Mother Teresa

One morning while I was up at 5 AM with Claire I turned on the TV. It was Elder Faust giving a devotional. One of the best I have heard. He spoke of Mother Teresa's thoughts concerning abortion.

Here is a snippet of his talk.

"Abortion is one evil practice that has become socially accepted in our country and, indeed, in the world. Many of today's politicians claim not to favor abortion, but oppose government intervention in a woman's right to choose an abortion.
During a national prayer breakfast in Washington on February third of this year, Mother Teresa gave the most honest and powerful proclamation of truth on this subject I have ever heard. She is the eighty-three-year-old Yugoslavian nun who has cared for the poorest of the poor in India for years. She is now aged and physically frail, but courageous, with immense spiritual strength. Mother Teresa delivered a message that cut to the very heart and soul of the social ills afflicting America, which traditionally has given generously to the peoples of the earth but now has become selfish. She stated that the greatest proof of that selfishness is abortion. Cal Thomas of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate reported on her speech. He said that Mother Teresa had tied abortion to growing violence and murder in the streets by saying,
If we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill each other? . . . Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want.["Mother Teresa Has Anti-Abortion Answer," Salt Lake Tribune, February 15, 1994, p. A­11]
Then she alluded to the concern that has been shown for orphan children in India and elsewhere in the world, for which she expressed gratitude. But she continued,
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. [Ibid.]
Cal Thomas, commenting on this powerful message, said:
Why should people or nations regard human life as noble or dignified if abortion flourishes? Why agonize about indiscriminate death in Bosnia when babies are being killed far more efficiently and out of the sight of television cameras? [Ibid.]
In conclusion, Mother Teresa pled for pregnant women who don't want their children to give them to her. She said, "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" (ibid.). What consummate spiritual courage this remarkable old woman demonstrated. How the devil must have been offended! Her remarkable declaration, however, was not generally picked up by the press or the editorial writers. Perhaps they felt more comfortable being politically or socially correct. After all, they can justify their stance by asserting that everyone does it, or it is legal. Fortunately the scriptures and the message of the prophets cannot be so revised".

What made the talk even more powerful was that fact that I was listening while holding my brand new baby girl.