Mother Teresa  (1910-1997)

     One of the most imposing Indians Mother Teresa ever met was Dr. B. C. Roy, who gave free medical service to needy patients in his medical office every morning before leaving to begin his government work downtown. For he was also the Chief Minister of the huge Bengal province! One morning Mother Teresa did not go to the slum of Moti Jihl where she taught children but went to his office and calmly waited as if she were a patient herself.
     Finally the massive doctor towered over her. "And what is your problem, madam?"
     "Moti Jihl needs a water pump. Clean water will prevent much of the cholera there."
     "No water pump in Moti Jihl?" he asked in surprise. He turned to his assistant. "Make a note to see about this woman's complaint." 
     She returned again and again, always waiting patiently with the needy.  She asked Dr. Roy for electrical hookups, water connections, garbage removal, all the basic things of civilized society and always for the neediest neighborhoods.  Every time something was actually done.
     Finally Dr. Roy knew her too well. "You again, Mother Teresa? You have too much to do for the needy to wait around like this. From now on you come directly to my government office downtown. Walk in straightway." 
     Once, after she began to distribute food and also take in babies, she did go to his downtown office. "Would it be possible to get some food and medicine from the government?" she asked. After he agreed to help she added out of politeness, "I hope you don't think we Sisters are tackling too much, Dr. Roy."
     "Not at all. Make it bigger. Bigger, Mother. A good cause never suffers for want of money!"
     What faith Dr. Roy had. It was nearly as great as her own. In 1961 a friend told her what he had read on the front page of the Calcutta Statesman newspaper that day. A reporter had asked Dr. Roy what he was thinking about on his 80th birthday. 
     "Mother Teresa, who devotes her life to helping the poor!" he thundered.

[source: Mother Teresa of Calcutta by Edward Le Joly, 1983]

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John Wesley (1703-1791)

     One entry in John Wesley's journal reads:
          To ease the horses (pulling my coach), we walked from Nairn,
          ordering Richard (our driver) to follow us, as soon as (the horses)
          were fed.  He did so, but there were two roads.  So, as we took one,
          and he the other, we walked about twelve miles...through heavy
          rain...But blessed be God, I was no more tired than when I set out
          from Nairn...
     A few months later another reads:
          At this season we usually distribute coals and bread among the poor
          of the society.  But...they (needed) clothes, as well as food.  So on
          this, and the four following days I walked through the town, and
          begged two hundred pounds, in order to clothe them that needed
          it most.  But it was hard work as most of the streets were filled with
          melting snow, which often lay ankle deep; so that my feet were
          steeped in snow water nearly from morning till evening...
     Both entries were made when John was 81!
     John's determination to push ahead and his disregard for his own health were legendary. He had been fearless since his infilling of the Holy spirit in 1738. As a relative youth in 1747, after sailors refused to sail, he impatiently penned in his journal:
          There are, unless my memory fail,
          Five causes why we should not sail;
          The fog is thick, the wind is high;
          It rains, or may do by and by;
          Or - any other reason why!
     Samuel Johnson, center of England's most esteemed literary circle, knew Wesley. "You talk well on any subject, sir," enthused Johnson to Wesley in one of his renowned meetings. "Cross your legs and stay a while longer."
     "Pardon me, sir, but I am obliged to meet with a widow and her family in an hour," explained John. "I must go."
     "You are always in hurry, sir," complained Johnson.
     John replied with the answer he gave to this complaint on many occasions. "No, sir. I am always in haste, but never in a hurry. I never undertake more than I can do with perfect calmness of spirit."

[sources: The Journal of the Reverend John Wesley, 8 Vols., edited by Nehemiah Curnock, 1938, and The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell, 1791]

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