MOTHER TERESA TOWERS ABOVE ALL AS A SERVANT OF THE
LEASTA ‘real mother of
the poor’ always ‘steeped in prayer’
On Sunday, 19 October, the Holy Father raised
Mother Teresa of Calcutta to the honours of the altar, presiding at the
Mass for her beatification in St Peter's Square, with an estimated 300,000
faithful participating. In his Homily the Pope praised this diminutive
woman of Albanian descent (1910-1997), who founded the Missionaries of
Charity to help "the poorest of the poor" in whose broken bodies she saw
Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Pope said that he has always felt beside him
this courageous woman, who throughout her life strove "to be the servant
of all". He ended by calling on the Virgin Mary to help us, like Mother
Teresa, "to serve every person we meet with joy and a smile", and "to be
missionaries of Christ, our peace and our hope". The following is the
Pope's Homily, delivered in Italian and in English.
1. "Whoever would be
first among you must be slave of all" (Mk10:44). Jesus' words to his
disciples that have just rung out in this Square show us the way to
evangelical "greatness". It is the way walked by Christ himself that took
him to the Cross: a journey of love and service that overturns all human
logic. To be the servant of all!
Mother Teresa of
Calcutta, Foundress of the Missionaries of Charity whom today I have the
joy of adding to the Roll of the Blesseds, allowed this logic to guide
her. I am personally grateful to this courageous woman whom I have always
felt beside me. Mother Teresa, an icon of the Good Samaritan, went
everywhere to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor. Not even conflict
and war could stand in her way.
Every now and then
she would come and tell me about her experiences in her service to the
Gospel values. I remember, for example, her pro-life and anti-abortion
interventions, even when she was awarded the Nobel Prize for peace (Oslo,
10 December 1979). She often used to say: "If you hear of some woman who
does not want to keep her child and wants to have an abortion, try to
persuade her to bring him to me. I will love that child, seeing in him the
sign of God's love".
Mother Teresa reminds us all that evangelization passes through love
2. Is it not
significant that her beatification is taking place on the very day on
which the Church celebrates World Mission Sunday? With the witness of her
life, Mother Teresa reminds everyone that the evangelizing mission of the
Church passes through charity, nourished by prayer and listening to God's
word. Emblematic of this missionary style is the image that shows the new
Blessed clasping a child's hand in one hand while moving her Rosary beads
with the other.
Contemplation and
action, evangelization and human promotion: Mother Teresa proclaimed the
Gospel living her life as a total gift to the poor but, at the same time,
steeped in prayer.
Mother Teresa gave constantly and without counting the cost
3. Whoever wants to
be great among you must be your servant" (Mk 10:43). With particular
emotion we remember today Mother Teresa, a great servant of the poor, of
the Church and of the whole world. Her life is a testimony to the dignity
and the privilege of humble service. She had chosen to be not just the
least but to be the servant of the least. As a real mother to the poor,
she bent down to those suffering various forms of poverty. Her greatness
lies in her ability to give without counting the cost, to give "until it
hurts". Her life was a radical living and a bold proclamation of the
Gospel.
The cry of Jesus on
the Cross, "I thirst" (Jn 19:28), expressing the depth of God's longing
for man, penetrated Mother Teresa's soul and found fertile soil in her
heart. Satiating Jesus' thirst for love and for souls in union with Mary,
the Mother of Jesus, had become the sole aim of Mother Teresa's existence
and the inner force that drew her out of herself and made her "run in
haste" across the globe to labour for the salvation and the sanctification
of the poorest of the poor.
Mother Teresa served Christ hidden in the poor
4. "As you did to one
of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Mt 25:40). This
Gospel passage, so crucial in understanding Mother Teresa's service to the
poor, was the basis of her faith-filled conviction that in touching the
broken bodies of the poor she was touching the body of Christ. It was to
Jesus himself, hidden under the distressing disguise of the poorest of the
poor, that her service was directed. Mother Teresa highlights the deepest
meaning of service — an act of love done to the hungry, thirsty,
strangers, naked, sick, prisoners (cf. Mt 25:34-36) is done to Jesus
himself.
Recognizing him, she
ministered to him with wholehearted devotion, expressing the delicacy of
her spousal love. Thus, in total gift of herself to God and neighbour,
Mother Teresa found her greatest fulfilment and lived the noblest
qualities of her femininity. She wanted to be a sign of "God's love, God's
presence and God's compassion", and so remind all of the value and dignity
of each of God's children, "created to love and be loved". Thus was Mother
Teresa "bringing souls to God and God to souls" and satiating Christ's
thirst, especially for those most in need, those whose vision of God had
been dimmed by suffering and pain.
Mother Teresa saw Christ in the poorest of the poor
5. "The Son of man
also came... to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45). Mother
Teresa shared in the Passion of the crucified Christ in a special way
during long years of "inner darkness". For her that was a test, at times
an agonizing one, which she accepted as a rare "gift and privilege".
In the darkest hours
she clung even more tenaciously to prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
This harsh spiritual trial led her to identify herself more and more
closely with those whom she served each day, feeling their pain and, at
times, even their rejection. She was fond of repeating that the greatest
poverty is to be unwanted, to have no one to take care of you.
Mother Teresa, in love with God, tireless benefactor of humanity
6. "Lord, let your
mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you". How often, like the
Psalmist, did Mother Teresa call on her Lord in times of inner desolation:
"In you, in you I hope, my God!".
Let us praise the
Lord for this diminutive woman in love with God, a humble Gospel messenger
and a tireless benefactor of humanity. In her we honour one of the most
important figures of our time. Let us welcome her message and follow her
example.
Virgin Mary, Queen of
all the Saints, help us to be gentle and humble of heart like this
fearless messenger of Love. Help us to serve every person we meet with joy
and a smile. Help us to be missionaries of Christ, our peace and our hope.
Amen!
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