Dear citizens of the Republic of Macedonia,
Excellencies,
Dear friends,

In the year of mercy, as we celebrate 11 centuries since the passing of St. Clement of Ohrid and as we celebrate quarter of a century of independence of the Republic of Macedonia, we have the privilege to celebrate the canonization of the mother of mercy, our fellow citizen, Mother Teresa.

One week ago, when, as President of the Republic of Macedonia, I led the state and church delegation to the canonization ceremony in Rome, I felt the privilege and honor of living in a city that gave to the world a saint.

However, when we speak about Mother Teresa, we have to know more about how this fellow citizen of ours became a saint of the world.

Fellow citizens,

In the life of every person, of each and every one of us, there are things that do not depend on us solely. The parents that gave us life. The day that we come to and leave from this world. The homeland in which we are born. The times we live in. It was the same with Mother Theresa. She was born as Agneza right here, in Macedonia, in the very heart of Skopje, to her father Nikola and mother Drona, dedicated Christian Catholics. She grew up in a time when our homeland of Macedonia was not yet free.

But, there are things in our lives that depend solely and exclusively on us. The values that we accept and according to which we live. The call that we will pursue. The legacy and the testimony that we will leave behind.

Young Agneza grew up surrounded by all the ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural diversity of Skopje, between a Catholic and Orthodox church, a mosque and a synagogue. She embraced the values of the Macedonian model of coexistence, respect and acceptance of diversity. She often used to say: "Without Skopje, there would not be me." Macedonia and Skopje, with all their diversity, prepared young Agneza for the even greater diversity of the Indian Subcontinent.

However, she was also persistent in searching for her life calling. Even in her youth, she was humane and showed solidarity to the sick, poor and abandoned... In 1928, she fully committed and dedicated herself to God's call. From Skopje via Dublin, she left for Calcutta, in the remote India, where young Agneza became Sister Teresa.

At that time, almost half of the 4-million population of the city of Calcutta was living in poverty. Poor quarters were filled with refugees, homeless people and beggars. Bloody inter-religious violence was an almost every day phenomenon. Hospitals were full. People used to die on the muddy streets, from malnutrition or easily curable diseases. They used to die without an ounce of human dignity.

Fellow citizens,

These challenges are a test for every human being, for each and every one of us. Will we put the needs of others before our personal needs and ambitions? Will we step into the uncertainty of the unknown, or will we stay in the security of our homes, cities and hoimelands?

Sister Teresa did not withdraw from this challenge. On September 10, 1946, seventy years ago, burdened by the horrible sights of human tragedy, Sister Teresa has a powerful and transformative vision regarding her life calling from God. A call to establish a missionary order of mercy that would take care of the most underprivileged of all. To quench the thirst of the thirsty; to provide food to the hungry; to cure the sick and to shelter the homeless – regardless of their religion, language and culture.

Her powerful vision soon became reality. The order of charity grew both by the number of sisters who joined, and by the nature of its mission, in order to be able to encompass more categories of the most vulnerable members of society.

Wherever she went, she was inundated by questions: Why did she leave the comfort and safety of her life in her home country? Why she, as Christian Catholic, is helping Muslims, Hindus, and all those rejected? To all of those questions, she answered that even in the poorest of the poor, the sick, the abandoned and the forgotten, she was able to see the face of Jesus Christ. And that everything she does, she does for Him and because of Him.

Thus, Sister Teresa became known as Mother Teresa or the Mother of Charity. With her openness, cordiality and respect for others, she made every person feel accepted. With her kindness, she brought out the best in people. She succeeded in reaching out to all people with her good will. For every Christian who helped her in India, there were a dozen of members of other religions who were helping her as well.

With that, the personal calling of the young nun from Skopje, Macedonia, was transformed into a great social movement that shifted the paradigm on human value throughout the world.

Mother Teresa was recognized and praised. But, in spite of all the highest world recognitions, she remained incredibly humble. This is why, when in 1979 she received the Nobel Peace Prize, she used it to build a shelter for the homeless.

Fellow citizens,

Today, when we celebrate Saint Teresa, we also remind ourselves of her legacy and her oath.

Mother Teresa served those who suffer. She instilled hope in those who were hopeless and gave strength to the powerless. She found a home to thousands of orphans and made thousands of families happy. With the Order of Charity, Mother Teresa saved millions of lives and restored the awareness for the value of human life and the inalienable human dignity. And she constantly reminded us that the world is not only hungry for bread, but more so for love, recognition and respect.

With all of that, Mother Teresa built herself a living monument, a more durable and more magnificent than all the monuments we could offer.

But, what would Mother Teresa say about us today? What would she say about her fellow citizens seeing them divided?

Instead of exhausting ourselves in political battles proving her origin and taking over her name, Mother Teresa would probably point to her personal example and invited us to follow it. To do small good deeds with great love. We need not go to the end of the world in order to do it, because, as she used to say, respect and love begin in our home, our neighborhood, or town, in our country - Macedonia.

Seeing us politically divided, she would ask us not to quarrel and divide, but to forgive each other, reconcile and respect each other. Her canonization was an opportunity for a step in that direction. Leaders of the two biggest political parties from the Macedonian bloc accepted my invitation and attended the canonization in the Vatican. Unfortunately, the leaders of the two biggest political parties from the Albanian bloc failed to rise above the daily political tensions and misunderstandings.

Seeing how easily we transform the cross and the crescent, the church and the mosque, into borders and fortresses demarcating some kind of imaginary territories, she would remind us that faith is love in action. That we must not only call ourselves believers by name, but that we need to help until it hurts. Because true love hurts.

She would encourage us to safeguard the most valuable thing we have – the most valuable things she took with herself to India – and that is our Macedonian model of coexistence, respect and acceptance of diversity. Because it is only in that way that we will learn how to live together with all of our deepest religious, ethnic and ideological differences.

These are the values that are more than necessary today in Macedonia. This is the legacy left to us by Mother Teresa, the Saint from Skopje, the Saint of the World. I believe that the only true way to show our respect towards her is to observe her oath.

Thank you.