Mother Teresa's Feet

MOTHER TERESA'S FEET

Shane Claiborne, who spent a summer in the slums of Calcutta with Mother Teresa, wrote the following about one of his experiences:

People often ask me what Mother Teresa was like. Did she glow in the dark or have a halo? She was short, wrinkled, and precious, maybe even a little ornery--like a beautiful, wise old granny.

But there is one thing I will never forget—her feet were deformed. Each morning during Mass, I would stare at those feet. I wondered if Mother Teresa had leprosy. But I wasn’t going to ask, of course.

One day a sister asked us, “Have you noticed Mother’s feet?” We nodded, curious. She said, “Her feet are deformed because we get just enough donated shoes for everyone, and Mother does not want anyone to get stuck with the worst pair, so she digs through and finds those. Years of wearing bad shoes have deformed her feet.”

That is the kind of love that places our neighbors’ needs above our own.

[Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution (Zondervan, 2006) / Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (84). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.]