Gospel in Art: Saint Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa)

Mother Teresa, watercolour by John Alan Warford, 2017 © John Alan Warford, all rights reserved

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 5 September 2026
Luke 6:1-5

On a Sabbath, while Jesus was going through the cornfields, his disciples plucked and ate some ears of corn, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, 'Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?' And Jesus answered them, 'Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?' And he said to them, 'The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.'

Reflection on the watercolour

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, better known to the world as Mother Teresa. Born in 1910 in Skopje (present-day North Macedonia), she entered the Loreto Sisters in Ireland as a young woman and soon moved to India, where she taught at a girls' school in Calcutta. In 1946, during a train journey, she experienced what she later described as a "call within a call": the deep conviction that Jesus was asking her to leave the security of her convent and dedicate herself to serving the poorest of the poor. With nothing but a simple white sari and a heart full of faith, she began walking the streets of Calcutta, tending to the sick, abandoned, and dying.

In time, others joined her, and the Missionaries of Charity were founded, growing into a worldwide order dedicated to serving the poor, sick and vulnerable. Mother Teresa became a global symbol of compassion, not because of great speeches or grand buildings, but because of her radical closeness to those whom society had cast aside. She tended wounds, lifted dying bodies off the streets, and reminded the forgotten that they were beloved children of God. For her, each suffering person was "Jesus in a distressing disguise" as she referred to. Her life was a living testimony that holiness is not found in doing extraordinary things, but in doing ordinary things with extraordinary love to ordinary people!

Our watercolour by American artist John Alan Warford is beautiful in its simplicity: a tender, intimate scene of Mother Teresa gently tending to the wounds of a sick person. Preparing today's Christian Art entry, I had a look at the website of Mother Teresa's order, and it is a lovely website with some great quotes by the saint: https://missionariesofcharity.org/

We pray for all the beautiful work they do.

Saint Teresa, pray for us.

LINKS

Christian Art: www.christian.art
Today's image: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/luke-6-1-5-2026/