In this internet age, we have unique insight into the lives of modern day saints. St. Teresa of Kolkata is much beloved for her care for the poorest of the poor in the slums of India.

Born in Albania, St. Teresa began her religious life as a member of the Sisters of Loreto. After a placement in India teaching at a boarding school, she experienced what she referred to as a “call within a call.” Seeing the destitute on the margins of society, St. Teresa could no longer remain behind the walls of the school. She was compelled to take her ministry to the streets. In 1950 she received permission for the community that would become the Missionaries of Charity.

In St. John Paul II’s document on the Dignity and Vocation of Women, he writes “the moral and spiritual strength of a woman is joined to her awareness that God entrusts the human being to her in a special way” (30).

What is stewardship if not entrusting? God gives us our life, with all it’s gifts, strengths, and weaknesses. St. Teresa of Kolkata recognized that she was entrusted with her life, her one life, to offer as a gift to those in need. As the Missionaries of Charity grew, as donations came in and convents were built, St. Teresa recognized that not only was she entrusted with the means to serve, but she was entrusted with the person themselves. Every person she encountered – the dying, the disabled, the refugees, the orphan – she met as if meeting as Christ.

As we grow in a stewardship way of life, let us remember that we are not only entrusted with our finances and abilities, but we are entrusted with one another, brothers and sisters in the family of God.