It’s Boxing Day in Australia, and that means television screens across the country will be switched to cricket. As any good Aussie knows, summer holidays only really start when the Melbourne test match is on the telly, and you’re tucking into a plate of Christmas leftovers.
The Indian fans are a special lot—beloved by Australians for their passion and noisiness as they flood cricket stands wherever they are around the world.
Of course, it’s no surprise that the same country that gave us Gandhi’s passion for nonviolence, Bollywood’s passion for romance, and Mother Teresa’s passion for service has also given us the world’s most passionate cricket fans. If there’s one thing Indians seem to know, it’s how to express their love.
Some readers may consider it a little sacrilegious or disrespectful to talk about Gandhi, Bollywood, Mother Teresa and cricket all in one sentence – and not without good reason. The revolutionary work of Gandhi and the sacrificial service of the vulnerable Mother Teresa displayed are surely much more significant than the pleasures found in film or sport – entertaining as the latter may be.
Yet, there’s also something powerful about recognising that our love can manifest with fervency and frivolity. As our Indian friends show us, humans are created to love passionately – both at the cricket and when caring for someone ravaged by poverty or disease.
Mother Teresa knew this well.
“When you know how much God is in love with you, then you can only live your life radiating that love,” she said.
“May you use those gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you… May you be content knowing you are a child of God… Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise, and love.”
The Catholic nun is revered across the world for having spent her life serving people affected by leprosy, establishing various care and treatment facilities, and fiercely advocating for sufferers through mainstream channels– all during a time when leprosy was so stigmatised that patients were often abandoned by their families.
Mother Teresa’s influence on Australian cricketer Steve Waugh is well known. In 1998, Waugh visited Udayan, a rehabilitation clinic for children with leprosy or whose parents suffer from the disease.
“It was something I saw which I couldn’t just dismiss and pretend I didn’t see,” Waugh said.
“I just had my first daughter, and I found out the girls from a young age in leper colonies would basically have to sell themselves on the street to make money for their parents. It was then that he decided to raise funds for a girls’ wing of the clinic.”
With 107,851 new cases of leprosy diagnosed in India in 2023 – two-thirds of the world’s new cases – there’s still a great need for the kind of love Mother Teresa showed people affected by leprosy and passed on to Steve Waugh.
As I watch Indian cricket fans support their team today, I wonder who the next cricket player will be to follow in his footsteps.
Who, among these Indian and Australian cricketers, might use the influence they have gained through their love of the game to love people affected by leprosy?
Could one of these men take decisive action to end leprosy?
Are we watching the next Steve Waugh —or perhaps even the next Mother Teresa— on our Boxing Day broadcast today?
