A story from one of St. Mother Teresa’s sisters: “As an aspirant, my apostolate was in Nurmal Hriday (Kalighat). The first few days, I was so afraid to touch the old people. One man had a very big wound on his leg and it was full of maggots. I was so afraid.
Then Mother passed that way. She saw me standing with the dressing tray and struggling without knowing what to do, and she knew I was afraid…. She held my hand, took the tray from my hand, and she started to clean the wound, and took out all the worms. Then she put the forceps in my hand and she held my hands and made me clean the wound. I did a little, and then Mother continued and finished the dressing by herself. With that my fears disappeared.
Then Mother ran and got a cup of hot milk for the patient and made me pour that milk into his mouth little by little, and Mother stood close by watching me and smiled. Then we moved on to another patient, and Mother herself did for each patient whatever was necessary…. From that day onward I had no fear. Mother remained at my side that whole morning teaching me.” (from A Call to Mercy: Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve. Mother Teresa, Ed. By Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC. (New York: Image Books, 2016), p 103.
II Corinthians, Encouragement, & Paraklésis
Today we begin a two week study of II Corinthians. Scholars tend to agree that II Corinthians was written by St. Paul, probably around AD 57. Today’s reading is the beginning of the letter. As I prayed from the New American Bible text last week, I was drawn to the word “encouragement,” the theme of that St. Mother Teresa story.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of compassion and the God of all encouragement,
who encourages us in our every affliction,
so that we may be able to encourage
those who are in any affliction
with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God.
For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us,
so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow.
Then, when I went to my Revised Standard Version Didache Bible for some background information, the word encouragement was not there. Instead, RSV uses the word “comfort.” The way I would interpret those two words would give the passage a substantially different meaning, so I looked up the original Greek word, paraklésis.
According to https://biblehub.com/greek/3874.htm paraklésis means a personal exhortation, a calling to someone’s aid, encouragement, comfort, consolation.
I find this fascinating. As a word, it seems to mean guidance that has the power and precision of truth and the warmth of confident love. It is a word that tells how to “speak the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15)
As a parent, teacher, supervisor, therapist, and friend, I am always on the lookout for ways to improve how I can name a truth a person may not want to hear in a way that will foster his/her ability to profit from my naming it. Apparently, from the meaning of paraklésis, the Greeks understood the importance of that. Perhaps that is why Paul begins this epistle with paraklésis: for during this letter Paul combines support and praise with several admonitions. He wants the faithful in Corinth to know clearly of his perception of their potential and goodness of heart, as well as some shortcomings.
Back to the Mother Teresa Story
The Mother Teresa story expresses well a number of characteristics of paraklésis:
- Mother chose a teachable moment—the young aspirant did not know what to do, which made her open to guidance.
- Mother demonstrated the change that needed to occur. She did the worst of it—taking out the worms. But she went on and demonstrated through direction the rest of what was needed—cleaning the wound, comforting the man with warm milk.
- She involved the aspirant from the beginning, gently and firmly “making” her do the easier parts, so she could overcome her fear by doing what she was afraid of. In a very real sense, that morning Mother Teresa became the young woman’s “training wheels” on the bicycle of her vocation.
- Mother didn’t bend on standards of competence, but she “shaped” behavior by breaking the tasks down, naming the next thing to do, reinforcing with a smile, and remaining as a guide all morning—until her aspirant had evidence within herself that she had no reason to be afraid.
- I’m pretty sure Mother was calm and assured—of the young woman’s capacity to learn AND that the hard lesson was essential. Her confident composure was also an unspoken ingredient in a life changing morning. Her composure gave comfort.
- In all that she did that day, Mother Teresa combined Truth and Mercy in one seamless garment which she both wore and wrapped, like swaddling clothes, around her learner—drawing them together in relationship and drawing them to do with love the work that Jesus called them to do.
Applications
There is much in the story and in Paul’s writing that I have learned before, yet I see how much farther I need to go with encouragement. What strikes me today is Mother Teresa’s patient thoroughness. Sometimes it is hard for me to persist with truth and mercy when someone doesn’t “get it” within the time frame I have currently available. I probably would have taken an hour, but not all morning. Yet for the price of a morning, Mother Teresa may well have preserved a lifetime of vocation. My lesson here is to give enough time WITH encouragement/comfort/guidance that a hesitant person can persist on her own.
I also want to see, as we read II Corinthians these next two weeks, what lessons Paul might have for skills for encounter and accompaniment. As I prepare to begin a study of the 2020 Directory for Catechesis next weekend, I notice the words “dialogue,” “encounter,” and “accompaniment” appear again and again in it. How do we do those things in ways that combine Truth and Mercy, that is with paraklésis? How do we have Mother Teresa’s success?
As I ponder these things, paraklésis is a comfort, guidance, and encouragement. Among other things, it tells me AGAIN what I’ve heard and keep ignoring: our world is not that different from Paul and Mother Teresa’s multi-cultural worlds. They were both successful in worlds of very different values. There are many stories of how they worked with dialogue, encounter, and accompaniment–as well as Paul’s preaching and St. Mother Teresa’s works of mercy. They persisted, even when others didn’t “get it” all immediately. Paul names some pretty rough sins in almost every letter. Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity have planted Christianity is many of the most troubled places in the world. ALL without compromising Christian principles or values.
Prayer:
Lord, You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are the master of speaking Truth in Love. Paraklésis is how You have guided, encouraged, admonished, and comforted me again and again–in prayer, through others. Keep teaching me, Lord. Persist with me. Help me to persist with Mother Teresa’s joy.
