Heart hunger for intimacy

In her book Dear Abba, Finding the Father's Heart through Prayer, Claire Cloninger tells the story of Mother Teresa's 1979 Nobel prize acceptance speech in which Mother Teresa spoke of visiting a nursing home - "where elderly people had been placed by their adult children."

When Mother Teresa entered the nursing home, she was initially impressed by the well-furnished and attractive decor until she noticed the expressions on the faces of the nursing home's residents.

"I saw in that home they had everything, beautiful things, but everybody was looking toward the door. And I did not see a single one with a smile on their face. And I turned to the sister (in charge) and I asked:...'How is it that these people who have everything here, why are they all looking toward the door? Why are they not smiling?'"

The sister in charge told Mother Teresa that the residents were not smiling, but looking toward the door in the hope and expectation that their son or daughter would enter. The sister added, "They are hurt because they are forgotten."

Claire Cloninger wrote:

"Mother Teresa was reminded that day of something she had often observed in her work: that 'the poorest of the poor' are not the only ones who know poverty. There is poverty in the midst of great wealth. There is loneliness in the middle of crowded rooms. And all of us are hungry. Even the well fed have a hunger of the heart."