No, I’m not speaking of my mother’s wagging finger warning or threatening me when I was a child. I’m speaking of Mother Teresa’s fingers, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of her death (September 5, 1997). I could not help remembering her beautiful, wrinkled hands that fed, helped, washed, touched so many poor and destitute people. Her hands would tenderly clasp the face of a child, lay protectively over the head of sick and dying person, take up the unpleasant task of cleaning the soiled and primitive toilet facilities of the Nirmal Hriday Home for the Dying. They expressed her deep faith in action: “Touch the poor, the unwanted with your love, as the priest tenderly touches the body of Jesus in the Eucharist.” This faith and mission she often expressed by raising her left hand, open her five fingers and, with her right index finger, touch the tip of each of them while pronouncing that five-word mantra of hers: “You did it to me.” With her hands and fingers, she would underline the importance of what she wanted to say. During a conference she was giving to her Sisters, she was speaking about how to deal with praise and criticism with a free heart. She explained with her...