The last time I preached in this chapel was April of 1997, and Mother Teresa was sitting in her wheelchair right beside where Sr. Prema is sitting now. The sound system kept cutting out, with the street noise as outrageous as it is today. After Mass I offered Mother a new sound system for the chapel. She replied “but, father, we already have a sound system.” Yes, Mother, I pointed out, but it hardly works. “I think it’s fine for simple sisters like us.” She said, and moved on to another topic. I am happy to see someone eventually installed a functional sound system, but be careful not to overdo your simplicity!
72 years ago today Jesus spoke to Mother in what we now call “Inspiration Day.” On a train climbing the grade up to Darjeeling, Jesus’ thirst for love and souls took hold of her heart. From that day, I think, she began to see Jesus more clearly in every person. And what did Mother see in priests, whom she loved so much? She saw in us what we rarely see in ourselves. She saw in the priest “the love of the heart of Jesus,” in the words she loved to quote from the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney. From her childhood at Sacred Heart parish in Albania, Mother had a particularly vivid devotion to the Heart of Jesus, and in every priest, she saw not only Jesus but the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “How pure the priest must be, how holy…” she would tell us.
72 years ago today Jesus spoke to Mother in what we now call “Inspiration Day.” On a train climbing the grade up to Darjeeling, Jesus’ thirst for love and souls took hold of her heart. From that day, I think, she began to see Jesus more clearly in every person. And what did Mother see in priests, whom she loved so much? She saw in us what we rarely see in ourselves. She saw in the priest “the love of the heart of Jesus,” in the words she loved to quote from the patron saint of parish priests, St. John Vianney. From her childhood at Sacred Heart parish in Albania, Mother had a particularly vivid devotion to the Heart of Jesus, and in every priest, she saw not only Jesus but the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “How pure the priest must be, how holy…” she would tell us.
A small monument to Mother Teresa at the Motijheel slum where she began her work after leaving the Loretto Convent in Calcutta, in response to the inspiration she received on Sept. 10, 1946 She knew that a priest is not just a man, but a sacrament of the Man-God. After ordination, Mother urged us saying a priest cannot be just like other men. Either he will be an angel, or he will be a devil. So Jesus himself said of one of his priests: “Have I not chosen you? And yet one of you is a devil.” A shocking number of Judas-priests are being unmasked in the Church today. A very real demonic presence in the Catholic priesthood is revealing itself. Mother founded the Corpus Christi Fraternity for secular priests precisely to keep priests from decaying into the demonic. In June of 1997 Mother Teresa met with Pope John Paul II for the last time, and she urged on him one last piece of unfinished business. She asked him to bless the Corpus Christi Fraternity, which she had founded with Fr. Joseph Langford in 1983, and to which she had just named Fr. Pascual Cervera as international coordinator. Let us pray to Our Lady that we priests of the Fraternity remain true to Mother’s earnest desire, despite our many weaknesses.
Judgement is coming upon the Church and in particular her priests. In the second reading St. Paul judges a man severely for “living with his father’s wife.” We hope this man was sleeping not with his mother but his stepmother, but worse than this is what some priests and bishops have done to their own spiritual children. Notice that St. Paul does not simply say “who am I to judge?” He orders the community in Corinth, rather, “to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved.” Mother Teresa judged priests, calling us to “be holy or go home.” If a priest is not holy, he will be unholy. He will invite the demonic into the Church. It is because Mother so loved Christ’s priests that she held us accountable to the great gift we have received.
Judgement is coming upon the Church and in particular her priests. In the second reading St. Paul judges a man severely for “living with his father’s wife.” We hope this man was sleeping not with his mother but his stepmother, but worse than this is what some priests and bishops have done to their own spiritual children. Notice that St. Paul does not simply say “who am I to judge?” He orders the community in Corinth, rather, “to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved.” Mother Teresa judged priests, calling us to “be holy or go home.” If a priest is not holy, he will be unholy. He will invite the demonic into the Church. It is because Mother so loved Christ’s priests that she held us accountable to the great gift we have received.
The Motijheel slum as it is today In the Gospel, Our Lord sees a poor man in the synagogue, one with a withered hand. Like Mother Teresa, he sees what the Pharisees don’t see. Jesus sees the marginalized man because he thirsts for him. That thirst for souls is the heart of the priesthood. Even should a priest have to condemn a man in the flesh, he does so in his burning thirst to save that man from eternal damnation. How courageous a priest must be at times, to speak sternly to the rich and powerful in his own parish who put their souls in jeopardy. It was Cardinal McCarrick that would not refuse Holy Communion to the pro-abortion politicians of his diocese, even after the Pope clearly directed bishops to do this. I think of the famous Catholic Senator Ted Kennedy, who promoted abortion for most of his life. Senator Kennedy died in his sin, and his own bishop, Theodore McCarrick, did little to save him. May now ex-Cardinal McCarrick pray for the soul of this grievously-confused member of his own flock, who has gone to the judgement of God.
Today is “Inspiration Day” for the Missionaries of Charity family. It is the day Jesus impressed on a 38-year-old sister in a train to her annual retreat, that he thirsts for every human soul. Please continue to ask Our Lady to awaken that same thirst in the souls of her dear priests.
Today is “Inspiration Day” for the Missionaries of Charity family. It is the day Jesus impressed on a 38-year-old sister in a train to her annual retreat, that he thirsts for every human soul. Please continue to ask Our Lady to awaken that same thirst in the souls of her dear priests.
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