In a story attributed to Mother Teresa, she and other religious sisters were distributing food to an impoverished village. Each family was allowed to send one member with one bucket to be filled with dry grains of rice. To the surprise of a novice shadowing Mother Teresa, one elderly woman held two buckets.
Greeting the woman by name, Mother Teresa filled only one of the buckets. Thanking her, the woman walked away, and emptied half of her full bucket into the second empty one. The novice asked, “Why did we not fill up both buckets for that poor, elderly woman?” Mother Teresa explained that there was only enough rice for one bucket per family each day. “Her neighbors are very ill,” she said. “She is emptying half of her family’s share into her neighbor’s bucket to bring to them because she cannot carry more.”
Overcome with sorrow, the novice wanted to fill the sick family’s bucket and carry it for the woman. Mother Teresa looked at the novice. “Never take away the right of another person to be generous,” she said.
What will you do with what you are given?
This message is excerpted from “Just generosity” by Mihee Kim-Kort in the September/October 2023 Gather magazine.
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