A COMBATANT IN THE WORLD

MOTHER COULD BE FIERCE IN DEFENDING HER BELIEFS

Such joy. It was the spring of 1985, and President Reagan had just given Mother Teresa the Medal of Freedom in a Rose Garden ceremony. As she left, she walked down the corridor between the Oval Office and the West Wing drive, and there she was, turning my way. What a sight: a saint in a sari coming down the White House hall. As she came nearer, I could not help it: I bowed. "Mother," I said, "I just want to touch your hand." She looked up at me--it may have been one of God's subtle jokes that his exalted child...

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