Here in this country we spend over a trillion dollars a year on poverty programs. Over 45 million people in the United States are classified as "poor." However, most of our citizens have never seen real poverty or know what it is. My eyes were opened when I visited Haiti in 1968, and again in 1985, when I visited India, the country adopted by then-Mother Teresa.
Unlike Mother Teresa, I did not go to India willingly. I struggled with the Lord for weeks before I agreed to make that journey in order to help Siloam International, now Childcare Worldwide, with a fundraising film. That was a life-changing event for me.
Three years later I had an opportunity to meet Mother Teresa and pray with her. The woman, who was canonized by the Catholic Church Sunday, went to St. Louis, Missouri, to speak to the annual conference of the Presbyterian Church USA about its pro-abortion stance. She was invited by Presbyterians Pro-Life, a small group of reformers seeking to bring the denomination back to its biblical roots.
PPL is a dedicated group. It didn't have any money, but she came anyway because, in her words, "As to my calling I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus."
To her critics who say she was only interested in making converts to the Catholic Church, I say nonsense! I and the members of PPL know better.
We didn't know how many of those powerful church leaders who represented 3 million parishioners would come to this event. It was not an official part of the General Assembly, and the turnout for PPL events was usually very small. After that prayer session we headed down to the meeting at the Sheraton Hotel. To our surprise, the place was packed.
That little nun, in a tattered sweater, gave it to them straight and caused many to squirm in their seats:
"Abortion has become the greatest destroyer of love. Millions of little children are being killed. … That little unborn child in the womb of the mother is somebody special to the Lord, who died on the cross to save that child. … Jesus came to give us the good news that God loves us and that we are to love one another. … How will we face God if we have not received that little child?"
St. Teresa was never afraid to speak the truth to the powerful: church leaders, kings or presidents. In 1994, she gave a similar message to the National Prayer Breakfast, with a stunned President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton sitting at the head table.
"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. … 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."
After that speech, Teresa received a standing ovation that lasted a good five minutes. The first couple sat glued to their seats, stone-faced. Did Mother Teresa make that speech to embarrass the Clintons?
No. Aborting one's child does not bring peace but pain, as the mother either comes to a point where she can acknowledge this sin and find forgiveness or she must work for a lifetime to suppress this memory.
A year later, Hillary Clinton, in an effort to erase this embarrassment and find common ground with Mother Teresa, opened an adoption home for babies in her name in Washington, D.C. Clinton is fond of telling this story. She cited it in her book "Living History."
Funny thing, Emily Belz, a reporter for World magazine, did an investigation and discovered the home closed within a few years. It seems the nuns who ran it weren't allowed to care for the babies on site without medical personnel.
Surely, a woman with the clout of Hillary Clinton could have cut through the red tape or provided the funds or medical personnel necessary! Apparently not. What about the vast resources of the Clinton Foundation?
Clearly, it was a publicity stunt by Clinton, who has been a tool of the radical abortion extremists and the industry that makes millions each year from these killings, nothing more.
St. Teresa showed us how to live. Hillary Clinton shows us how to lie, obfuscate and, yes, play those who confront her with whom she disagrees.
Media wishing to interview Jane Chastain, please contact [email protected].
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