[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 118 (Tuesday, September 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8952-S8958]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON THE DEATH OF MOTHER TERESA
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report Senate Resolution 120.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 120) expressing the sense of the
Senate on the occasion of the death of Mother Teresa of
Calcutta.
The Senate proceeded to consider the resolution.
Mr. ROTH. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I am here today to address the
resolution introduced in the Senate by the Senator from Oklahoma on
Mother Teresa. Last week, we lost a saint when Mother Teresa passed
away at age 87. We are poorer, but Heaven is richer.
She died owning, as I have read in the news accounts, very few things
here. She owned about two pairs of sandals, three robes, rosary beads.
That was here. But in Heaven, she has a mountain of gold. She had
touched so many different lives on this Earth. It is an incredible
definition of a successful life: a loving, caring, compassionate,
selfless, child of God, caring for, in many cases, the most downtrodden
of God's children. Would that I could live my life as well.
I have been struck by some of her writings and things that she has
spoken about. They have been accumulated in different books. Some of
the statements are absolutely precious. I want to give a couple of them
here in the Senate today because I think they are so touching of
indicative of what a successful life is. A successful day isn't
necessarily when you pass a bill in the Senate, or that you have a
successful business transaction, or you pass a test, or you win a game.
But a successful day is when you positively touch another life. She did
that thousands of times, millions of times, across this globe. She
cared for the poorest of the poor. She said this at one point in time:
I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's
wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a
beautiful experience?
Imagine if each of us, every day, if we saw everything that we did as
nursing and touching the Lord himself. Here she is talking about caring
for the least of God's children in that way, and she sees it as serving
the Lord himself. What about us here in the Senate? If we did something
similarly, saw ourselves as touching other lives in the most positive
way we possibly could, what sort of world would that make?
Think of another quote that she gave in one of her speeches where she
said this:
Our mission is to convey God's love--not a dead God but a
living God, a God of love.
And then she added:
I am just a little pencil in his hand.
But what a beautiful picture he drew with that little pencil. What if
each of us looked at ourselves as that little pencil, but being used to
draw a beautiful picture, a panorama for others to see and to be able
to enjoy, and for others to be able to grow by, for others to be able
to be loved by that picture that we draw.
I have this quote posted in my office, which I think particularly is
apropos giving her just passing this week:
At the moment of death, we will not be judged by the amount
of work we have done, but by the weight of love we have put
into our work.
You just think about that in measuring each day, not by the success
of whether or not we did things like a bill passing through or, again,
whether we passed a test, but by the weight of love that we put into
our actions and what we actually did that very day and how we touched
people. Did we do it in a positive, loving fashion? Would that the
world operated that way.
My own experiences with Mother Teresa were here in the Senate. The
only time that I had a chance to meet her was when she came here and
received the congressional gold medal this year. We were all nervous
about whether she would actually be able to physically get here because
she had been ill, in poor health. She was able to make it here and she
shared an hour and a half with us here in the House and in the Senate,
in the rotunda area, meeting with different people. I remember so much
going through that experience and thinking of reading these quotes,
these pearls of wisdom she had laid out on how to live life, thinking
she was going to put forward another one that day. I was holding onto
each word to see, is there going to be another line like ``I am just a
little pencil that you can guide one's life by.'' But it didn't seem to
come that day. She would talk about a number of different things, but
there, seemingly, were no pearls.
Then I remember walking her out to the car, and there were throngs of
people excited to see her as she waved and touched different people.
The motorcade was waiting to get away. She was sitting in the car, and
I went over to thank her one last time for coming in and honoring us by
being here and receiving the presentation. She grabbed my hand with
both of hers and stared at me with those deep eyes of hers and that
little frame that she had, and she looked up at me and just said three
words, and she said them four times. She said:
All for Jesus.
We can all have different faiths and views of the world, but that was
a driving focus for her, serving her Lord. How she did it each day is a
testimony to each of us of how we should live.
We lost a saint, but the tragedy isn't that she died; the tragedy
would have been had she never lived. She lived fully and gave us so
much in raising our consciousness, lowering our line of sight, and
redefining compassion for an entire planet. For that, I thank her and I
am thankful for her life. I think we
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should all consider and contemplate what we can add to our own lives by
the model that she gave.
So I am delighted to support this resolution of recognition for
Mother Teresa for all that she has done for this world and for the
example she has lived.
I yield the floor.
Mr. NICKLES addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. NICKLES. I ask unanimous consent Senator Ashcroft be added as
cosponsor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I am pleased to sponsor this resolution
with Senator Lott, Senator Daschle, Senator Brownback, and Senator
Hutchinson.
I want to compliment Senator Brownback for his outstanding statement,
and also thank Senator Brownback and Senator Hutchinson for their work
to award Mother Teresa the Congressional Gold Medal. Earlier this year,
when she spoke to both the House and the Senate, and, frankly, to the
country, we had a real honor, a real pleasure, maybe of seeing a real
saint in our presence.
I have had the pleasure of greeting Mother Teresa two or three times
in my Senate career: Once in 1985, when she received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, and then also when she addressed the National Prayer
Breakfast, I believe it was in 1994.
At the conclusion of my remarks, Mr. President, I ask unanimous
consent to have printed in the Record Mother Teresa's statement, her
speech to the National Prayer Breakfast. It was an outstanding speech;
a moving speech.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, Senator Brownback used the word
``saint.'' And I can't recall too many living individuals that I ever
referred to as a saint. But I remember during Mother Teresa's life,
after meeting her in 1985 and subsequent to her speech at the National
Prayer Breakfast, I referred to her as ``a living saint.''
The very fact is that her life touched other lives in letting them
know that they are loved by God. Looking at her speeches and at her
statements, she truly did make this world a better place. She did love
people who were downtrodden. She did love the people that no one else
would love. She did reach out to protect all individuals. Her love for
the ailing and for the sick is well known. Her love for the unborn is
well known. In her speeches at the National Prayer Breakfast, she was
talking about abortion and what a terrible cruelty it is. Then she
ended up, and concluding said, ``Well, send me your children. If you do
not want your child, I will take your child.'' Again we are talking
about a real missionary of love.
So, Mr. President, it is with sadness that we note Mother Teresa's
passing. But we did want to recognize her great contributions to
mankind throughout the world.
And so it is with a sense of sadness that the Senate today will be
voting on this after lunch today, but we wanted to recognize the
wonderful expression of love that Mother Teresa of Calcutta has had and
the impact she has had on our lives, and really the lives of countless
people throughout the world.
I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
Whatever You Did Unto One of the Least, You Did Unto Me
(By Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
On the last day, Jesus will say to those at his right hand,
``Come, enter the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me
food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was sick and you
visited me.''
Then Jesus will turn to those on his left hand and say.
``Depart from the because I was hungry and you did not feed
me, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink, I was sick
and you did not visit me.''
These will ask him,
``When did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or sick, and did
not come to your help?''
And Jesus will answer them,
``Whatever you neglected to do unto one of the least of
these, you neglected to do unto me!''
As we have gathered here to pray together, I think it will
be beautiful if we begin with a prayer that expresses very
well what Jesus wants us to do for the least. St. Francis of
Assisi understood very well these words of Jesus and his life
is very well expressed by a prayer. And this prayer, which we
say every day after Holy Communion, always surprises me very
much, because it is very fitting for each one of us. And I
always wonder whether eight hundred years ago when St.
Francis lived, they had the same difficulties that we have
today. I think that some of you already have this prayer of
peace, so we will pray it together.
Let us thank God for the opportunity he has given us today
to have come here to pray together. We have come here
especially to pray for peace, joy, and love. We are reminded
that Jesus came to bring the good news to the poor. He had
told us what that good news is when he said,
``My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.''
He came not to give the peace of the world, which is only
that we don't bother each other. He came to give peace of
heart which comes from loving--from doing good to others.
And God loved the world so much that he gave his son. God
gave his son to the Virgin Mary, and what did she do with
him? As soon as Jesus came into Mary's life, immediately she
went in haste to give that good news. And as she came into
the house of her cousin, Elizabeth, Scripture tells us that
the unborn child--the child in the womb of Elizabeth--leapt
with joy. While still in the womb of Mary, Jesus brought
peace to John the Baptist, who leapt for joy in the womb
of Elizabeth.
And as if that were not enough--as if it were not enough
that God the Son should become one of us and bring peace and
joy while still in the womb, Jesus also died on the Cross to
show that greater love. He died for you and me, and for the
leper and for that man dying of hunger and that naked person
lying in the street--not only of Calcutta, but of Africa, of
everywhere. Our Sisters serve these poor people in 105
countries throughout the world. Jesus insisted that we love
one another as he loves each one of us. Jesus gave his life
to love us, and he tells us that he loves each one of us.
Jesus gave his live to love us, and he tells us that we also
have to give whatever it takes to do good to one another. And
in the Gospel Jesus says very clearly, ``Love as I have loved
you.''
Jesus died on the Cross because that is what it took for
him to do good for us--to save us from our selfishness and
sin. He gave us everything to do the Father's will, to show
us that we too must be willing to give everything to do God's
will, to love one another as he loves each of us. If we are
not willing to give whatever it takes to do good for one
another, sin is still in us. That is why we too must give to
each other until it hurts.
Love always hurts.
It is not enough for us to say, ``I love God.'' But I also
have to love my neighbor. St. John says that you are a liar
if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor. How
can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your
neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live?
And so it is very important for us to realize that love, to
be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it
takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to
them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts.
Otherwise, there is no love in me and I bring injustice, not
peace, to those around me.
It hurt Jesus to love us. We have been created in his image
for greater things, to love and to be loved. We must ``put on
Christ,'' as Scripture tells us. And so we have been created
to love as he loves us. Jesus makes himself the hungry one,
the naked one, the homeless one, the unwanted one, and he
says, ``You did it to me.'' On the last day he will say to
those on his right, ``whatever you did the least of these,
you did to me,'' and he will also say to those on his left,
``whatever you neglected to do for the least of these, you
neglected to do it for me.''
When he was dying on the Cross, Jesus said, ``I thirst.''
Jesus is thirsting for our love, and this is the thirst for
everyone, poor and rich alike. We all thirst for the love of
others, that they do out of their way to avoid harming us and
to do good to us. This is the meaning of true love, to give
until it hurts.
I can never forget the experience I had in visiting a home
where they kept all these old parents of sons and daughters
who had just put them into an institution and, maybe,
forgotten them. I saw that in that home these old people had
everything: good food, comfortable place, television--
everything. But everyone was looking toward the door. And I
did not see a single one with a smile on his face.
I turned to Sister and I asked, ``Why do these people, who
have every comfort here--why are they all looking toward the
door? Why are they not smiling? '' (I am so used to seeing
the smiles on our people.'' Even the dying ones smile.) And
Sister said, ``This is the way it is, nearly everyday. They
are epxecting--they are hoping--that a son or daughter will
come to visit them. They are hurt because they are
forgotten.''
See, this neglect to love brings spiritual poverty. Maybe
in our family we have somebody who is feeling lonely, who is
feeling sick, who is feeling worried. Are we there? Are we
willing to give until it hurts, in order to be with our
families? Or do we put our own interests first? These are the
questions we must ask ourselves, especially as we begin this
Year of the Family. We must remember that love begins at
home, and we
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must also remember that ``the future of humanity passes
through the family.''
I was surprised in the West to see so many young boys and
girls given to drugs. And I tried to find out why. Why is it
like that, when those in the West have so many more things
than those in the East? And the answer was, ``Because there
is no one in the family to receive them.'' Our children
depend on us for everything: their health, their nutrition,
their security, their coming to know and love God. For all of
this, they look to us with trust, hope, and expectation. But
often father and mother are so busy that they have no time
for their children, or perhaps they are not even married, or
have given up on their marriage. So the children go to the
streets, and get involved in drugs, or other things. We are
talking of love of the child, which is where love and peace
must begin. There are the things that break peace.
But I feel that 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.
And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child,
how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do
we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we
must persuade her with love, and we remind ourselves that
love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave
even his life to love us. So the mother who is thinking of
abortion, should be helped to love--that is, to give until it
hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her
child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also
give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn
to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.
And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to
take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought
into the world. That father is likely to put other women into
the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion.
Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people
to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. That
is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
Many people are very, very concerned with the children of
India, with the children of Africa, where quite a few die of
hunger, and so on. Many people are also concerned about all
the violence in this great country of the United States.
These concerns are very good. But often these same people are
not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the
deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is what is
the greatest destroyer of peace today: abortion, which brings
people to such blindness.
``I want this child!''
And for this I appeal in India and I appeal everywhere:
``Let us bring the child back.'' The child is God's gift to
the family. Each child is created in the special image and
likeness of God for greater things--to love and to be loved.
In this Year of the Family we must bring the child back to
the center of our care and concern. This is the only way that
our world can survive, because our children are the only hope
for the future. As other people are called to God, only their
children can take their places.
But what does God say to us? He says, ``Even if a mother
could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved
you in the palm of my hand.'' We are carved in the palm of
his hand; that unborn child has been carved in the hand of
God from conception, and is called by God to love and to be
loved, not only now in this life, out forever. God can never
forget us.
I will tell you something beautiful. We are fighting
abortion by adoption--by care of the mother and adoption for
her baby. We have saved thousands of lives. We have sent word
to the clinics, to the hospitals, and police stations: Please
don't destroy the child; we will take the child.'' So we
always have someone tell the mothers in trouble: ``Come, we
will take care of you, we will get a home for your child.''
And we have a tremendous demand from couples who cannot
have a child. But I never give a child to a couple who has
done something not to have a child. Jesus said, ``Anyone who
receives a child in my name, receives me.'' By adopting a
child, these couples receive Jesus, but by aborting a child,
a couple refuses to receive Jesus.
Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give
me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be
aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will
love the child, and be loved by the child. From our
children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000
children from abortions. These children have brought such
love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so
full of love and joy! I know that couples have to plan their
family, and for that there is natural family planning. The
way to plan the family is natural family planning, not
contraception. In destroying the power of giving life,
through contraception, a husband or wife is doing something
to self. This turns the attention to self, and so it destroys
the gift of love in him or her. In loving, the husband and
wife must turn the attention to each other, as happens in
natural family planning, and not to self, as happens in
contraception. Once that living love is destroyed by
contraception, abortion follows very easily.
The greatness of the poor
I also know that there are great problems in the world--
that many spouses do not love each other enough to practice
natural family planning. We cannot solve all the problems in
the world, but let us never bring in the worst problem of
all, and that is to destroy love. This is what happens when
we tell people to practice contraception and abortion.
The poor are very great people. They can teach us so many
beautiful things. Once one of them came to thank us for
teaching them natural family planning, and said: ``You
people--who have practiced chastity--you are the best people
to teach us natural family planning, because it is nothing
more than self-control out of love for each other.'' And
what this poor person said is very true. These poor people
maybe have nothing to eat, maybe they have not a home to
live in, but they can still be great people when they are
spiritually rich. Those who are materially poor can be
wonderful people. One evening we went out and we picked up
four people from the street. And one of them was in a most
terrible condition. I told the Sisters: ``You take care of
the other three, I will take care of the one who looks
worse.'' So I did for her all that my love can do. I put
her in bed, and there was a beautiful smile on her face.
She took hold of my hand, and she said one thing only:
``Thank you,'' Then she died.
I could not help but examine my conscience before her. I
asked, What would I say if I were in her place?'' And my
answer was very simple. I would have tried to draw a little
attention to myself. I would have said, ``I am hungry, I am
dying, I am cold, I am in pain,'' or something like that. But
she gave me much more--she gave me her grateful love. And she
died with a smile on her face.
Then there was the man we picked up from the drain, half-
eaten by worms. And after we had brought him to the home, he
only said, ``I have lived like an animal in the street, but
am going to die as an angel, loved and care for.'' Then,
after we had removed all the worms from his body, all he
said--with a big smile--was: ``Sister, I am going home to
God.'' And he died. It was so wonderful to see the greatness
of that man, who could speak like that without blaming
anybody, without comparing anything. Like an angel--this is
the greatness of people who are spiritually rich, even when
they are materially poor.
A sign of care
We are not social workers. We may be doing social work in
the eyes of some people, but we must be contemplatives in the
heart of the world. For we must bring that presence of God
into your family, for the family that prays together, stays
together. There is so much hatred, so much misery, and we
with our prayer, with our sacrifice, are beginning at home.
Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how
much love we put into what we do.
If we are contemplatives in the heart of the world with all
its problems, these problems can never discourage us. We must
always remember what God tells us in the Scripture: Even if
the mother could forget the child in her womb--something that
is impossible, but even if she could forget--I will never
forget you. And so here I am talking with you. I want you to
find the poor here, right in your own home first. And begin
love there. Bear the good news to your own people first. And
find out about your next-door neighbors. Do you know who they
are?
I had the most extraordinary experience of love of a
neighbor from a Hindu family. A gentleman came to our house
and said, ``Mother Teresa, there is a family who have not
eaten for so long. Do something.'' So I took some rice and
went there immediately. And I saw the children, their eyes
shining with hunger. (I don't know if you have ever seen
hunger, but I have seen it very often.) And the mother of the
family took the rice I gave her, and went out. When she came
back, I asked her, ``Where did you go? What did you do?'' And
she gave me a very simple answer: ``They are hungry
also.'' What struck me was that she knew. And who were
``they?'' A Muslim family. And she knew. I didn't bring
any more rice that evening, because I wanted them--Hindus
and Muslims--to enjoy the joy of sharing.
But there were those children, radiating joy, sharing the
joy and peace with their mother because she had the love to
give until it hurts. And you see this is where love begins:
at home in the family. God will never forget us, and there is
something you and I can always do. We can keep the joy of
loving Jesus in our hearts, and share that joy with all we
come in contact with. Let us make that one point: that no
child will be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, or killed and
thrown away. And give until it hurts--with a smile.
Because I talk so much of giving with a smile, once a
professor from the United States asked me, ``Are you
married?'' And I said, ``Yes, and I find it sometimes very
difficult to smile at my spouse--Jesus--because he can be
very demanding--sometimes this is really something true. And
there is where love comes in--when it is demanding, and yet
we can give it with joy.
One of the most demanding things for me is traveling
everywhere, and with publicity. I have said to Jesus that if
I don't go to heaven for anything else, I will be going to
heaven for all the traveling with all the publicity, because
it has purified me and sacrificed me and made me really ready
to go to heaven. If we remember that God loves us, and that
we can love others as he loves us, then America can become a
sign of peace for the world. From here, a sign of care for
the weakest of the weak--the unborn child--must go out to the
world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in
the world, then really you will be true to what
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the founders of this country stood for. God bless you!
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator
Domenici be added as a cosponsor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I am pleased to join my colleagues in
offering this resolution to establish a National Day of Recognition for
the humanitarian works of Mother Teresa.
This past Friday the world suffered a great loss with the death of
Mother Teresa, a woman called not only to minister to those in the
shadows of life, but to be among them and shed on them the light of
love and human decency.
Someone once asked St. Francis what a person needed to do to please
God. He answered, ``Preach the Gospel every day. If necessary--use
words.'' Mother Teresa lived just that sort of life. She was a living
lesson to all of us that faith is more than words. It is the good deeds
we do in this world. For that lesson, we owe Mother Teresa not only a
tremendous debt of gratitude, but the resolve to carry on her difficult
but extremely important work.
Mother Teresa's life certainly was one of action and deeds. She was a
tireless builder. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. An
order that began with 12 members now has grown to a worldwide community
of 4,000 nuns who administer orphanages, AIDS hospices, and other
centers of charitable activity in the United States and around the
world.
Later, she founded the Nirmal Hriday Home for Dying Destitutes. From
this beginning sprang numerous other facilities for the sick and dying
shunned by traditional institutions. This dedication to those on the
margins of life is perhaps Mother Teresa's most profound legacy.
It is one thing--certainly important and meaningful--to give
occasionally to charitable causes or lend valuable time to charitable
work. These are personal sacrifices that give us a stronger connection
to our community and more meaning to our own lives. It is quite another
thing--nearly incomprehensible to those of us blessed with the material
comforts of our modern American life--to give up all one has and to
make this sacrifice and dedication to others the sole focus of one's
life. To do this among conditions of squalor and misery--at risk to
one's own health and life--and to focus on those on the margins of life
shunned even by hospitals and other institutions dedicated to improving
human life, that is the character of Mother Teresa's life that earned
her the affectionate label, ``the Saint of the Gutter.''
Mr. President, Mother Teresa was a tiny woman, but she was an
enormous inspiration. The best way for us to honor Mother Teresa is to
reach outside ourselves and try, each day, to show a little more
compassion in our own lives. I hope this resolution serves to remind us
of that goal and to signal to the world our tremendous gratitude,
respect, and admiration for Mother Teresa--an extraordinary woman who
has touched and enriched all our lives.
Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. President, I want to express my deep sorrow over
the loss of Mother Teresa. At the age of 87, she had made infinite
strides in promoting peace and goodwill throughout the world. In a long
overdue gesture, the Senate recently bestowed upon Mother Teresa the
Congressional Gold Medal for her role as head of the Missionaries of
Charity. For a woman of her stature, it was a humble honor.
As I listened this weekend to the many replays of interviews with
Mother Teresa, I could not help but be stunned by endless depths of her
compassion. Her desire to hug and touch people otherwise reviled by
society, the strength of her hands and enormity of her presence despite
her diminutive size, are just a few images which come to mind. Mother
Teresa was a woman who measured and understood the rest of humanity in
a way few, if any, others do. In recognizing her today, it is with
reverence and the utmost respect for a person who labored as a living
saint on behalf of mankind.
She will never be forgotten. Her charitable mission will be carried
on in her adopted home of India, as well as the dozens of countries
where her works have been taken up by others. While Mother Teresa is
irreplaceable, we can only hope to learn and live by her example in the
future.
Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise as a cosponsor of this
resolution honoring the memory of a woman who may be the 20th century
world's greatest role model and humanitarian, Mother Teresa.
Words cannot express the contribution she has made to humankind. By
her selfless acts over the past five decades administering to the
poorest of the poor, she has set an example for how we all should try
to live. The world would be a far better place if all people followed
the light of her shining example.
I have heard the word ``Saint'' used in the same breath as the name
Mother Teresa. It is hard to imagine any other person who has lived in
this century to whom that appellation would better apply. Hers was
truly a life of selflessness, where the totality of her identity comes
through service to God.
I have, in my life, met many people who have been major actors on the
world stage--Presidents, Prime Ministers and other leading officials at
home and abroad. This year, I had the opportunity to meet and briefly
talk with this very frail nun in our Capitol. This was an honor that I
will cherish throughout my life.
It is not often that I have had the chance to be with someone whose
very presence is so intensely humbling. That was the case with Mother
Teresa. She truly was representative of the best in the human spirit
and will be remembered for centuries to come.
She will be sorely missed.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, in a week already saddened by the loss
of Diana, Princess of Wales, we were further grieved to learn Friday of
the death of Mother Teresa. Her presence, that of a living saint, will
be sorely missed.
Mother Teresa has played the role of world conscience. Throughout her
life, she has lived in the most pure and basic manner. While caring for
the destitute and sick, she insisted on living in poverty herself.
Mother Teresa believed that ``the more we empty ourselves, the more
room we give God to fill us.'' She practiced what she preached.
Mother Teresa's remarkable and selfless works have been recognized
around the world. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In
1980, she was bestowed India's highest honor, the Jewel of India award.
Last year, President Clinton conferred honorary American citizenship on
Mother Teresa. Most recently, she was awarded a congressional Medal of
Honor. Mother Teresa knew that these were merely earthly rewards.
While she was an international figure, she remained focused and
committed to her mission. She rejected the media attention these awards
drew, saying that she must get back to her work. Any money that came
with these awards was immediately given to the poor.
Mother Teresa will be sadly missed but her work will continue. I pray
that Sister Nirmala will be given the same strength and world support
to continue the mission Mother Teresa founded in 1948, the Order of the
Missionaries of Charity. I also pay tribute to Mother Teresa's life by
recommiting myself to work for the poorest members of society. Mr.
President, I yield the floor.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, just as the world was recovering from the
shock last week of the sad news about the tragic and untimely death of
Princess Diana--including the disturbing discovery that alcohol may
have been linked to the crash--it was again rocked by reports of the
death of another of its beloved heroines. Mother Teresa, considered by
many to be a living saint, died last Friday at the age of 87. Like
Princess Diana, who dedicated much of her attention to the needs of the
unfortunate, Mother Teresa was a beacon of hope for countless people
who were all but abandoned by mainstream society. But, unlike Princess
Diana, Mother Teresa chose to highlight the plight of the destitute by
becoming destitute herself. Although a physically small woman, Mother
Teresa was a colossus of inspiration. She had little more to offer than
kindness, faith, and tenacity, but Mother Teresa ably provided the
world with much, much more.
Mother Teresa embodied hope. She served God by reaching out to the
poor. She dedicated her life to humanitarian
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aid, making personal sacrifices that most of us cannot easily
understand. Mother Teresa traveled to areas where most would fear to
go; she embraced AIDS patients and lepers, cradled dying babies, and
brought a glimmer of hope to the hopeless. She rejected modern-day
comforts, and when she left this world she owned little more than her
sari and her rosary beads.
Mother Teresa's name is recognized throughout the world, and her
influence is immeasurable. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize. Earlier this year she was presented the Congressional Medal of
Honor. She is one of only five people ever to be awarded honorary
citizenship to the United States. Mother Teresa shared her time with
some of the world's most impoverished and unfortunate citizens. Her
light burned with superhuman brightness to illuminate the darkness in
others' lives.
Born in 1910 in an Albanian region which later became a part of
Yugoslavia, Mother Teresa's father died unexpectedly when she was a
young girl, and she first learned to care for others while helping her
mother look after her two sisters and others in the community. At the
age of 18, she joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto, an active
mission in India, and spent two decades with the order, first as a
teacher and then as a principal. In 1948, an inner voice told her it
was time for a change. Sister Teresa left the convent with the vision
of starting her own school, determined to dedicate her life to helping
the most forsaken and abandoned. Possessing no capital, she first
taught by scratching letters in the dirt with a stick. By 1950, she had
established a new religious order, and named it the Missionaries of
Charity.
The vision that began with a tiny stick drawing on a gritty street,
has grown into an assembly of 600 clinics, orphanages, soup kitchens,
maternity homes, refugee centers, and havens for the poor, sick, and
dying in more than 100 countries. These facilities are staffed by 4,500
nuns, 500 brothers, and thousands of volunteers from around the globe.
She refused to accept steady funding or fund-raising money from
government, private, or religious institutions, relying instead on her
faith in God. Yet, she soothed those in pain and brought smiles to
cheerless faces, never forgetting the forgotten. The world is a better
place because of the sacrifices she made and the warmth she radiated.
Mother Teresa once said, ``To God there is nothing small. The moment we
have given it to God, it becomes infinite.'' With her passing, Mother
Teresa joins with God's infinity. May her acts of unselfishness and
compassion be an inspiration to us all to strive, each in our own way,
to make life better for all of those who lives we touch.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I thought I might put in the Record,
and in the resolution there is listed a number of things that Mother
Teresa did, but just for the interest of the body, it might be
interesting to note some of those things that happened.
Mother Teresa expanded her personal dedication by founding the
Missionaries of Charity, which people may not be familiar with but I
think most are, which included well over 3,000 members of 25 countries
who devote their entire lives to serving the poor without accepting any
material reward in return. She has been recognized as a humanitarian
around the world in various forms: The first Pope John XXIII Peace
Prize in 1971; the Jawaharal Nehru Award for International
Understanding in 1972; the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979; the Presidential
Medal of Freedom in 1985; and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997.
She was born in 1910 in the former Yugoslavia, and received a calling
on a train saying she should go serve the poorest of the poor, a
calling, that was recently just celebrated, of nearly 50 years ago.
That is when she went to India to start her Missionaries of Charity.
There are a couple of things that also stand out in my mind. When she
received the Nobel Peace Prize she refused a dinner, the banquet that
they normally put forward for those who receive that, and asked that
the cash equivalent instead be used for money to build more missions
and help more people instead of having the lavish dinner.
I know that in the discussions with her group on the Congressional
Gold Medal she suggested that rather than presenting a Congressional
Gold Medal to her could they just melt the medal down and give them the
equivalent of that in money so they could use that to put up more
buildings and help more people of the poorest of the poor.
You look at some selfless things like that, and you just become
amazed at what she did, and, yet, also what she could accomplish when
there is that much selflessness that goes into it.
I think one should recognize all of those accomplishments. And those
are just the tip of the iceberg because those speak of kind of the big
things that we can identify. But they don't speak of the faces that she
has stared into, or the feet that she has washed, and the people she
served, one at a time.
I think that is worthwhile to add into the Record.
Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for
the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to attempt something that I
know will not fully succeed. I stand to speak to the legacy of Mother
Teresa who in my opinion, was one of the greatest of all humanitarians
and advocates for the poor, for the unclothed, the unhoused, the
ignored, and the forgotten poor of the world--not only the forgotten
poor of India but of the world at large.
Many, of course, have remarked on the striking coincidence that last
week we saw the passing of two of the world's most famous women--the
Princess of Wales, and the guardian of India's poor, and really the
poor of the world. Their association was coincidence. And those who
again say that Diana's commitment to the poor, to the sick, and to the
maimed simply ignored the profound friendship that had formed between
these two remarkable women. As Diana was moved to even greater
compassion by the small nun from Calcutta, so were all of us who knew
Mother Teresa.
I don't have a power wall in my personal office--pictures of me with
other dignitaries. In my office you will find a lot of paintings. And
the only photographs are of my family and one other individual. For
years I have had a photo of Mother Teresa and me from one of the
several meetings that I was most fortunate to have with her over the
years. I met her here in Washington at least twice. And I visited her
in Calcutta, and visited her orphanage there. In Washington one time
was with a number of others. But the second time was just Mother Teresa
and myself and one staff member.
For me, Mother Teresa embodies the highest commitment to spiritual
principles in this very imperfect world. And her memory I will always
keep alive to remind me that we can in fact hold spiritual principles
deeply relevant to this harsh world. That little nun from Calcutta held
the greatest power that anyone can have--the power of love. She
radiated it through her actions by serving the destitute, the maimed,
and the forgotten.
There have been some trivial criticisms about her--that she didn't
address the root causes of the horrible poverty in which she lived. We
should never forget the distinction between the abstractions of policy
and the practice of charity. We must never lose the humility that
recognizes that the policy attempts that governments and their leaders
make often fall short while the commitment to love can be endless. And
in the end the love given to a homeless child or to a dying street
person cannot be legislated.
I recently heard a particularly telling anecdote concerning Mother
Teresa. She was in the ghetto of Calcutta
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putting salves on the wounds of a desperately sick person. A devout
priest who was accompanying her said, ``I wouldn't do that for
$100,000.'' I think maybe it could have even been $100 million. ``I
wouldn't either,'' the dear, wise woman responded. ``I do it for
Christ.''
I know that it is considered by some inappropriate to mention
anything religious. But Mother Teresa reminded all of us of the great
good that all religions do for man. And her Christian compassion will
be an inspiration to me as long as I live.
Mr. President, I will never forget seeing her emotional remarks about
abortions and the heinous nature of abortion in our society and in our
world today--30 million children aborted just in the history of our
country since 1972. I remember her saying, ``If you do not want them,
give them to me.'' She meant it. She took care of the poor, the sick,
the maimed, the forgotten, those who were rejected by the rest of the
world. She took them to her bosom. She took them to her best ability to
help, and, because of her, literally thousands--hundreds of thousands--
of people have been helped around the world. And millions know what it
is like to do charitable giving.
Mr. President, God bless the memory of Mother Teresa, as he blessed
all of those who knew this woman, who I think will be known as one of
this century's most selfless and wonderful humanitarians.
So I am happy to cosponsor any resolution that supports Mother
Teresa. And I hope that all people throughout the world will take her
example and realize that all of us in our own sphere, in our own little
life, can do a little bit more for our fellow men and women than we
have been doing, and use her as an example of one who gave her all for
her fellow men and women and children.
I thank her personally, and that is why I am making these remarks
this day.
I yield the floor.
Mr. DOMENICI addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, first, let me say to Senator Hatch that
I am pleased that I was present for his eloquent remarks. I thank him
very much.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
not go in recess until I have completed my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. DOMENICI. I ask the occupant of the chair. Is that too much of an
inconvenience for him?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. I thank the Senator from New Mexico for his
consideration. No, under my schedule I am willing to stay here until
you finish your comments.
Mr. DOMENICI. I thank the Chair.
Mr. President, I had thought that sometime today or tomorrow I would
sit down and write a series of remarks and reflections and thoughts
about Mother Teresa. But I think it would be more appropriate that I
not delay that and that I say a few words now so that it is
incorporated into this Record as reference to this wonderful and quite
appropriate resolution.
Let me first say I am not one of the privileged Senators who has met
Mother Teresa and been with her for any length of time, although I have
met her once. But I believe it is fair to say that even while I have
not met her, I have probably never, in my years of life and certainly
my years in the Senate, observed from a distance such a remarkable
person. That is what makes it difficult, because she is so remarkable,
because she is so different from what the world talks about today and
what the world espouses as success, as the way we ought to live our
lives so we can be successful. She is so far removed from that and is
yet great without any question, that sometimes it is hard to find words
in our kind of world to talk about her.
But I was thinking, from my own standpoint, over the weekend I was
privileged as a member of my own family in Albuquerque, NM, to be
present with our entire family and many hundreds of friends at the 50th
jubilee of one of my own sisters being a Sister of Charity. She is a
couple years older than I and has been a Sister of Charity for 50 years
and has taught kids all across this country. She assumes she has
touched and taught no less than 10,500. So I feel I could talk about
her for a minute while we talk about the great sacrifices of Mother
Teresa.
But obviously, it was an interesting weekend in that regard, for
while we are all grieving the death of this saint, I was privileged to
be part of a family event where I think we have somebody very close to
that title who is our own blood.
Then, as I thought about what we ought to say here today, I hearkened
back to a long, long time ago when we were taught a little bit about
the Old Testament and the New Testament. What I was thinking about is
that this is a pretty muddled up world. Things aren't going so well.
There are a lot of people terribly worried about our value system and
where are we going versus our Maker, where is this world apt to end up
with what appears to be such an absence of what we understand is the
right thing to do and the right way to go and right and wrong on a
daily basis. I was thinking back to the Old Testament of Sodom and
Gomorrah and Abraham negotiating with God. They had a very interesting
negotiation. It shows that Abraham was a wonderful negotiator even in
working things out with the Maker, for as you recall he talked about
how many good people you have to find in Sodom and Gomorrah to save it.
The negotiations started very high and ended up I believe at 10--10. I
don't think they could find 10, so Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
What does this have to do with Mother Teresa? Well, I guess I would
say that it is pretty clear to me that the kind of relationship we were
talking about back in the Old Testament is still a relationship with
the Maker, with the God Almighty, and I believe it is imperative that
the world give great confirmation and credence to someone whom we know
is the kind of person that is so good and so much in touch with what
the Almighty thinks and wants that they are clearly capable of
intervening and saving us. So I don't think we should just praise her
for the marvelous acts of love, but I think we should thank her, we
should thank her from the bottom of our hearts for contributing in a
very big way toward a more positive relationship between the Almighty
and humankind.
Now, having said that, I want to make just a couple of other points.
I know it is very easy for people to talk about Mother Teresa and not
want to talk about her faith, but I do not think you can do that. I do
not think you can say she is a great humanitarian. In fact, I do not
believe she would want to be called a humanitarian. Her faith is very
simple, profound, and real. She believes what her faith tells her, and
that is that the poor and the downtrodden, the sick, and those who are
on their death beds with all kinds of infirmities present in their
bodies and minds, that they are Jesus Christ.
Now, I am not offended, nor am I concerned, about saying that right
here on the Senate floor because that is true. So we must talk about
her in that context, for to do otherwise is to deny her existence and
why she did what she did.
Now, having said that, it is very hard for most mortals to live their
faith that way--very hard. Nonetheless, I think what I choose to honor
today and to thank her for is that she did, as a matter of fact, live
her faith, totally to the core. Every bit of her being was living that
New Testament admonition, for we recall that Jesus Christ said, ``If
you are taking care of somebody who is desperately hungry, you are
taking care of me; if you are taking care of those who are suffering,
you are taking care of me.''
Now, most of us are not able to bridge that gap of faith that she
bridged every day, every moment, for she literally lived her life fully
aware of and practicing that admonition. So it seems to this Senator
that it is most befitting, and in particular in the kind of world we
live, in which just 2 weeks ago we had a poll of the American people
and with the economy humming and with all the material things seeming
to go well, huge numbers of Americans said we are on the wrong path. I
think the wrong path did not have much to do with material wealth. I
think they are frightened about the way we behave, and they are worried
about what that is going to end up doing to us.
So I think it is fair that we step back and say, well, here is one,
the lady
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from Calcutta, here is one who sees it completely different than we do,
and yet look how many lives she affected, look how many people came
within the yoke of this little, tiny, frail body, which probably at her
death was not bigger than 75 to 80 pounds at the most.
So I thank Senator Nickles and others, and I join as a cosponsor of
this resolution, but it is again as you look at things really
inadequate. As I look at the occupant of the chair and I think what do
we really feel about this lady and we can't quite write it down, we can
say with absolute assurance that she is the right kind of person to
respect, that she is the right kind of person and personage for the
U.S. Senate to pay tribute to.
Unanimous-Consent Agreement
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, in behalf of
the leader, that following the 2:15 p.m. vote on Senate Resolution 120,
the pending resolution, the Senate begin 60 minutes of debate on the
McCain Amendment 1091, and, at the expiration or yielding back of the
time, the Senate vote on or in relation to amendment 1091.
I understand this is cleared on the other side.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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