…there is an unsettling asymmetry between the Princess and the Mother.  I dare say that precisely no readers of this book ever could, in any possible scenario, take Princess Diana’s place–either her royal station, her worldwide celebrity or her magnetic grip on every nearby camera.  Leaving aside the fact that most of us are not subjects of the British Crown, you and I are simply not cut out for the job.  Princess Diana’s singular life was just that, singular.  There will be, in our lifetime an absolutely tiny number of women (or men) who will charm the cameras and manipulate the celebrity press so effectively that they  reach her level of fame.  For the rest of us to chase that kind of popularity and visibility would be both foolish and futile…

…and yet there is nothing–absolutely nothing–stopping us from taking Mother Teresa’s place.  None of the intrinsic barriers to taking up the life of a celebrity princess apply to those who might wanted to take up the life of a servant to the poor.  As I write there are hundreds of people volunteering at the Missionaries of Charity’s home for the dying in Calcutta.  Some have been there for a day or two; others have stayed for years or decades.  They obviously will not necessarily achieve Mother’s worldwide recognition, but they are living, in every material respect, the life she lived.  At the end Mother Teresa was a wizened old woman whose face bore a crease for every year of her life.  With all the plastic surgery money could buy, you or I will never look like Princess Diana in her prime–but for absolutely no cost except a life of love, we could all look like Mother Teresa.

For nearly all of us, becoming a celebrity is completely, categorically impossible.  For all of us, becoming a saint is completely, categorically possible.

pp. 218-219, Culture Making by Andy Crouch

NOTE: Andy Crouch will be speaking at EWC in San Diego on October 21st at UCSD.  RSVP online here.