Saint Teresa of Calcutta is cited by Pope Leo XIV in his just published apostolic exhortation Dilexit te (“I have loved you”):

Foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, she dedicated her life to the dying abandoned on the streets of India. She gathered the rejected, washed their wounds and accompanied them to the moment of death with the tenderness of prayer. Her love for the poorest of the poor meant that she did not only take care of their material needs, but also proclaimed the good news of the Gospel to them: “We are wanting to proclaim the good news to the poor that God loves them, that we love them, that they are somebody to us, that they too have been created by the same loving hand of God, to love and to be loved. Our poor people are great people, are very lovable people, they do not need our pity and sympathy, they need our understanding love. They need our respect; they need that we treat them with dignity.”

“Understanding love” is a beautiful way to describe how God loves us. He knows our needs, our desires, our faults, and our quirks. He takes great interest in us. After all, he made us and redeemed us. His patience and tenderness are seen in the gentle guiding hand of His everyday Providence in our lives. God wants us to display our gratitude for His kindness and goodness in the way we treat our neighbors, especially those who are poor.

Poverty comes in many forms. Mother Teresa once recounted: “Our sisters are working in New York with the shut-ins. They see the terrible pain of loneliness, or fear, of being unwanted, and unloved. I think it is much greater pain, much greater than even cancer or tuberculosis. The sisters have often met people like that, people who are completely broken-hearted, desperate with feelings of hurt.”

We can make a true impact for the good in the lives of those who suffer the bitter pain of isolation by showing our interest in them. We are all rich in time. How we share that treasure with others is the question awaiting our answer.

My experience with pro-life volunteers over the years is that they are generous people who go out of their way to help not only our unborn brothers and sisters, and their mothers and fathers, but also many other people who need a helping hand and a word of guidance.

Giving of ourselves—whether it be spending time with the sick and the lonely or helping our needy neighbors in whatever way we can—is a holy way of life that brings immense joy to so many.

God is pleased when we do something good for Him and for our neighbor. Yet we know that the transition from conceiving of the idea of doing good to actually doing it can be a hard one. That is where prayer comes in. Those who pray for the grace to be faithful servants of the Lord through serving the needs of others will receive strength to carry out their good intentions.

Mother Teresa once told her sisters something that can apply to all of us: “The good news is that God still loves the world through each one of you. You are God’s good news, you are God’s love in action. Through you, God is still loving the world.”

What a privilege it is to be part of God’s loving plan.