Chapter 15, Our Mission Summary and Analysis

Teresa says the sisters always reject invitations to eat out, which gives the impression that the sisters accept payment. No, they eat only in their own house out of respect for the poor. She says to those who admire her courage that she would not have any courage unless she believed that when she touched the poor and the sick, she touches Christ's body.

Poverty is freedom for Teresa and the sisters. They have no property but the things they use. Their saris are not theirs, neither are their sandals. Poverty is strength. Truly following Christ requires giving something up. She believes that when she dies, God will find a person more ignorant and useless than she was and will do greater things though that person than he is doing through her.

Teresa recounts a story of...