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It is more blessed to give than to receive
Cardinal Angelo Sodano celebrates
funeral rites for Mother Teresa of Calcutta
At the funeral Mass for Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, celebrated on Saturday, 13 September, at Netaji Indoor Stadium
in Calcutta, India, Pope John Paul II was represented by his Secretary
of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who was the principal celebrant of the
liturgy and preached the homily. Among the many concelebrants were
Cardinal D. Simon Lourdusamy, Cardinal Simon Pimenta, Archbishop
emeritus of Bombay, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, Archbishop of
Montreal, Canada, Archbishop Giorgio Zur, Apostolic Nuncio in India,
Archbishop Varkey Vithayathil, C.SS.R., Apostolic Administrator of
ErnakulamAngamaly for Syro-Malabars, Archbishop Henry D'Souza of
Calcutta, Archbishop Sean Brady of Armagh, Ireland, and Archbishop
emeritus John Roach of St Paul and Minneapolis, USA. Here is the text of
Cardinal Sodano's homily, which was given in English.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,
Distinguished Authorities from India and from around the world,
Bereaved Missionaries of Charity,
The hour has arrived for us to say a final farewell
to the late Mother Teresa. We have come here from many corners of the
world to demonstrate our affection and gratitude and render a fitting
homage. From the cold bier, the unforgettable, dear Mother continues to
speak to us and seems to repeat the Lord's words: "It is more
blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).
1. Herein lies the heart of the Gospel, the
evangelical message of God's love for us, his creatures, and of our love
for him — a love which demands to be made real and effective in our
dealings with one another. Mother Teresa of Calcutta understood
fully the Gospel of love. She understood it with every fibre of her
indomitable spirit and every ounce of energy of her frail body. She practised
it with her whole heart and through the daily toil of her hands.
Crossing the frontiers of religious, cultural and ethnic differences,
she has
taught the world this necessary and salutary lesson: "It
is more blessed to give than to receive".
2. At the close of a century which has known
terrible extremes of darkness, the light of conscience has not been
altogether extinguished. Holiness, goodness, kindness, love are still
recognized when they appear on history's stage. The Holy Father Pope
John Paul II has given voice to what so many people of every condition
have seen in this woman of unshakeable faith: her extraordinary
spiritual vision, her attentive and self-sacrificing love of God in each
person she met, her absolute respect for the value of every human life
and her courage in facing so many challenges. His Holiness, who knew
Mother Teresa so well, wishes this funeral ceremony to be a great prayer
of gratitude to God for having given her to the Church and to the world.
3. The story of Mother Teresa's life is no mere
humanitarian exploit, as she would be the first to declare. It is a
story of biblical faith. It can only be explained as a proclamation of
Jesus Christ by — in her own words — "loving and serving him in
the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor, both materially and
spiritually, recognizing in them and restoring to them the image and
likeness of God" (Constitutions of the Missionaries of Charity,
I, 1). It has been said that Mother Teresa might have done more to fight
the causes of poverty in the world. Mother Teresa was aware of this
criticism. She would shrug as if saying: "While you go on
discussing causes and explanations, 'I will kneel beside the poorest of
the poor and attend to their needs". The beggar, the leper, the
victim of AIDS do not need discussions and theories; they need love.
The hungry cannot wait for the rest of the world to
come up with the perfect answer; they need effective solidarity. The
dying, the handicapped and the defenceless unborn, who are without a
constituency in the utopian ideologies which, especially in the last 200
years, have been trying to model the perfect world, need a loving human
presence and a caring hand.
The spiritual legacy which Mother Teresa leaves us
is all contained in those words of Jesus in the Gospel of St Matthew:
"Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my
brothers and sisters, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). In silence and
contemplation, in prayerful adoration before the tabernacle, she learned
to see the true face of God in every suffering human being. In prayer
she discovered the essential truth which underlies the Church's social
teaching and her religious and humanitarian work in every age and in
every part of the world: Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word made flesh, the
Redeemer of mankind, has wished to identify himself with every person
— especially the poor, the sick and the needy — “you did it
for me”.
4. Mother Teresa of Calcutta lit a flame of love,
which her spiritual daughters and sons, the Missionaries of Charity,
must now carry forward. The world badly needs the light and warmth of
that flame. The homage we are paying to the memory of this humble woman
religious, whose great love for India and for this city of Calcutta did
not make her less a citizen of the world, will be in vain if we —
believers and men and women of goodwill everywhere — do not take up
where she left off. The poor are still with us. And because they are the
reflection of the crucified Son of God, they must be at the very heart
of our personal concern, of political action, of religious commitment.
Speaking at the Angelus prayer on Sunday last, the
Holy Father recalled these other words of Mother Teresa: "The fruit
of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is
service and the fruit of service is peace". Let us begin to change
the world for the better by turning in humble prayer to God, the Creator
of all that exists. Let us be renewed in faith. Let our hearts be filled
with genuine love. Let each one personally do something useful and
demanding for those in need. Only when we learn to see others, no matter
how different and removed from us, as our beloved brothers and sisters
will humanity learn the ways of peace. Then truly we will have done
something beautiful for God".
As we commend our sister to her heavenly reward,
may all who have admired this extraordinary woman strive to learn the
compelling lesson which she has given the world, a lesson which is also
the path of our human happiness: "It is more blessed to give than
to receive".
5. Dear Mother Teresa, the consoling dogma of the
Communion of Saints allows us to feel ever close to you. The entire
Church thanks you for your luminous example and promises to make it our
heritage.
Today on behalf of Pope John Paul II, who sent me
here, I offer you a final earthly farewell and in his name I thank you
for all that you have done for the poor of the world. They are
favourites of Jesus. They are also the favourites of our Holy Father,
his Vicar on earth. It is in his name that I place on your coffin the
flower of our deepest gratitude.
Dear Mother Teresa, rest in peace.
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