MOTHER TERESA'S SECRET: SHE SAW ALL WITH CHRIST'S EYES, HEART

VATICAN CITY, SEP 5, 2000 (VIS) - Today, the third anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Pope John Paul welcomed 7,000 Missionaries of Charity, parents and children of adoptive families and friends and collaborators of Mother Teresa's work, who are in Rome celebrating their Jubilee day.

In recalling this "singular daughter of the Church, who spent herself entirely for charity," the Pope said: "We remember her smile, her deep eyes, her rosary beads. It seems as if we still see her on her path throughout the world, seeking the poorest of the poor."

"We know well what her secret was: she was filled with Christ and thus looked at everyone with the eyes and heart of Christ. ... She never tired of 'adopting' her poor as children. Her love was concrete, diligent; it pushed her to go where few had the courage to go, where misery was so great that it filled people with fear."

The Holy Father, highlighting Mother Teresa's "spiritual maternity," spoke of her movement for adoptions, adding that "adopting a child is a great work of love."

But, he pointed out, "in today's world there are many contradictions, even in this sphere. For the many children .... who have no families, there are many couples who decide not to have children, often for selfish reasons. Others allow themselves to be discouraged by economic, social or bureaucratic difficulties. Still others, who want their 'own' child at any cost, go well beyond the legitimate help which medical science offers to procreation."

"An alternative to these questionable ways," he said, "the very existence of so many children without families, suggests that adoption is a concrete path of love."

In closing, Pope John Paul said that "Mother Teresa echoed, in a certain sense, Christ's words, 'Allow the children to come unto me,' when she told mothers who were tempted by abortion: 'Bring your children to me'."

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