In late 1994, I wrote to Mother Teresa saying that I was composing a choral work in celebration of her, her sisterhood, and her forty-five years of service on behalf of the "poorest of the poor".
Soon I received a letter in response from Mother Teresa, herself, in which she expressed her gratitude for my gesture.
Enclosed in her letter to me was a small card on which was printed this simple prayer:
The fruit of Silence is Prayer.
The fruit of Prayer is Faith.
The fruit of Faith is Love.
The fruit of Love is Service.
The fruit of Service is Peace.
Not having found any text for my new work or even any title, I immediately realized that those few lines would fit the music almost perfectly.
So, I set her words to my notes, finished the work, titled it THE FRUITS OF SILENCE, and through good fortune had it performed in May of 1997 at the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco.
I sent a recording of the performance to her. She wrote back thanking me for it and then, early that September, she was gone.
Music by Sean Damon, Words by Mother Teresa
