Sir, - Please spare me a few lines in your paper to acknowledge the greatness and wonder that was Mother Teresa. I worked with her, on and off, for about 25 years, and found her one of the most extraordinary nuns to walk this earth. May her dear soul rest in the arms of Jesus and Mary.I first met Mother Teresa in Addis Ababa when she came there in response to the famine raging through Ethiopia. I brought her to the Emperor, Haile Salassie, who gave her permission to bring in her sisters to work for the famine victims. I travelled with her to Baghdad after the Gulf war, when she opened up a home for handicapped children.I witnessed many miracles with Mother Teresa. On one occasion, she went to the American Embassy in Addis Ababa to ask for immediate help for the thousands of people dying. The Ambassador agreed to help but said it would take months to apply. She said, "Why not ring the President?" She was told: "We don't do that". She asked to ring him herself, and so she spoke to the President, Ronald Reagan. As a result, a commercial shipment of grain was diverted into Addis Ababa, and the situation was saved.On one occasion in Calcutta, the sisters approached Mother Teresa and informed her that they had no food for the thousands of people in the streets lined up for a meal that day. She said they should go into the church and pray.
After a short time, the phone rang. It was the Ministry of Education, saying that the schools were closed that day, and would the sisters take the food for the poor.There is no one like Mother Teresa, so weak-looking and yet so strong, so old and wrinkled and yet so sprightly, and so dynamic. A woman for all times and seasons, for all people, and for all occasions.She is God's shining light, in the darkness, she is the way, leading others home, she is the life of God for all peoples. May her dear soul rest in perfect peace in the bosom of God and His Most Holy Mother. - Yours, etc.,Fr Kevin Doheny,Holy Ghost Fathers,Kimmage Manor,Dublin 12.