One Drop Missing

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these,
you did not do for me”
(Matthew 25:45)

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’”
(Matthew 25:31-45)

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje Macedonia, on August 27, 1910. Her family was of Albanian descent. At the age of twelve, she felt strongly the call of God. She knew she had to be a missionary to spread the love of Christ. At the age of eighteen she left her parental home in Skopje and joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After a few months' training in Dublin she was sent to India, where on May 24, 1931, she took her initial vows as a nun. From 1931 to 1948 Mother Teresa taught at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but the suffering and poverty she glimpsed outside the convent walls made such a deep impression on her that in 1948 she received permission from her superiors to leave the convent school and devote herself to working among the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. Although she had no funds, she depended on Divine Providence, and started an open-air school for slum children. Soon she was joined by voluntary helpers, and financial support was also forthcoming. This made it possible for her to extend the scope of her work.[i]

One prominent leader, astonished by Mother Teresa’s devotion to meeting the needs of the desperately poor, asked her if she got discouraged when she saw so few successes in her work.

Mother Teresa answered, “No, I do not become discouraged. You see, God has not called me to a ministry of success. He has called me to a ministry of mercy.”


We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. Mother Teresa

Often we think of global missions and we immediately shrink back inside. The world simply seems too big, too immense and unreachable, especially by one person, most notably us. Yet the perspective that Mother Teresa displayed is encouraging and applicable for any person, most notably us. One of Mother Teresa’s motto’s was, “If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one,” and “Jesus said love one another. He didn't say love the whole world.” A global manifestation of love pouring out of our being begins with a single expression of love to the one who stands before us, if only we can start there.


Meditate on the following sayings by Mother Teresa:

– “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”

– “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”

– “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”

– “If we want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning,
we have to keep putting oil in it.”

– “Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.”

– “Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we
have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.”

– “Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how
much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.”

[i] http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html.