MYSTIC MOMENT: ST. MOTHER TERESA OF KOLKATA
August 26. 1910 – September 5, 1997
Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81507551772
Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
To connect by phone dial: +1 646 558 8656
OPENING PRAYER
Holy One, we give thanks for the life of St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata, a saint for our times. She listened to the call from our beloved Jesus to follow a life of loving and serving the poorest of the poor and disenfranchised. Show us how in our daily life we too can live the unity she demonstrated between love of God and love of neighbor. Source of Love, St. Mother Teresa clearly spoke of where her energy and focus came from, receiving the Eucharistic Christ. Assist us to see that we share this intense Love, Jesus in disguise, and to give with energy and joy to those in need who cross our path every day. Amen
VIDEO A Life of St. Teresa of Kolkata
READING 1
"All mystics speak the same language, for they come from the same country." This familiar refrain rings true again as we seek inspiration from the life of a contemporary, St. Teresa of Kolkata. We are not surprised she described hearing the call to serve at age 12, as her mother taught her the lesson that Loving our Beloved requires our love to spring from both prayer and action, parallel with the other mystic saints we have studied. Mysticism is given heart, arms, legs, and voice through working with the poor.
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, capitol city of North Macedonia, to parents of Albanian descent.
Agnes’ father died when she was 8; her mother raised her with heavy emphasis on compassionate service to the poor. She was often asked to sing solos in the Sacred Heart Jesuit parish choir. Agnes went annually with her family and church members to the shrine of the Black Madonna in Letnica, a tiny village in Kosovo, the former Yugoslavia. It was on one of these pilgrimages when she was 12 years old that she first heard the call of her Beloved.
Photo by Vittoriano Rastelli/Corbis via Getty Images
Feeling called to be a missionary, young 18-year-old Agnes travelled the 2000 miles to Ireland in 1928 to enter the Irish Catholic Missionary Sisters of Loretto, at their Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After studying English in Dublin, she sailed to India, where at their Motherhouse in Darjeeling, she learned Hindi and Bengali. In May 1931, Agnes received her new name in religious life, Mary Teresa, after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Patron of Missionaries. In 1937, when she took her final vows, she became known as Mother Teresa, as was the custom in the Loretto Community. For 15 years she taught girls from homes of poverty in the Loretto Sisters’ St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta, becoming Principal. (In 2001, the Bengali government restored the city’s original name of Kolkata, after two centuries of British Empire rule) She 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.”
PRAYER 2
Mother Teresa of Kolkata
https://www.youtube.com/embed/67WPnYby7Sg
by Brother Vincent of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa
READING 2
In 1943 a devastating famine in the Indian Province of Bengal (Northeast India) killed hundreds of thousands of people. From “My Catholic Life” we read of Mother Teresa’s mystical experience:
“On September 10, 1946, when Mother Teresa was thirty-six, she was traveling by train roughly 400 miles North from Calcutta to the Motherhouse in Darjeeling for an annual retreat and time of rest. It was during this trip that something mystical occurred. Although she kept the details of that experience private, she later recounted:
‘I heard the call to give up all and to follow Him into the slums—to serve Him in the poorest of the poor…I knew it was His will and that I had to follow Him. There was no doubt that it was going to be His work.’
How she heard this call remains a mystery, but it was so compelling and convincing that she spent the subsequent two years discerning this call, consulting her spiritual director, and obtaining permission from her religious superiors to leave the Sisters of Loretto. September 10th would henceforth be celebrated as “Inspiration Day,” the day on which she believed God founded what would become the Missionaries of Charity. Over the next year and a half, Mother Teresa repeatedly heard the “Voice” speak to her, guiding her and calling her to trust, surrender, and love. “Come, come, carry Me into the holes of the poor. Come, Be My Light.”
PRAYER 3
O Saint Teresa of Calcutta,
Jesus called you to bring the light of His love
to those who live in darkness.
By tender, loving care for the poorest and neediest,
you became the sign of God’s presence, His love
and compassion in the midst of suffering and pain.
Help us to follow your example and recognize
the face of Jesus in our suffering brothers and sisters
and to serve Him with humility and joy.
Teach us to be carriers of God’s love and mercy
and bear witness that God still loves the world
through each one of us. Amen. Missionary Society of St. Columban
READING 3
Keep in mind, India is 1/3 the geographical size of the United States, and has 3 X the population of the U.S. In a small area, there are thousands of people, and the lack of food, education, and facilities for health and health education, although rapidly improving, are still overwhelming. Mother Teresa’s Sisters were there to help the poorest, suffering, dying people of Kolkata, while also living among them, sharing their experiences and showing compassion, empathy, and Christlike kindness. The overcrowded, underfunded, poorly staffed hospitals in Kolkata would send the terminally ill with no family and those they could not help back out to the streets to die. The first new sisters in her community were former teachers at St. Mary’s, or students they had taught. They lived right where they worked, wherever they could find to house the abandoned and dying.
Mother Teresa’s Order, the Sisters of Charity, expanded over the years to serve communities outside Kolkata, and in 1965, received permission from Pope Paul VI to expand internationally. They opened the first U.S. hospice in 1971 in New York City, and would eventually reach around 90 countries. “As of 2023, it consisted of 5,750 members of religious sisters, serving in 139 countries in 760 homes, with 244 of these homes in India. The sisters run orphanages, homes for those dying of AIDS, charity centers worldwide, and care for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine in Asia, Africa, Latin America, North America, Europe and Australia. They have 19 homes in Kolkata (Calcutta) alone which include homes for women, orphaned children and homes for the dying; a school for street children, and a leper colony.”
Because Mother Teresa was the leader and principal educator of hundreds of new sisters seeking to follow her way, she had the opportunity to share and impress on them thoughtful, meditative statements, instructional sayings, and prayers that are available to inspire us today. Just as other mystics endured bitter criticism of their lives and beliefs, Mother Teresa has also. She was born into and lived her life according to older traditional Catholic ideas and values, and kept her faith. Mother Teresa has had detractors who criticized her places of treatment as not up to hospital standards, not using sufficient or correct pain medications, using award monies for personal gain, and other painful, hurtful accusations and attacks. However, the various facilities she opened were a blessing to Kolkata and all over India to “feed the hungry, clothe the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." These were the fruits of her labor, mirroring the call of her Beloved to Come, Be My Light.”
In order to respond better to both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity Brothers in 1963; in 1976 the contemplative branch of the Sisters; in 1979 the Contemplative Brothers, and in 1984 the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. Yet her inspiration was not limited to those with religious vocations. She formed the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with whom she shared her spirit of prayer, simplicity, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble works of love. This spirit later inspired the Lay Missionaries of Charity.
Letters to her Spiritual Director, published after her death, share the “Dark Night of the Soul” Mother Teresa suffered for the last 50 years of her life. We wonder how she could sustain her intense work life, while feeling abandoned by her Beloved Jesus? She believed that she was sharing in His passion of feeling abandoned. In spite of this suffering, Mother Teresa “integrated the feeling of absence into her daily religious life and remained committed to her faith and her work for Christ.” Brittanica
MEDITATION MESSAGES OF ST. MOTHER TERESA OF KOLKATA
Pause for a minute after each message and think of how to apply it in your life.
- 1. “Calcutta is everywhere. It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger, or write a check for someone else for food than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.” Mother Teresa
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
2.
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
3. I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I'm praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things. Mother Teresa
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
4.
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
5.
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
6. At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas or awards we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in. Mother Teresa
PAUSE FOR REFLECTION
SONG Mother Teresa’s Song by Laura Tompkins and Katy Kinard
https://www.youtube.com/embed/CQ9aV94AVaY
CLOSING THOUGHTS
MOTHER TERESA’S “ANYWAY” POEM
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
FOREGIVE THEM ANYWAY.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
BE KIND ANYWAY.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
SUCCEED ANYWAY.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
BE HONEST AND FRANK ANYWAY.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
BUILD ANYWAY.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
BE HAPPY ANYWAY.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
DO GOOD ANYWAY.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
GIVE THE WORLD THE BEST YOU’VE GOT ANYWAY.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
IT WAS NEVER BETWEEN YOU AND THEM ANYWAY.
Inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Kolkata
― Mother Teresa
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
for Mother Teresa of Kolkata
Baby Professor. (2017). Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Her Life of Charity - Kids Biography Books Ages 9-12 | Children’s Biography Books. Speedy Publishing LLC.
De, T., & Kolodiejchuk, B. (2012). Where there is love, there is God : a path to closer union with God and greater love for others. Image.
Donohue, W. A. (2016). Unmasking Mother Teresa’s critics. Sophia Institute Press.
Louise Chipley Slavicek. (2013). Mother Teresa. Infobase Learning.
Maasburg, L. (2015). Mother Teresa of Calcutta A Personal Portrait: 50 Inspiring Stories Never Before Told. Ignatius Pr.
Peyvan, M. (2009). Religion in India. SAIS Review of International Affairs, 29(2), 159–167. https://doi.org/10.1353/sais.0.0054
Spink, K. (2011). Mother Teresa (Revised Edition).
Teresa. (2010). In the Heart of the World. ReadHowYouWant.com.
Teresa, M. S., & Kelly, M. (2019). Do something beautiful for God : the essential teachings of Mother Teresa : 365 daily reflections. Blue Sparrow.
Teresa, M. S., & Kelly-Gangi, C. (2014). Mother Teresa : quotable wisdom. Fall River Press.
Teresa, M. S., & Kolodiejchuk, B. (2007). Mother Teresa : come be my light : the private writings of he “Saint of Calcutta.”
VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-QnTxcqxv4 Help and serve the poor and needy
PRAYER SONG
https://youtu.be/44ldfYNPl_k Come Be My Light St. Teresa of Kolkata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heD88oF-hmQ
https://www.youtube.com/embed/o5OnF3sg0cY
The Chosen Scene: Jesus Gives the Beatitudes
https://youtu.be/o5OnF3sg0cY?si=9XanqUvoCfPysWch
“If someone wants to find me, those are the groups they should look for.
https://youtu.be/JWzuR4X7YKs Daily Prayer of St. Teresa of Kolkata in Gregorian Chant
https://youtu.be/RiAS4FXNMQo Night time prayer of st Teresa of Kolkata
https://youtu.be/1YWPXmVQZE8 10 most inspiring statements of Mother Teresa
https://youtu.be/Gt2wDI_IAfA Holy Mass and Canonization of St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLIeEFKrc_w Mother Teresa Quotes About Kindness and Charity
https://www.mcfathers.org/biography Biography of Mother Teresa, website of the brothers and fathers of charity
“God, please forgive me, when I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul. I am told God loves me, and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the call of the Sacred heart?” — Mother Teresa
Eric Pace, “Mother Teresa, Hope of the Despairing, Dies at 87.” The New York Times, September 6, 1997.
Kathryn Spink. Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography, (Harper Collins, 1997).
Elisabetta Povoledo, “Mother Teresa Is Made a Saint by Pope Francis.” The New York Times, September 3, 2016.
https://slife.org/ website of prayers
https://slife.org/spirituality-page/fasting/ meaning of fasting
https://slife.org/mother-teresa-quotes/ many quotes of Mother Teresa
https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20031019_madre-teresa_en.html
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.