The Archbishop of Calcutta, Thomas D'Souza, lights a candle with Sr. Christie at Mother Teresa's tomb after morning Mass today Mother Teresa died 27 years ago today, but as Fr. Thomas and I walked up to Motherhouse in Calcutta this morning for her feast day, we noticed that the hand-painted sign by the front door read "Mother Teresa is ... IN." That's the thing about saints--they never die. They are forevermore "in" after they go to heaven, and much "in" than before. St. Therese of Lisieux (after whom Mother Teresa was named) promised that she would spend her heaven doing good on earth, and that is just what she's been doing (as I can personally testify several times over).
So we entered Motherhouse this morning for the 6am Mass. The chapel was as full as it had been 27 years before when I had first offered morning Mass at Motherhouse. Mother Teresa was no longer sitting up against the back wall, but the same angelic joy from 130 young sisters filled the chapel. She had written a letter to the Archbishop of Calcutta in October 1947 asking to establish the new religious order. He was afraid it would fail, but she wrote that "if the work be all human, it will die with me; if it be all His it will Iive for ages to come."
I was delighted to find that the good work Mother Teresa had begun in 1950 has not died with her. I think the only reasonable explanation for its vitality is in her own vitality. Mother Teresa lives with God in heaven! More than when she lived on earth, she is loving Jesus by bringing the souls to His Sacred Heart. Since she was five years old, she explained, she had a burning love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and a saint's ardor grows rather than diminishes over time. A saint's love never cools because the infinite love of God fuels it increasingly into eternity.
The day before I left San Francisco for Calcutta, our Sunday apostolate to the poor brought a pregnant woman to Mother Teresa's sisters. Sr. Philomena took her in immediately with a big smile! Samantha gave birth the next day, and the baby shows no signs of harm from Samantha's crack addiction. Samantha would have given birth in the street had Mother Teresa not obeyed Jesus' "call within a call" on September 10, 1946. Samantha now has a home, with loving sisters, because the love of God continues to burn through Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 27 years after she left time for eternity.
So we entered Motherhouse this morning for the 6am Mass. The chapel was as full as it had been 27 years before when I had first offered morning Mass at Motherhouse. Mother Teresa was no longer sitting up against the back wall, but the same angelic joy from 130 young sisters filled the chapel. She had written a letter to the Archbishop of Calcutta in October 1947 asking to establish the new religious order. He was afraid it would fail, but she wrote that "if the work be all human, it will die with me; if it be all His it will Iive for ages to come."
I was delighted to find that the good work Mother Teresa had begun in 1950 has not died with her. I think the only reasonable explanation for its vitality is in her own vitality. Mother Teresa lives with God in heaven! More than when she lived on earth, she is loving Jesus by bringing the souls to His Sacred Heart. Since she was five years old, she explained, she had a burning love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and a saint's ardor grows rather than diminishes over time. A saint's love never cools because the infinite love of God fuels it increasingly into eternity.
The day before I left San Francisco for Calcutta, our Sunday apostolate to the poor brought a pregnant woman to Mother Teresa's sisters. Sr. Philomena took her in immediately with a big smile! Samantha gave birth the next day, and the baby shows no signs of harm from Samantha's crack addiction. Samantha would have given birth in the street had Mother Teresa not obeyed Jesus' "call within a call" on September 10, 1946. Samantha now has a home, with loving sisters, because the love of God continues to burn through Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 27 years after she left time for eternity.
Postulants and novices sing before the large image of Mother Teresa that the Vatican gave to Motherhouse following her canonization.
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