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5th Sep 

Feast of St. Mother Teresa of Kolkatha

READ: (1 Cor 5: 1-8; Lk 6:6-11)

REFLECT: The Call, commitment and Love...

Dear Friends, today we celebrate the feast of St. Mother Teresa of Kolkatha, a religious and pious saint who willed a miracle in the lives of the poor of the poorest by acts of love, kindness and charity in and through Jesus Christ. The impact and influence of St. Mother Teresa was such that she is known today in every nook and corner of the world. Mother Teresa, known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta, was an Albanian-Indian Roman Catholic nun who joined the religious congregation of Sisters of Loreto at the age of 18, completed novitiate, received first religious vows in on 24 May 1931 and solemn vows on 14 May 1937 and served the congregation as a teacher till 1946. On 10th September 1946, Teresa experienced the call of God “the call within the call.” She began to adhere to the call within the call by working with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple, white cotton sari with a blue border.

The call of Mother Teresa, her commitment and love for Christ and poor bore fruit in 1950 as she received an official permission from Vatican for the diocesan congregation by the name Missionaries of Charity. So Mother Teresa Founded the Congregation of Missionaries of charity in 1950 and was an active member of the same till 1997. As her health was declining, she stepped down from the office as a superior general of Missionaries of Charity and handed over to Sr. Nirmala to continue the noble and charitable work.

The Holy Saint Mother Teresa breathed her last on 5th September 1997 at the age of 87. She was beatified on 19th October 2003 Pope John Paul II and canonized on 4th September 2016 by Pope Francis. Today the Congregation of Missionaries of Charity has extended far and has 4,500 nuns actively working in more than 610 missions across 133 countries. The congregation serves the homes for people who are dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. Mother Teresa received several honors, the Padma Shri in 1962 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1969, Bharat Ratna (India's highest civilian award) in 1980. Till today St. Mother Teresa is acclaimed and appreciated by many for simple life style and great dynamism for her charitable work. So on this feast day of a saint so simple yet noble, I would like to share with you three points of reflection based on the liturgy of the word and the life of St. Mother Teresa.

1. The call of Mother Teresa:

We all of us received our call as human persons, the basic call. But God in his goodness grants the grace to be divine persons and noble persons which I consider it a special call or privileged call. But this calling is special and a privilege because of God’s grace and goodness and not ours. We see in the life of Mother Teresa such a calling. A person who has already entered another religious congregation of the Loreto Sisters receives a call. That’s perhaps may be St. Mother Teresa would call her call as “the call within the call.” On 10 September 1946, Mother Teresa experienced “a second calling” or “a call within a call.” It was a call to leave her life as a teacher and serve the poorest of the poor in the slums of Calcutta. This noble call of Mother Teresa took place while she travelled by train to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling from Calcutta for her annual retreat.

Yes God calls people from different walk of life at different point of time. Each one of us as Christians have our own calling to follow Christ, if we could follow as our calling is as a human person, a teacher, a priest, a religious or as people in different professions to help each one to feel the thirst for God, our lives won’t be in vain.  As the first reading from letter to Corinthian very clearly points out that we are called to cleanse ourselves from the old leaven of malice and evil to the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.  Yes, St. Mother Teresa was a little leaven of God who permeated and transformed the life of many. Today MC Sisters commemorate 10th September as “Inspiration Day,” as mother Teresa received the inspiration of God. So let us be inspired by her and inspire the life of many by God’s grace.

2. The Commitment of Mother Teresa:

The commitment of a person is seen in the life-style one leads or lives. Looking at Mother Teresa’s life style and her commitment to serve the poor in and through the grace of God is really inspiring and an eye-opener for all of us to commit ourselves in living our lives as God’s children and as his chosen one’s.  In the life of Mother Teresa, we come to know she was always for the poor and was at their service. Times did not matter, days did not matter, place did not matter but all that matter was to serve the people always and everywhere. In Today’s Gospel something similar we find. The scribes and Pharisees were waiting to see if Jesus would heal the man with a withered hand to find fault or to harass Jesus in public. But Jesus without any hesitation heals the man reminding them that what is important is to save life and not to destroy. The life saving activity precedes laws and legislation. I am sure similar might have been the attitude of Mother Teresa to save people from their sickness and ill health and take the souls closer to Christ.

Appreciating the deeds and achievements of Mother Teresa Pope John Paul II said, “Mother Teresa found the strength and perseverance to place herself completely at the service of others in prayer and in the silent contemplation of Jesus Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart.” Moreover, commending on the great work of Mother Teresa, the Indian President Pratibha Patil said, “Clad in a white sari with a blue border, she and the sisters of Missionaries of Charity became a symbol of hope to many – the aged, the destitute, the unemployed, the diseased, the terminally ill, and those abandoned by their families.” Yes, the commitment of Mother Teresa is a great lesson and inspiration for all of us to be dedicated and committed to those in need despite our own difficulties. So like Mother Teresa, let us be icons of compassion and spirituality to people who at times don’t feel the presence of God in life.

3.     The Love for God and His People:

We all know the mission of St. Mother Teresa and the congregation that she founded. The primary task was to love and care for those persons whom nobody was prepared to look after. I am certain you all would agree with me that Mother Teresa’s Mission would have been a failure, if she had not given sufficient time for God. There was a little news that appeared in some of the newspapers about Mother Teresa’s rejection of donations. A wealthy businessman offered Mother Teresa considerable amount for the security of her sisters. Mother Teresa gently said to the wealthy man, “our security is in the Lord; we don’t need money for that. If your gift is for serving the poor and the needy, I accept it; if it for sisters, no.” 

This short incident in the life of Mother Teresa speaks of her love for God and his people. St. Mother Teresa as a mother of many children in the world and as a child of God never compromised or replaced herself to love God and his own people entrusted to her care. She always considered her security in the Lord and made others as well realize as an instrument of God that their security is as well in the Lord. Today in a world where we like to love our own selves, love our own people, love to grab an opportunity at times to amass wealth, power and money, St. Mother Teresa stands as an example to follow Christ worthily and sincerely.

The call and commitment of St. Mother Teresa is seen in her total self-offering to God. If God were not to be part of her life, she would not have been part of many healing miracles and stories in the world. Her love for God and priority remained the same although she had her doubts and difficulties in life. Very aptly points out St. Mother Teresa to her own sisters that love is proved b deeds; the more they cost us, the greater the proof of our love. Mother Teresa was so much accustomed to speak about imitating Christ and self-sacrificing love and so in a large audience she said, “That is what we are: missionaries of Charity. That is our calling and our function in the world. Each one of us must be able to say: I will be love.” Yes, such was the love that Mother Teresa had for God and for his people. So let our love for God be genuine and sincere, God will definitely make us as his instruments spread His love, peace, and joy to all in the world.

RESPOND:

Do we realize the Call of God in my daily life? It may be the voice of the rich and poor for help and support, love and care?

Do we commit ourselves to the call of us Christians we have received as human persons, as religious and priest, and each one of us in our own professions?

Do we give priority and preference to God or things of the world?

So Let us realize the call of God, commit ourselves to the call in our own little acts of love and care and make God fine point and final point of life. Amen.

Charity and devotion are not more different from each other than the flame from the fire, all the more so because charity is a spiritual fire which when it burns with intense flames is called devotion. In fact, devotion adds to the fire of charity only the flame which makes charity prompt, active, diligent not only to keep God’s commandments but also to put into practice his counsels and inspirations. (St. Francis De Sales, IDL, Part I, Chapter 1, p. 37)

God Bless us All! Live Jesus

Happy Feast of St. Mother Teresa 

and Happy Teachers’ day to all teachers to be loving and compassionate to all.

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

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