What was the secret of this powerful little woman? It was her purity, the purity of heart and of purpose that enabled her to focus every ounce of her energy on her simple and unswerving purpose in life: to do, to make, to be something beautiful for God.
Today is the anniversary of her death. At the age of eighteen, moved by a desire to become a missionary, Gonxha Agnes left her home in 1928 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. There she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In December, she departed for India, arriving in Calcutta in January 1929. After making her First Profession of Vows in May 1931, Sister Teresa was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta and taught at Saint Mary’s School for girls. Sister Teresa made her Final Profession of Vows in 1937, becoming, Mother Teresa, the “spouse of Jesus” for “all eternity.”
A person of profound prayer and deep love for her religious sisters and her students, Mother Teresa’s twenty years in Loreto were filled with profound happiness. Noted for her charity, unselfishness and courage, her capacity for hard work and a natural talent for organization, she lived out her consecration to Jesus, in the midst of her companions, with fidelity and joy.
In September 1946 during the train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received her “inspiration,” her “call within a call.” On that day, in a way she would never explain, Jesus’ thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart and the desire to satiate His thirst became the driving force of her life. Over the course of the next weeks and months, by means of interior locutions and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of His heart for “victims of love” who would “radiate His love on souls.”
“Come be My light,” He begged her. “I cannot go alone.” He revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love. He asked Mother Teresa to establish a religious community, Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor. Nearly two years of testing and discernment passed before Mother Teresa received permission to begin. In August 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white, blue-bordered sari and passed through the gates of her beloved Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor.
She renounced everything for Jesus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She looked pro-choice politicians in the eye and told them that abortion was murder. She passed out prayer holy cards at the United Nations and got ambassadors praying in the UN general assembly room. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta exemplifies the uncompromising loyalty to Jesus.
The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Other helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, the use of buildings. In 1952 the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the Order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging and street people. Mother and her sisters would spend one hour every day praying in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. This was their daily family Holy Hour through which their community blossomed.
For the next four decades Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home.
Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was beatified October 19, 2003. Blessed Mother Teresa's beatification, just over six years after her death, was part of an expedited process put into effect by Saint Pope John Paul II. Like so many others around the world, he found her love for the Eucharist, for prayer and for the poor a model for all to emulate.
Speaking in a strained, weary voice at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II declared her blessed, prompting waves of applause before the 300,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. In his homily, read by an aide for the aging pope, the Holy Father called Mother Teresa “one of the most relevant personalities of our age” and “an icon of the Good Samaritan.” Her life, he said, was “a bold proclamation of the Gospel.”
My pastor knew Mother Teresa and he was blessed to meet with her privately. Her words to him,
"Be only all for Jesus through Mary."
When she died, Mother Teresa owned nothing but her rosary beads and her distinctive white-and-blue sari. She did so much to serve so many others and had such a great influence on the world. She took a vow of poverty and became wealthy in the ways that really matter. She abandoned the world. Her life is a confirmation of the Gospel promise, The meek inherit the earth.
Blessed Mother Teresa, pray for us and all those for whom we pray through this ministry.
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