Princes Diana captured the imagination of the world. When she married in 1981, 700 million watched it on TV, and when she met with a tragic death on August 31, 1997, her funeral was watched by 2.5 billion people on TV. So, it would not be surprising if, on August 31, 2021, media made mention of the anniversary of her passing.
The media may recall that someone else who died twenty-four years ago, a little nun in Calcutta known to the world as Mother Teresa. It has been said that Mother Teresa chose the wrong week for her death, because it was overshadowed by the death of the young princess. But maybe that’s the way it should be. Nothing could better reflect how warped the values of the world are.
Mother Teresa wasn’t accompanied by a billionaire playboy when she passed from this life to the celestial kingdom. She wasn’t being driven in a high-speed luxury car. She lived and died serving the least and the lowest. She lived and died glorifying God and serving her neighbor. There’s nothing wrong with little girls aspiring to grow up to be princesses. How much better, though, if all of us aspired to be more like Mother Teresa!
There’s nothing wrong with pomp and circumstance. There’s not even anything wrong with ceremonies linked to the washing of hands (even though doctors say a little dirt is good for one), unless the ceremony of washing hands causes one to look down on those who don’t observe such ceremonies, or unless one has clean hands but an impure heart.
-Submitted by Fr. Joseph Dovari