Real-life examples

I believe I'm on the way to being able to be Cross-eyed. By this I mean, being able to see people the way that Jesus looked on them. But, aside from some personal examples of people I've known, the person I feel most can relate to and recognize as most exemplifying this concept of Loving Like Crazy is : Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu . What a remarkable woman. You can follow the link to her Wikipedia entry, but let me highlight some facts from her life that stand out to me:

At age 12, she had already decided to become a missionary.
After 19 years of working with the poor and destitute, she started a congregation that would become the Missionaries of Charity, with the following mission: "to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."
In 1982, during the strife in Beirut, she brokered a cease-fire between Israeli and Palestinian troops, and navigated the war-torn streets along with some Red-Cross volunteers to rescue 37 children from a devastated hospital.

She was an amazing woman and I believe that she had the eyes of Christ. When she received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979, she said, ""Around the world, not only in the poor countries, but I found the poverty of the West so much more difficult to remove. When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society - that poverty is so hurtable [sic] and so much, and I find that very difficult."

When I reflect on examples like Teresa of Calcutta, I am reminded of what Paul said, "Imitate me, even as I imitate Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1). I'm holding up Teresa only in that she exemplifies Christ-likeness.

I'll leave you with some quotes from this remarkable woman. In her life, she lived and acted and spoke in such a way as to draw us close to her beloved Jesus.

*Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.
* Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
* God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.
* I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.
*If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
* It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.
* Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go.

Google Mother Teresa Quotes and spend some time in reflection.