In 1976 I went on a field trip to Ft. Worth with my 8th grade class from St. Cecelia Catholic School. I was 14 years old. We visited the Botanical Gardens, the zoo and other sights that day. The day was to end with the opportunity of a lifetime, to see and hear Mother Teresa of Calcutta speak before an audience at the Ft. Worth Convention Center.
Mother Teresa was tiny in size and soft spoken. I remember she spoke of the nature of her work. She described the lives and suffering of the poor in Calcutta. She described the tender care with which the dying and alone were treated in their last moments of life. I got the impression that perhaps the comfort given to these poor souls in their dying moments might have been the only comfort they may have ever known in their lives. Mother described how she and the sisters would bathe the men and women who were too sick or weak to bathe themselves. This was work that most people would never think of humbling themselves to do. Mother said that the sisters would care for the poor and dying as though they were caring for our Lord Jesus himself and that when we do the same for others, we do the same for our Lord.
Not every moment did Mother Teresa speak in somber tones. She described the joy that she and the sisters felt in fulfilling their service. She would often display a wonderful smile when she described her work and even shared a very funny anecdote which involved a very drunk woman that came into their mission one day. I can’t remember the details of the story, but I remember she got a big kick out of telling the audience about it.
I recall from that night our drive back to Dallas. We were in a VW mini bus. Soon after we began our drive, we realized that we were following behind a car that had three sisters in the back seat that were wearing the same type of habits that Mother Teresa wore. It occurred to us that one of them must be Mother Teresa. Our teacher honked the horn and the sisters turned around and that’s when we saw her smiling face. She had the most wonderful smile. Mother Teresa was seated in the left rear passenger seat. Like a bunch of groupies chasing after a rock star, we followed her car through many turns, honking occasionally and waiving at Mother as she and the other sisters turned around to wave and smile at us. Finally we came to a red light. I had in my possession the entire day, a very large apple that I felt was just too big to eat alone. It was as big as a large grapefruit, so I held on to it the whole day. The thought entered my mind that I wanted to give the apple to Mother Teresa. I asked my teacher if I could do this and she said yes. There were some other students that wanted to come along with me, but the teacher only allowed me. How blessed I was! I got out of the mini bus and approached the car the sisters were in. The driver looked at me with a look on his face like “oh no, not another one” and rolled down his window. I told him that I had a gift for Mother Teresa. The rear window then rolled down and there I was face to face with a living saint. I told Mother “I have a gift” and gave her the apple, which she in turn gave to the sister next to her. She then took my hands in her hands and looked at me and warmly told me “God Bless you”. To be in her presence at that moment was to be in the presence of total peace and love. For that moment in time it seemed like everything ceased to exist except for the palpable presence of peace and love. The next moment, the traffic light turned from red to green and we both had to set on our separate ways.
I got back to the bus and there was an atmosphere of electricity. Everyone was touching me because Mother Teresa had touched me. We were all overjoyed on our way back to the school. We told our priest what happened and he was happy and excited. I was amazed that I would be so immensely blessed with such a profound experience as meeting Mother Teresa.