Benjamin Gilman: “Mother Teresa spent most of her life in India, the last half-century heading the Missionaries of Charity, an order she…”

“Mother Teresa spent most of her life in India, the last half-century heading the Missionaries of Charity, an order she founded after receiving a divine call to devote her life to tending to the needs of the sick, the dying, and the poorest of the poor. She became a public figure over time, demonstrating a single-mindedness and a steadfastness of purpose that were remarkable; and in that sense, she was certainly a woman of valor. Mother Teresa's stellar contributions and her moral example were widely recognized by such accolades as the Nobel Prize for Peace and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And just this year Congress passed and the President signed into law a measure providing for the award of a Congressional Gold Medal to Mother Teresa. The medal ceremony, held in the rotunda of the Capitol, was a most moving one. Mr. Speaker, considering, as we are, a woman of valor, the end of Solomon's words in Proverbs, chapter 31, come to mind: "Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her works praise her in the gates."”