Come Be My Light

It ain't the phrase what the Renaissance protagonist would have said to a rosy face, smiley eyes effervescent beauty. For that matter, it ain't the catchy phrase that I am saving for my lover. And for heavens sake, it is not what Ameren UE is leaving on my voice mail. What is it then? Is that something potent enough to make somebody 'a saint' a sinner? This is what Mother Teresa has 'supposedly' written in her confession to Father 'i don't remember who' (that Jesus called her to be His light to the pitied and the ones in need); the gist of which is that Mother Teresa had doubt in her faith towards eternal existence (which I tend to agree, but that's not the point), and that she lived with it for more than 50 years of her servitude - the writer may call it.

I heard about all the talk a few weeks back, but didn't find enough push towards forcing myself to Google it and read it through, until Time's latest edition showed up at my doorstep and I nothing, but wondered, what could this possibly be. So the first thing that after I finished my daily after-work chores was to pick the copy and read it till the last word. Without blinking, mind you. And what changes after all the reading? Just that a minuscule 'wow' became a "WOW". But did that really change the image of "The Saint", "The Mother Teresa", the one who served an alien country all her life, without shedding a drop of sweat? I see many raising hands in affirmation, but I beg to disagree with the crowd, or the ever-naysayers.

The letters that the Mother wrote in her confession clearly shows that she had doubts in the existence of Jesus and that her inner darkness raised her nothing beyond an average human-being. An average human being, who we all admired for her selfless acts, for her being true follower of Him. Did we call her saint because she was a true follower, or because she worked on something beyond just putting in posters inviting 'the claded' for Sunday Mass or morning prayers? We know all that, deep in our hearts. Can we go really rise over our heads and strip someone with something that the whole world has given with love and faith? Can we divest our beliefs on a fractiously written, hoping to make millions, deprecating pages of Brian Kolodiejchuk's book? I know you would love to see the hero fall, but won't that fall with the belief in humanity?

But for that matter, who has designed the system of calling an average human 'A saint'? An average person, who walked ages to serve the un-served, to help the ones who the country of a billion has always ignored, and still doing so. Walk the line that you haven't seen before, you will know how difficult it is to believe. Cross the borders and extend your hand, you will know what you get in return. Suppress your beliefs and believe in the faith of other, and you will understand what it's like to feel a saint from within.

Want to feel the saint within? Don't wander around miles above the sea-level, don't substitute your external self with the rags, don't sit in prayers at 6 in the morning, don't close your eyes before the family meal, and, please, don't sit 15 feet high at the platform and see the beleaguered chant to your nursery rhymes. Stand in the middle of crowd and extend your hand to help the one in need (may not be your wife here); shed the non-existent shackles of society and walk with the under-privileged (not the ones that arjun singh talks about); share your meal with the one who haven't eaten for 4 days; you would feel nothing, but a saint. 'A Saint for the Day'.

'A Saint a Day' is what we need to rise above the unfortunate talks to proclaiming somebody a sinner, or a saint. Would you stop believing in Hendrix, raise your voice to SRV, shy away from Marley, if I tell you that they had 'Dark Light' hidden somewhere in the dungeons of their outer self? C'mon get back to real work - you have four billion waiting for you to come and extend your hand.

"I want to love Him as He has never been loved before."