When Mother Teresa was asked what would happen to her congregation after she had gone, she is said to have responded:
"A person emptier than myself will come along."
The implication here is that the greatness of a person lies in the depth of his or her own self-emptying. Another implication is that what is emptied of oneself will be filled with the self of God. Poverty as a chosen life-style is precisely this:
"To empty oneself of all that one is and has so that all will be at the disposal of the Lord."
In every adult there lurks a child --
and eternal child,
something that is always becoming,
is never completed,
and calls for unceasing care,
attention and education.
That is part of the human personality
which wants to develop and
become whole.
