The following is Bishop David B. Thompson's homily given at the memorial Mass celebrated for Mother Teresa at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Sept. 14.

I ask you to think of all the symbols in the world with which you are familiar. By far, one stands out over all the others. It has stood out for 2,000 years. It is the cross of Christ.

Whether in wood, metal or peat moss; in painting, icon or drawing: The cross of Christ is the outstanding sign of salvation, of death, and resurrection, of utter failure and complete victory.

In our church the crucifix is referred to not as a sacrament, but as a sacramental instituted by the Church to raise our minds and hearts to God, to do good and avoid evil.

Today, in this liturgy, we pay tribute to that great religious reality: The triumph of the cross, the victory of Christ over death through his crucifixion and resurrection, our own salvation because of the cross of Christ.

Also today, we pay tribute to the late and beloved Mother Teresa of Calcutta who took this crucified Christ as her inspiration and fourth vow: Wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor whom Jesus died for. To minister to the unwanted, unloved and uncared for, no matter how worthy or unworthy. To scoop up the dying from gutters, bring them to her clinics, that they might die in peace. Christ in death on the cross for all of us made caring for the abandoned dying her signature service.

I should like to express gratitude to the media: television, radio, newspaper and magazines for their extensive and reverend coverage of this nun's remarkable life and now the giving out of her heart. Who can say the media give emphasis only to the sensational, bizarre, crime, or scandal.

Because of more than a week of facts and stories about Mother Teresa, I need only intone a few antiphons about her here this evening. Let these serve as mood music: holy, reverent, soothing, reassuring. Let them make us all think how we might carry on some part of Mother's love for others, no matter how trifling our efforts might seem. Let them reflect the triumph of the cross of Christ once again in this world through this holy nun; weak, frail, powerless.

St. Thomas More has been described as "The Man for All Seasons." Mother Teresa is known as the "Woman for All People."

"I am a Catholic nun, my calling is to the world; I belong entirely to the Lord Jesus." She was respectfully referred to as the "Saint of the Gutters." She was the greatest of ecumenicists and interfaith servants: her love and care transcended boundaries of religious preference and nationality. A person's humanity in need, especially at death, came first.

Another title Mother Teresa was often given was "Mother of All Living" because of her total respect for human life from conception to death. While we priests find many resenting our speaking about the evil of abortion, Mother Teresa could do it and be respected for it by the Nobel Prize for Peace officials and by presidents and kings. Countries which accept and promote abortion are not teaching people to love but to use violence to get what they want. Every abortion is the killing of a family by a family itself.

A third title often given to this holy nun was the "Mother of All Love." Latin American liberation theologians criticized Mother Teresa for not getting politically involved, not leading a revolution against a corrupt system. Mother preferred to lead a "revolution of love" by reaching out as Jesus did to one tormented body at a time. Her work prompted Coretta Scott King, speaking for millions in Atlanta, to proclaim, "Our world has lost the most celebrated saint of our times."

Woman for All Peoples, Mother of All Living, Mother of All Love — three noble titles for a most gracious lady. I had the privilege and joy to speak to Mother Teresa three times up close. What a blessing. The photograph I have of her standing next to me shows her coming up just to my shoulder, but I stood in this diminutive nun's shadow. Our Holy Father felt the same way, so I'm in good company.

Mother Teresa has been referred to as a "living saint," and we all know what that means. Technically, in our Church, you have to be dead to be declared a saint, and this takes time. By acclamation, the whole world has declared Mother Teresa a saint; in time the Church will canonize her a saint. Isn't it wonderful that for once the world and the Church agree!