife, you do for God."

   "Let no one ever come away from you, without coming away better and
                happier."

 "The fruit of prayer is a deepening of faith, and the fruit of faith is love, and the fruit of love is service."

The sculpture is cast in solid polyurethane, in an ivory white color, with a matte finish.

   The price is $39.95, plus $10 shipping and handling. A portion of the proceeds will go to the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa.