Sept 5th - Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta

 

Today is the First Saturday of the month and so you can offer your Holy Communion at Mass today in reparation for sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Today is also the feast of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Agnes Bojaxhiu was born on Aug. 26^th in 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia of Albanian heritage. Her father, died when she was eight years old, leaving her with her mother, a devoutly religious woman. At the age of 18, she left home in 1928, for the Loreto Convent in Dublin, Ireland, where she was admitted as a postulant, and received the name of Teresa, after St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Agnes was sent to India and arrived in Calcutta in 1929. Upon her arrival, she joined the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling. She made her final profession as a sister of Loreto on May 24^th, 1937. While living in Calcutta during the 1930s and '40s, she taught in St. Mary's Bengali Medium School.

On Sept. 11^th of 1946, on a train journey from Calcutta, Mother Teresa received what she termed the "call within a call," which was to give rise to the Missionaries of Charity Sisters, Brothers, Fathers, and Co-Workers. The content of the inspiration is revealed in the aim and mission she would give to her new institute: "to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the cross for love and souls" by "laboring at the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor." The sisters would later receive permission to take a fourth vow of serving the poorest of the poor.

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 25 gives us 6 out of 7 of the Corporal Works of Mercy, which we will be judged at the moment of our death. Jesus said, “When I was hungry, you gave me food, when I was thirsty, you gave me drink. When I was naked you clothed me. When I was ill or in prison you visited me.” The 7^th Work of Mercy to bury the dead is in the book of Tobit.

Mother Teresa discovered God’s call to quench the thirst of Jesus on the Cross, by serving the poorest of the poor. She understood the words of Jesus, “What you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me.” Her mission began when she took the first dying man off the street. She wanted him to know he is loved. She gave the homeless man a place to die, water to drink, food to eat, clothed him, cared for him in his illness and buried him when he died. Throughout her life, she opened different kinds of houses: houses for the handicapped, houses for the homeless, houses for the dying, houses for AIDS Victims, houses for abandoned children, schools for children and medical clinics.

On October 7th, 1950, the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established. When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, there were 158 foundations. From the late 1980s through the 1990s, despite increasing health problems, Mother Teresa traveled across the world for the profession of novices, opening new houses, and service to the poor and disaster stricken. New communities were founded in South Africa, Albania, Cuba, and Iraq. By 1997, the sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and had almost 600 foundations in 123 countries.

After traveling to Rome, New York, and Washington, in a weak state of health, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta in July of 1997. At 9:30 PM, Sept. 5^th, Mother Teresa died at the motherhouse. Her dear friend, Pope Saint John Paul II would later beatify her, and Pope Francis would canonize here.

During the Jubilee Year, 2000, when I was a seminarian, I was blessed to go on mission trip to Calcutta and worked in several of the houses, including the house for dying, a house for the handicapped and a house for abandoned children.

The experience was truly life changing to see the poorest of the poor and how the sisters worked in such harsh conditions, with a smile on their face as they took care of many of the poor.

Inside the mother house in the chapel is the above ground tomb of Mother Teresa. The sisters said it was above the ground because at times the chapel floods during the rainy season and they didn’t want mother’s remains to be affected. I was able to pray at her tomb every day.

When I was walking through their convent, I noticed beds with large nets hanging over them and the beds and long legs so they would not touch the floor. I asked them about it and they said, "We raise the beds off the floor, so we don’t get bitten by rats at night when we are sleeping and the nets protect us from getting bit by mosquitoes."

One of the most famous quotes from Mother Teresa came at the National Prayer Breakfast, where President Bill Clinton and first lady, Hilary and many dignitaries were present.

To all present she said, “I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”