Mother Teresa of Calcutta delivered the keynote address at last week’s National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. While she veered from the usual pleasant table manners at the annual breakfast, Mother Teresa delivered an impassioned rebuke of the abortion culture and nations that accept it. And in the audience were President and Mrs. Clinton, whose administration the very morning of the breakfast submitted legislation to allow the use of U.S. foreign aid funds for abortion in the Third World. Following is an extended excerpt taken from her prepared remarks:

On the last day, Jesus will say to those on his right hand, “Come, enter the kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you visited me.” Then Jesus will turn to those on his left hand and say, “Depart from me because I was hungry and you did not feed me, I was thirsty and you did not give me to drink, I was sick and you did not visit me.” These will ask him, “When did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or sick and did not come to your help?” And Jesus will answer them, “Whatever you neglected to do unto one of the least of these, you neglected to do unto me!”

As we have gathered here to pray together, I think it will be beautiful if we begin with a prayer that expresses very well what Jesus wants us to do for the least.

...Let us thank God for the opportunity he has given us today to come here to pray together. We have come here especially to pray for peace, joy, and love. We are reminded that Jesus came to bring the good news to the poor. He had told us what is that good news when he said: “My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” He came not to give the peace of the world, which is only that we don’t bother each other. He came to give the peace of heart, which comes from loving—from doing good to others.

And God loved the world so much that he gave his son—it was a giving. God gave his son to the Virgin Mary, and what did she do with him? As soon as Jesus came into Mary’s life, immediately she went in haste to give that good news. And as she came into the house of her cousin, Elizabeth, Scripture tells us that the unborn child—the child in the womb of Elizabeth—leapt with joy. While still in the womb of Mary—Jesus brought peace to John the Baptist who leapt for joy in the womb of Elizabeth.

And as if that were not enough, as if it were not enough that God the Son should become one of us and bring peace and joy while still in the womb of Mary, Jesus also died on the cross to show that greater love.

...Jesus died on the cross because that is what it took for him to do good to us—to save us from our selfishness in sin. He gave up everything to do the Father’s will—to show us that we too must be willing to give up everything to do God’s will—to love one another as he loves each of us. If we are not willing to give whatever it takes to do good to one another, sin is still in us. That is why we too must give to each other until it hurts.

It is not enough for us to say: “I love God,” but I also have to love my neighbor. St. John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you don’t love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And so it is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.

...When he was dying on the cross, Jesus said, “I thirst.” Jesus is thirsting for our love, and this is the thirst of everyone, poor and rich alike. We all thirst for the love of others, that they go out of their way to avoid harming us and to do good to us. This is the meaning of true love, to give until it hurts....

I was surprised in the West to see so many young boys and girls given to drugs. And I tried to find out why. Why is it like that when those in the West have so many more things than those in the East? And the answer was: Because there is no one in the family to receive them. Our children depend on us for everything—their health,their nutrition, their security, their coming to know and love God. For all of this, they look to us with trust, hope, and expectation. But often father and mother are so busy they have no time for their children, or perhaps they are not even married or have given up on their marriage. So the children go to the streets and get involved in drugs or other things. We are talking of love of the child, which is where love and peace must begin. These are the things that break peace.

But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even his life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.

By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

Many people are very, very concerned with the children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and so on. Many people are also concerned about all the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is what is the greatest destroyer of peace today—abortion, which brings people to such blindness.

And for this I appeal in India and I appeal everywhere—”Let us bring the child back.” The child is God’s gift to the family. Each child is created in the special image and likeness of God for greater things—to love and to be loved. In this year of the family we must bring the child back to the center of our care and concern. This is the only way that our world can survive because our children are the only hope for the future. As older people are called to God, only their children can take their places....

I will tell you something beautiful. We are fighting abortion by adoption—by care of the mother and adoption for her baby. We have saved thousands of lives. We have sent word to the clinics, to the hospitals, and police stations: “Please don’t destroy the child; we will take the child.” So we always have someone tell the mothers in trouble: “Come, we will take care of you, we will get a home for your child.” And we have a tremendous demand from couples who cannot have a child—but I never give a child to a couple who have done something not to have a child. Jesus said, “Anyone who receives a child in my name, receives me.” By adopting a child, these couples receive Jesus but, by aborting a child, a couple refuses to receive Jesus.

Please don’t kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child and be loved by the child. From our children’s home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortion. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents and have grown up so full of love and joy.

I know that couples have to plan their family and for that there is natural family planning. The way to plan the family is natural family planning, not contraception. In destroying the power of giving life, through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something to self. This turns the attention to self and so it destroys the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and wife must turn the attention to each other as happens in natural family planning, and not to self, as happens in contraception. Once that living love is destroyed by contraception, abortion follows very easily....

Those who are materially poor can be very wonderful people. One evening we went out and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition. I told the sisters: “You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks worse.” So I did for her all that my love can do. I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hand, as she said one word only: “Thank you”—and she died.

I could not help but examine my conscience before her. And I asked: “What would I say if I were in her place?” And my answer was very simple. I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself. I would have said: “I am hungry, I am dying, I am cold, I am in pain,” or something. But she gave me much more—she gave me her grateful love. And she died with a smile on her face.

Then there was the man we picked up from the drain, half eaten by worms and, after we had brought him to the home, he only said, “I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die as an angel, loved and cared for.” Then, after we had removed all the worms from his body, all he said, with a big smile, was: “Sister, I am going home to God”—and he died. It was so wonderful to see the greatness of that man who could speak like that without blaming anybody, without comparing anything. Like an angel—this is the greatness of people who are spiritually rich even when they are materially poor.

We are not social workers. We may be doing social work in the eyes of some people, but we must be contemplatives in the heart of the world. For we must bring that presence of God into your family, for the family that prays together, stays together. There is so much hatred, so much misery, and we with our prayer, with our sacrifice, are beginning at home. Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put into what we do.

...And so here I am talking with you. I want you to find the poor here, right in your own home first. And begin love there. Bring that good news to your own people first. And find out about your next-door neighbors. Do you know who they are?

I had the most extraordinary experience of love of neighbor with a Hindu family. A gentleman came to our house and said: “Mother Teresa, there is a family who have not eaten for so long. Do something.” So I took some rice and went there immediately. And I saw the children—their eyes shining with hunger. I don’t know if you have ever seen hunger. But I have seen it very often. And the mother of the family took the rice I gave her and went out. When she came back, I asked her, “Where did you go? What did you do?” And she gave me a very simple answer: “They are hungry also.” What struck me was that she knew—and who are they? A Muslim family—and she knew. I didn’t bring any more rice that evening because I wanted them, Hindus and Muslims, to enjoy the joy of sharing.

But there were those children, radiating joy, sharing the joy and peace with their mother because she had the love to give until it hurts. And you see this is where love begins—at home in the family.

So, as the example of this family shows, God will never forget us and there is something you and I can always do. We can keep the joy of loving Jesus in our hearts, and share that joy with all we come in contact with. Let us make that one point—that no child will be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, or killed and thrown away. And give until it hurts—with a smile....

If we remember that God loves us, and that we can love others as he loves us, then America can become a sign of peace for the world. From here, a sign of care for the weakest of the weak—the unborn child—must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for. God bless you!

- —Mother Teresa

Righteous rebuke

Clinton gets an earful on abortion from a moral authority

If the Fairness Doctrine that most Christian broadcasters are fighting had been in effect at last week’s National Prayer Breakfast, it probably would have been of little value to President Clinton.

America’s chief executive, in fact, had the platform and the opportunity to say anything he wanted to after the morning’s featured speaker, but he did not dare to do so. He was up against one of the world’s respected moral authorities, the diminutive Roman Catholic nun, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

She delivered a ringing condemnation of abortion. The crowd applauded wildly. The president sat nervously only a yard from the speaker. He reached for his water glass and took a sip. Then he turned to his wife and spoke to her. They were stony faced.

The internationally recognized nun called abortion “the greatest destroyer of peace today” about 15 minutes into her address. She didn’t stop at that. She spoke of the need to help mothers who are considering abortion. Fathers also need to learn “to give until it hurts,” she said.

“Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want,” she declared from behind a lectern taller than she. (Even though organizers had provided a small platform for her, the speaker’s head was barely visible above the speaker’s stand.)

Without singling out any individuals, she expressed her dismay that some Americans are very concerned about the children of India and Africa or about “all the violence in this great country of the United States” without being concerned “with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers.”

From that, she went on to get more applause by championing adoption as an answer to abortion. In Calcutta alone, the nun reported, her organization had saved more than 3,000 children who brought “love and joy” to adoptive parents.

“Please don’t kill the child,” she begged. “I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted and to give that child to a married couple who will love that child and be loved by that child.”

The founder of an order of nuns also gave her views on contraception, specifying that she did not place adoptive children with couples “who have done something not to have a child.” She endorsed “natural family planning” instead of contraception, which, she maintained, easily leads to abortion.

Her 33-minute message covered other topics, including love, prayer, and care of the old and the poor. She spoke of the importance of gratitude. She challenged members of her audience to begin showing love to those closest to home, to “find the poor here,” and to serve their own neighbors.

“From here,” she concluded, “a sign of care for the weakest of the weak—the unborn child—must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for.”

She got a sustained standing ovation.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) then had the task of introducing the president. Before he did, he asked the audience to stand and pray silently.

The president went to the lectern. Still hoarse of voice since his State of the Union address, he chose not to defend his pro-abortion policies. He thanked Mother Teresa for her “moving words” and for her life.

Clinton appealed briefly for humility, fairness, honesty, and forgiveness. The commandment most violated within the Washington Beltway, he claimed, is “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” He decried bitterness. He spoke of enduring values.

Regulars at the breakfast, where controversy has been avoided traditionally, were stunned. Sen. Howell Heflin (D-Ala.), who presided, shouted “Amen” after the nun spoke and a triple “Amen” after Clinton finished.

- —Arthur H. Matthews

- in Washington

Reprinted from World, February 12, 1994.

Copyright © 1994, 2002 The Summit Lighthouse. All rights reserved.