“For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and of discovering my true self.”
He was a poet, a mystic, a monk, an artist, a peace activist, a priest, a spiritual master, en ecumenist, a Zen practicener, and a saint.
The childhood and adolescence described in The seven storey Mountain were lonely and aimless. He suffered separation from his only brother, missed his parents deeply, and behaved in ways that disgusted him – drinking, smoking, partying, and always showing off.
Excerpt from No man is an island “Why do we have to spend our lives striving to be something that we would never want to be, if we only knew what we wanted? Why do we waste our time doing things which, if we only stopped to think about them, are just the opposite of what we were made for?
We cannot be ourselves unless we know ourselves. But self-knowledge is impossible when thoughtless and automatic activity keeps our souls in confusion. But we have to cut down our activity to the point where we can think calmly and reasonably about our actions. We cannot begin to know ourselves until we can see the real reasons why we do the things we do, and we cannot be ourselves until our actions correspond to our intentions, and our intentions are appropriate to our own situation. But that is enough. It is not necessary that we succeed in everything. A man can be perfect and still reap no fruit from his work, and it may happen that a man who is able to accomplish very little is much more of a person than another who seems to accomplish very much.
Merton stepped into the halls of the monastery it was clear where he had arrived “I felt the deep, deep silence of the night, and of peace, and of holiness enfold me like love, like safety. The embrace of it, the silence! I had entered into a solitude that was an impregnable fortress. And the silence that enfolded me, spoke to me, and louder and more eloquently than any voice, and in the middle of the quiet, clean smelling room, with the moon pouring its peacefulness in through the open window with the warm night air, I realized truly whose house that was, o glorious Mother of God.”
Thoughts in solitude, Merton’s prayer, “My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have the desire in all that I am doing I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Ignatius of Loyola
Until the age of 26 he was a man given to the vanities of the world. He was born in 1491 Basque country of northern Spain. As a boy he served as a page in the court of a local nobleman, and later distinguished himself as a valiant soldier. In his soldering career, his leg was struck by a cannonball in a battle at Pamplona in 1521. Confined to his sick bed, Inigo asked a relative for some books. All she could offer was “Imitation of Christ” and “Life is saints.” To his great surprise, the soldier found himself attracted to the lives of the saints and began thinking. If St. Francis or Dominic could do such-and –such, may be I could do great things. Thinking about doing great deeds for God, he was left with the feeling of peace – what he termed “consolation.” Thinking about success as a soldier or impressing a particular woman, though he was initially filled with great enthusiasm, he would later be left feeling “dry”- “desolation.” This realization also marked the beginning of his understanding of “discernment” in the spiritual life, a way of striving to seek God’s will in one’s life, a key concept of Ignatian spirituality.
After his recovery first he made a pilgrimage to a well-known monastery in Spain, in Montserrat, where he confessed his sins, laid aside his knightly armor, and put on the homespun grab of a pilgrim. From Montserrat, Inigo journeyed to a nearby small town called Manresa, where he lived the life of a poor pilgrim, fasting continually and begging for alms. In the end, his prayer made him more certain that he was being called to follow God more closely. Inigo spent several months in seclusion in Manresa, experiencing prayer that grew ever deeper, and then commenced his journey to Jerusalem.
After a series of mishaps in Jerusalem and elsewhere, he decided that to accomplish anything note withy in the church of his time, he would need more education and perhaps even to become a priest. He had to sit in a class- at age thirty- with small boys learning their Latin lessons.
While studying in Paris, Inigo attracted attention as a result of his ascetic penchant for dressing in the poorest clothes, begging for alms, helping the poor, and assisting other students in prayer. Gradually, Ignatius gathered around him a tight-knit group of six men, who decided they would work together in the service of God. Eventually, the men decided to form the Company of Jesus, for the purpose of “helping souls.” He was ambitious to do great things ad majorem Dei gloriam – for the greater glory of God – Magis – the best, the highest, the most for God.
Ignatius found God everywhere: in the poor, in prayer, in the Mass, in his fellow Jesuits, in his work, and, most touchingly, on the balcony of the Jesuit house in Rome, where he loved to gaze up silently at the stars at night. During these times he would shed tears in wonder and adoration.
Ignatius was a mystic who loved God with an intensity rare even for saints. He loved God and loved the world, and those two things he did quite well.
At heart, Ignatian spirituality flows from the saint’s most famous work, The Spiritual Exercises. It was the fruit of his prayer and his experience in helping others pray. What has been called his greatest gift to the church has enabled thousands of men and women – Jesuits, priests, sisters, brothers, lay persons – from almost every Christian denomination to experience a deep intimacy with God. This spirituality that enables everyone to see God in all things. The goal of Ignatian spirituality can be summed up in another succinct expression: desiring to become a “contemplative in action,” a person who maintains a contemplative stance in an active life.
Ignatius prayer “Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty,
My memory, my understanding, and all my will-
All that I have and possess.
You, Lord, have given all that to me.
I now give it back to you, O Lord.
All of it is yours.
Dispose of it according to your will.
Give me love of yourself along with grace.
For that is enough for me.
It is a prayer of total surrender. I offer you everything, God all I need is your love and grace. This is all I need to be "YES, ALIVE."
After his recovery first he made a pilgrimage to a well-known monastery in Spain, in Montserrat, where he confessed his sins, laid aside his knightly armor, and put on the homespun grab of a pilgrim. From Montserrat, Inigo journeyed to a nearby small town called Manresa, where he lived the life of a poor pilgrim, fasting continually and begging for alms. In the end, his prayer made him more certain that he was being called to follow God more closely. Inigo spent several months in seclusion in Manresa, experiencing prayer that grew ever deeper, and then commenced his journey to Jerusalem.
After a series of mishaps in Jerusalem and elsewhere, he decided that to accomplish anything note withy in the church of his time, he would need more education and perhaps even to become a priest. He had to sit in a class- at age thirty- with small boys learning their Latin lessons.
While studying in Paris, Inigo attracted attention as a result of his ascetic penchant for dressing in the poorest clothes, begging for alms, helping the poor, and assisting other students in prayer. Gradually, Ignatius gathered around him a tight-knit group of six men, who decided they would work together in the service of God. Eventually, the men decided to form the Company of Jesus, for the purpose of “helping souls.” He was ambitious to do great things ad majorem Dei gloriam – for the greater glory of God – Magis – the best, the highest, the most for God.
Ignatius found God everywhere: in the poor, in prayer, in the Mass, in his fellow Jesuits, in his work, and, most touchingly, on the balcony of the Jesuit house in Rome, where he loved to gaze up silently at the stars at night. During these times he would shed tears in wonder and adoration.
Ignatius was a mystic who loved God with an intensity rare even for saints. He loved God and loved the world, and those two things he did quite well.
At heart, Ignatian spirituality flows from the saint’s most famous work, The Spiritual Exercises. It was the fruit of his prayer and his experience in helping others pray. What has been called his greatest gift to the church has enabled thousands of men and women – Jesuits, priests, sisters, brothers, lay persons – from almost every Christian denomination to experience a deep intimacy with God. This spirituality that enables everyone to see God in all things. The goal of Ignatian spirituality can be summed up in another succinct expression: desiring to become a “contemplative in action,” a person who maintains a contemplative stance in an active life.
Ignatius prayer “Take, O Lord, and receive all my liberty,
My memory, my understanding, and all my will-
All that I have and possess.
You, Lord, have given all that to me.
I now give it back to you, O Lord.
All of it is yours.
Dispose of it according to your will.
Give me love of yourself along with grace.
For that is enough for me.
It is a prayer of total surrender. I offer you everything, God all I need is your love and grace. This is all I need to be "YES, ALIVE."
Therese of Lisieux – Little flower
“For me, prayer is the heart’s impulse, a simple gaze toward heaven. It is a cry of gratitude and love, from the depths of trial as well as the heights of joy. Finally it is something great, supernatural, that expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.”
Therese petitioned pope XIII for a special dispensation to enter the Carmelite order before she turned sixteen. You will enter if God wills it, he said. Her request was granted a few months later by the local bishop. Her life within the monastery walls was short and uneventful, “lacking in outward drama” She was praying ardently for the missionary service in Vietnam. At 23rd she contracted tuberculosis, followed a year of intense suffering. Therese devoted herself to prayer and to the service of God in the monastery. She prayed for missionary priests in particular. “Genius of secret mortification” Therese embraced small, daily hardships as both a test and a gift from God. The sisters in her convent who showed the least kindness to Therese were the ones she tried to love the most. She chose to sit beside the sister during the recreation. Therese heard harsh comments in the monastery, from sisters jealous of her youth, confused by her sanctity, and baffled by her Charity. Such misunderstanding was par to her life. Her autobiography “story of a soul” captivating, her example inspiring, and her “little way” accessible to countless believers. On Sep 30, 1897, at age 24 she died. Her last words were “Oh, I love Him …… My God ….. I love you. In 1925 only 28 years after her death, Therese was declared a Saint. And in 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her a doctor of the church.
In her autobiography, The story of the soul, Therese frequently speaks of her lifelong love of flowers and gardens. Here, she employs the image of the garden to illustrate here idea of the little way to God
“Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers he has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy.
And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden. He willed to create great souls comparable to lilies and roses, but he has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances when He looks down at his feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be
Our Lord is occupied particularly with each soul as though there were no others like it. And just s in nature all the seasons are arranged in such a way as to make the humblest daisy bloom on a set day, in the same way, everything works out for the good of each soul.
She called herself a “little flower” a small daisy compared to the more magnificent roses.
Therese, who had been filled with a sense of God’s presence since her childhood, began to experience a crushing sense of God’s absence in her prayer. “If you only knew what darkness I am plunged into!” she admitted to one sister.
Her life – at once simple and complex, clear and opaque, childlike and mature, humble and bold, joyful and sorrowful – has spoken to millions of people. She can speak to you now here, if only you have ears to listen!
Therese petitioned pope XIII for a special dispensation to enter the Carmelite order before she turned sixteen. You will enter if God wills it, he said. Her request was granted a few months later by the local bishop. Her life within the monastery walls was short and uneventful, “lacking in outward drama” She was praying ardently for the missionary service in Vietnam. At 23rd she contracted tuberculosis, followed a year of intense suffering. Therese devoted herself to prayer and to the service of God in the monastery. She prayed for missionary priests in particular. “Genius of secret mortification” Therese embraced small, daily hardships as both a test and a gift from God. The sisters in her convent who showed the least kindness to Therese were the ones she tried to love the most. She chose to sit beside the sister during the recreation. Therese heard harsh comments in the monastery, from sisters jealous of her youth, confused by her sanctity, and baffled by her Charity. Such misunderstanding was par to her life. Her autobiography “story of a soul” captivating, her example inspiring, and her “little way” accessible to countless believers. On Sep 30, 1897, at age 24 she died. Her last words were “Oh, I love Him …… My God ….. I love you. In 1925 only 28 years after her death, Therese was declared a Saint. And in 1997, Pope John Paul II declared her a doctor of the church.
In her autobiography, The story of the soul, Therese frequently speaks of her lifelong love of flowers and gardens. Here, she employs the image of the garden to illustrate here idea of the little way to God
“Jesus deigned to teach me this mystery. He set before me the book of nature; I understood how all the flowers he has created are beautiful, how the splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not take away the perfume of the little violet or the delightful simplicity of the daisy.
And so it is in the world of souls, Jesus’ garden. He willed to create great souls comparable to lilies and roses, but he has created smaller ones and these must be content to be daisies or violets destined to give joy to God’s glances when He looks down at his feet. Perfection consists in doing His will, in being what He wills us to be
Our Lord is occupied particularly with each soul as though there were no others like it. And just s in nature all the seasons are arranged in such a way as to make the humblest daisy bloom on a set day, in the same way, everything works out for the good of each soul.
She called herself a “little flower” a small daisy compared to the more magnificent roses.
Therese, who had been filled with a sense of God’s presence since her childhood, began to experience a crushing sense of God’s absence in her prayer. “If you only knew what darkness I am plunged into!” she admitted to one sister.
Her life – at once simple and complex, clear and opaque, childlike and mature, humble and bold, joyful and sorrowful – has spoken to millions of people. She can speak to you now here, if only you have ears to listen!
Pedro Arrupe:
I am quite happy to be called an optimist – He or she is a person who has the conviction that God knows, can do, and will do what is best for mankind.
He was born in Bilbao, in the Basque country of Spain, in 1907, to a devout catholic family. After completing his secondary studies, Arrupe began his medical training first in Valladolid, Spain, and later at the University of Madrid medical school. But after a visit to Lourdes, where he witnessed a spontaneous healing [a polio-stricken boy was able to walk after seeing a procession of the Blessed Sacrament], his life took a dramatic turn. Arrupe was permitted to be present at the medical verification of the healing, and he concluded that he had seen a miracle.
He later said of his experience in Lourdes, “It is impossible to tell you what my feelings and the state of my soul were at the moment, I had the impression of being near Jesus, and as I felt his all-powerful strength, the world around me began to seem extremely small. I was dazed with the memory which upset me more everyday: only the image of the Sacred Host raised in blessing and the paralyzed boy jumping up from his chair remained fixed in my memory and heart.”
Shortly afterward, Pedro Arrupe, age nineteen, gave up his medical career to enter the Jesuit novitiate in Loyola, Spain. He was ordained in 1936 and sent to Japan as a parish priest in Yamaguchi. He was suspected of espionage and was arrested and thrown into solitary confinement for thirty five days. “Many of the things I learned during this time: the science of silence, of solitude, of severe and austere poverty, of inner dialogue with the ‘guest of my soul.’ I believe this was the most instructive month of my entire life.”
In 1942, Fr. Arrupe was appointed novice director for the Japanese Jesuits. When the atomic bomb was dropped on the city on August 6, 1945, Arrupe and his novices cared for the sick and wounded, converting the novitiate into makeshift hospital.
In 1965, he was elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus. The time of Second Vatican Council and the beginning of a period of volcanic change in the church. Fr. General called to redouble their work with the poor and marginalized, and to promote the “faith that does justice.” This emphasis on justice as an essential component of the Gospel was what Arrupe would become most known for.
His writings and speeches focused not only on the promotion of justice and work with the poor but also on such varied topics as the renewal of religious life, ecumenism, inculturation, secularism and unbelief, evangelization and catechesis, the intellectual life, and the church’s need to reach out to youth.
“When it was over, a big devil whose hang-dog look made me almost afraid said, “Come to my place. I have something to give you.” I was undecided; I didn’t know whether to accept or not, but the priest who was with me said, “Accept, Father, they are good people.” I went to his place; his house was a hovel nearly on the point of collapsing. He had me sit down on a rickety old chair. From there I could see the sunset. The big man said to me, “look, sir how beautiful it is!” We sat in silence for several minutes. The sun disappeared. The man then said, “I don’t know how to than you for all you have done for us. I have nothing to give you, but I bought you would like to see this sunset. You liked it, didn’t you? Good evening.” And then he shook my hand.
Many indeed are the things I learned thanks to that Mass among the poor. What a contrast with the great gatherings of the powerful of this world.
In response to the world wide refugee crisis, 1980 Arrupe started the Jesuit Refugee Service [JRS].
Even among other religious orders, Arrupe was seen as an inspired and inspiring leader. As a result, he was elected to five consecutive three year terms as the president of the Union of Superiors General.
Arrupe was not popular in Vatican circles. His concern for social justice carried the whiff of socialism or worse, communism, Arrupe earned the displeasure of some in the Vatican. In 1981, at the age seventy four, Arrupe suffered an incapacitating stroke. Unable to continue as superior General, he turned over the governance of the society to Vincent O’Keefe. Pope John Paul II replaced Fr. O’Keefe with his own ‘delegate.’ “Overcome with grief when he learned of this extraordinary intervention into the governance of the society, Arrupe burst into tears.”
For the next 10 years Arrupe lay in a hospital bed, crippled by his stroke – partially paralyzed and increasingly unable to communicate.
Arrupe’s prayer, “ More than ever, I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life, from my youth. But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in God’s hands.”
A journalist asked, “who is Jesus Christ for you?” Pedro replied, “For me, Jesus Christ is everything!”
He was born in Bilbao, in the Basque country of Spain, in 1907, to a devout catholic family. After completing his secondary studies, Arrupe began his medical training first in Valladolid, Spain, and later at the University of Madrid medical school. But after a visit to Lourdes, where he witnessed a spontaneous healing [a polio-stricken boy was able to walk after seeing a procession of the Blessed Sacrament], his life took a dramatic turn. Arrupe was permitted to be present at the medical verification of the healing, and he concluded that he had seen a miracle.
He later said of his experience in Lourdes, “It is impossible to tell you what my feelings and the state of my soul were at the moment, I had the impression of being near Jesus, and as I felt his all-powerful strength, the world around me began to seem extremely small. I was dazed with the memory which upset me more everyday: only the image of the Sacred Host raised in blessing and the paralyzed boy jumping up from his chair remained fixed in my memory and heart.”
Shortly afterward, Pedro Arrupe, age nineteen, gave up his medical career to enter the Jesuit novitiate in Loyola, Spain. He was ordained in 1936 and sent to Japan as a parish priest in Yamaguchi. He was suspected of espionage and was arrested and thrown into solitary confinement for thirty five days. “Many of the things I learned during this time: the science of silence, of solitude, of severe and austere poverty, of inner dialogue with the ‘guest of my soul.’ I believe this was the most instructive month of my entire life.”
In 1942, Fr. Arrupe was appointed novice director for the Japanese Jesuits. When the atomic bomb was dropped on the city on August 6, 1945, Arrupe and his novices cared for the sick and wounded, converting the novitiate into makeshift hospital.
In 1965, he was elected Superior General of the Society of Jesus. The time of Second Vatican Council and the beginning of a period of volcanic change in the church. Fr. General called to redouble their work with the poor and marginalized, and to promote the “faith that does justice.” This emphasis on justice as an essential component of the Gospel was what Arrupe would become most known for.
His writings and speeches focused not only on the promotion of justice and work with the poor but also on such varied topics as the renewal of religious life, ecumenism, inculturation, secularism and unbelief, evangelization and catechesis, the intellectual life, and the church’s need to reach out to youth.
“When it was over, a big devil whose hang-dog look made me almost afraid said, “Come to my place. I have something to give you.” I was undecided; I didn’t know whether to accept or not, but the priest who was with me said, “Accept, Father, they are good people.” I went to his place; his house was a hovel nearly on the point of collapsing. He had me sit down on a rickety old chair. From there I could see the sunset. The big man said to me, “look, sir how beautiful it is!” We sat in silence for several minutes. The sun disappeared. The man then said, “I don’t know how to than you for all you have done for us. I have nothing to give you, but I bought you would like to see this sunset. You liked it, didn’t you? Good evening.” And then he shook my hand.
Many indeed are the things I learned thanks to that Mass among the poor. What a contrast with the great gatherings of the powerful of this world.
In response to the world wide refugee crisis, 1980 Arrupe started the Jesuit Refugee Service [JRS].
Even among other religious orders, Arrupe was seen as an inspired and inspiring leader. As a result, he was elected to five consecutive three year terms as the president of the Union of Superiors General.
Arrupe was not popular in Vatican circles. His concern for social justice carried the whiff of socialism or worse, communism, Arrupe earned the displeasure of some in the Vatican. In 1981, at the age seventy four, Arrupe suffered an incapacitating stroke. Unable to continue as superior General, he turned over the governance of the society to Vincent O’Keefe. Pope John Paul II replaced Fr. O’Keefe with his own ‘delegate.’ “Overcome with grief when he learned of this extraordinary intervention into the governance of the society, Arrupe burst into tears.”
For the next 10 years Arrupe lay in a hospital bed, crippled by his stroke – partially paralyzed and increasingly unable to communicate.
Arrupe’s prayer, “ More than ever, I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life, from my youth. But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in God’s hands.”
A journalist asked, “who is Jesus Christ for you?” Pedro replied, “For me, Jesus Christ is everything!”
Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa
"You can do something I can’t do. I can do something you can’t do. Together let us do something beautiful to God."
She took literally Jesus’ words: Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me. From this arose the conviction that in touching the bodies of the poor, she and her sisters were actually touching the body of Christ. It is this mystical vision of Christ crying out for love in the broken bodies of the poor.
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born in Skopje, Albania, in 1910. In 1928, at the age of eighteen, she entered the novitiate of the Loreto Sisters in Dublin, Ireland. Three months later, set sail for India. She would spend the rest of her life there. Sr. Teresa taught in a Catholic school run by the order in Calcutta. The mission of the Loreto Sisters focused on tackling the problems of poverty through education. In 1937, she pronounced her perpetual vows. A few years later, Mother Teresa made a private vow, with the consent of her spiritual director, to give God anything he may ask and not to refuse him anything.
On September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa began a long, dusty train ride to Darjeeling. It was on this train ride that Mother Teresa experienced what she described as a “call within a call” She heard a voice in her prayer, “Wouldst thou not help?” “Wouldst thou refuse to do this for me?” MT wrote to Mother General and later to Pope Pius XII, for permission to leave the order. In April, 1948, MT request had been granted.
Thus began her life of total service, familiar to believers and nonbelievers alike. She founded Nirmal Hriday, “Place of the Immaculate heart” housed in a building that had originally served as a pilgrims’ rest home Hindus visiting the Kali temple next door. Despite her charitable work and her welcoming of people from all faiths, there was noticeable hostility directed toward MT. People threw stones at them and threatened them, and one man tried to Kill MT. But their hostility was met with love and, more service.
The rest of her life would be characterized by nonstop activity and compassionate service to the poor. As mother Teresa and her order became increasingly well know, honours and accolades were showered on her by governments, universities, religious organizations, and charitable groups around the world.
Some of her quotes, “Today it is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately it is very unfashionable to talk with them.” In the developed countries there is a poverty of intimacy, a poverty of spirit, of loneliness, a lack of love. There is no greater sickness in the world than that one. God does not demand that I be successful. God demands that I be faithful. True holiness consists in doing God’s will with a smile.
Like other saints she also experienced an “interior darkness”, “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.” What remains clear is that MT struggled intensely in her spiritual life. And this makes what she accomplished even more extraordinary and her example more meaningful.
Throughout her life, MT regularly set aside her personal and physical needs, embracing the hardships that came with her ministry as a way of identifying with the hardships of Jesus.
In 1997, she died at the age of eighty seven. Her body was carried through the streets of Calcutta by the same gun carriage that had borne the bodies of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, with tens of thousands of Indians lining the route. At her death she was almost universally hailed as a “living saint”
Just six years later – record time – she was declared “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta” by one of her many admirers, Pope John Paul II
Mother Teresa’s prayer, “The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is Love, The fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace.”
"You can do something I can’t do. I can do something you can’t do. Together let us do something beautiful to God."
She took literally Jesus’ words: Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do to me. From this arose the conviction that in touching the bodies of the poor, she and her sisters were actually touching the body of Christ. It is this mystical vision of Christ crying out for love in the broken bodies of the poor.
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born in Skopje, Albania, in 1910. In 1928, at the age of eighteen, she entered the novitiate of the Loreto Sisters in Dublin, Ireland. Three months later, set sail for India. She would spend the rest of her life there. Sr. Teresa taught in a Catholic school run by the order in Calcutta. The mission of the Loreto Sisters focused on tackling the problems of poverty through education. In 1937, she pronounced her perpetual vows. A few years later, Mother Teresa made a private vow, with the consent of her spiritual director, to give God anything he may ask and not to refuse him anything.
On September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa began a long, dusty train ride to Darjeeling. It was on this train ride that Mother Teresa experienced what she described as a “call within a call” She heard a voice in her prayer, “Wouldst thou not help?” “Wouldst thou refuse to do this for me?” MT wrote to Mother General and later to Pope Pius XII, for permission to leave the order. In April, 1948, MT request had been granted.
Thus began her life of total service, familiar to believers and nonbelievers alike. She founded Nirmal Hriday, “Place of the Immaculate heart” housed in a building that had originally served as a pilgrims’ rest home Hindus visiting the Kali temple next door. Despite her charitable work and her welcoming of people from all faiths, there was noticeable hostility directed toward MT. People threw stones at them and threatened them, and one man tried to Kill MT. But their hostility was met with love and, more service.
The rest of her life would be characterized by nonstop activity and compassionate service to the poor. As mother Teresa and her order became increasingly well know, honours and accolades were showered on her by governments, universities, religious organizations, and charitable groups around the world.
Some of her quotes, “Today it is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately it is very unfashionable to talk with them.” In the developed countries there is a poverty of intimacy, a poverty of spirit, of loneliness, a lack of love. There is no greater sickness in the world than that one. God does not demand that I be successful. God demands that I be faithful. True holiness consists in doing God’s will with a smile.
Like other saints she also experienced an “interior darkness”, “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.” What remains clear is that MT struggled intensely in her spiritual life. And this makes what she accomplished even more extraordinary and her example more meaningful.
Throughout her life, MT regularly set aside her personal and physical needs, embracing the hardships that came with her ministry as a way of identifying with the hardships of Jesus.
In 1997, she died at the age of eighty seven. Her body was carried through the streets of Calcutta by the same gun carriage that had borne the bodies of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, with tens of thousands of Indians lining the route. At her death she was almost universally hailed as a “living saint”
Just six years later – record time – she was declared “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta” by one of her many admirers, Pope John Paul II
Mother Teresa’s prayer, “The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is Love, The fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
