Issue 45.14
Recently I heard a wonderful story about Mother Teresa which filled me with inspiration and awe. Tony Robbins, the nationally known motivational speaker and coach had the occasion to meet Mother Teresa while she was in Tijuana, Mexico to help the poor and the dying. On meeting her, he asked: “What gives you ecstasy, or what juices you up?” Tony was a little embarrassed after having asked this saintly nun such a question and felt he had put his foot in his mouth. Mother Teresa just laughed with good humor, and said: “What gives me ecstasy is to see a person die with a smile on their face.” This might not be what most of us would consider ecstasy or fulfillment, but it was what brought joy to Mother Teresa in her work with the dying.
However, she wasn’t always that way. In fact, when she was forty years old, Mother Teresa was a school teacher in India teaching the children of the wealthy and privileged. She was leading a very normal and comfortable life for a nun of her education and professional status. One day while walking the streets of Calcutta, a man who was dying tripped into her arms begging her: “Sister, sister, please help me” he cried. She took him to three different hospitals hoping they would take care of him and give him the treatment he needed. All three hospitals refused to take the man in because he was from their society’s lowest caste and was considered “untouchable.” Finally she decided to take him home, and a few days later, he died there happily in her arms. This turned out to be a life changing event for Mother Teresa. On that day she made a promise to God that no one in her range of influence would die without dignity and love.
Mother Teresa is indeed an inspiration to all of us who serve the sick and dying. I’m sure I can say without a doubt that the rest of the hospice team would agree this is their standard also: That every person we serve has the opportunity to die with dignity and love. This is the ultimate goal of every hospice team.
Rev. Luigi Persichetti is the chaplain for Southern Utah Home Care and Hospice and retired minister of the Unity Church of Positive Living in St. George. To learn more about Hospice services, call Debbie Cox (634-9300) or Lisa Ross (635-9300) in Hurricane.