By Leon Bent –
Mother Teresa, also called “Angel of Mercy”, was the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Cathong lic Congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor. Considered one of the 20th Century’s greatest humanitarians, she was canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, in 2016.
In February 1965, Pope Paul VI bestowed the Decree of Praise upon the Missionaries of Charity, which prompted Mother Teresa to begin expanding internationally. By the time of her death in 1997, the Missionaries of Charity numbered more than 4,000 — in addition to thousands of lay volunteers — with 610 foundations in 123 countries around the world.
On September 5, Mother Teresa’s earthly life came to an end. She was given the honour of a state funeral by the Government of India and her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. Her tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage and prayer for people of all faiths, rich and poor alike.
Mother Teresa was canonized as a saint (“the saint of the gutters”), on September 4, 2016, a day before the 19th anniversary of her death. Pope Francis led the Canonization Mass which was held in St. Peter’s Square, in Vatican City.
Mother Teresa’s Reflection on Adoration of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament
Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on earth. It will make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven. A Holy Hour of adoration helps bring everlasting peace to your soul and in your family. It brings us a greater love for Jesus, for each other, and for the poor. Every holy hour deepens our union with Him and bears much fruit. Every Holy Hour we make so pleases the Heart of Jesus that it will be recorded in Heaven and retold for all eternity. It opens up the floodgates of God’s merciful Love upon the world.
Nowhere on earth are we more welcomed or loved than by Jesus in the Eucharist. When you look at the crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you, now! This is why we need Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in every Parish throughout the World.
Mother Teresa Calls for Greater Holiness
“I want you all in a very special prayer to pray for our people throughout the world who suffer so much, not only hungry for bread but tremendously hungry for love, for self-esteem, for being something, somebody. I never forget. I picked up a man from the street eaten up with worms. And when I brought him to our home, the only thing he said was ‘I live like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel ̶ with love and care.’ It took us nearly three hours to take from his body all the worms and when all that was finished, he just looked at the sisters and said, ‘I am going home to God.’ And there was such a beautiful smile on his face because he received love and care, and he went away to God with a great joyful heart, because he was loved to the end. So I think these are small things, and that God gives us the opportunity to do it with him, and for him, and to him.
“Let us thank God for every little opportunity that we get. And where does this love begin? In our own family! How does it begin? By praying together! The family that prays together stays together. And if you stay together, you love one another as God loves each one in that family. So let us petition that graceful God to bring prayer, unity and joy into our own family, and only then will we be able to give that joy, and that peace, wherever and to whomever, it may be. I often say, ‘Keep the joy of loving Jesus in your heart and share this joy with all you meet, especially with your own family first. For love begins at home.
Mother Teresa as Mystic and Apostle of the Ordinary
Dominican Fr. Paul Murray, meanwhile, argued that, on the basis of Mother Teresa’s private writings, published only after her death, she now ranks not only as a friend of the poorest of the poor, but as one of the great mystics of the Catholic tradition, with an interior life “comparable in depth and intensity to St. John of the Cross.”
We now know that Mother Teresa’s spiritual journey, Murray said, “was not one long unbroken experience of bliss, with roses of consolation strewn along the way.” Instead, she lived with a sense of “bewildering rejection and even complete abandonment,” as “her prayers were not heard and God remained silent.” St. John of the Cross also speaks of “the dark night of the soul”.
Murray said that Mother Teresa talked about “five silences”: Silence of the eyes; Silence of the ears; Silence of the mouth; Silence of the mind; Silence of the heart. “Those five silences”, Murray said, “are not limited to charity workers, those living with the poorest of the poor.” Instead, it’s a mystical path open to all!
And, this final flourish! Summing up her life in characteristically self-effacing fashion, Mother Teresa said, “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian! By faith, I am a Catholic nun! As to my calling, I belong to the world! As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus!”
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.