Mother Teresa Makes an Official Sick Call

NEW YORK —  Mother Teresa, the Nobel Prize-winning humanitarian, surprised Mayor Edward I. Koch by stopping at Gracie Mansion for a “sick call,” the mayor said Friday.

“I heard you were sick and I came to comfort you,” the nun said when she arrived Thursday night, according to Koch. The mayor, who had a minor stroke Aug. 6, responded: “I’m well. So, come on in.

“She said she prayed for me. And I said I believe in the power of prayer and I was very grateful to the people of the city of New York that so many had prayed for me,” Koch told reporters at City Hall.

The mayor said he asked Mitchel London, his chef, to bring lemonade and cookies for Mother Teresa and two nuns who were with her, but they declined to partake.

Mother Teresa explained that as a rule they do not eat when they go to someone’s home, because it frequently is a poor person and the food would be expensive to them. They only eat in their own homes, she said.

Koch protested, saying: “These cookies are so good.”

“Well, wrap them up because when they’re in my house, I could eat them,” she said, according to Koch.